Accel World - Volume 14 - Chapter 7

7

In the battle strategy they had agreed on at the old Tokyo Tower, they were to avoid direct combat with Archangel Metatron to the best of their abilities. While Haruyuki was defending against the laser, the others would charge into Midtown Tower.

But now that Metatron had descended, they were forced to essentially scrap that plan. It seemed doubtful that the Enemy would stop targeting them once they ran into the tower, and in the worst-case scenario, they might get caught between an enemy lying in wait inside and Metatron prowling around outside.

In unexpected good news, however, Metatron could not fire the large-diameter laser—supposedly its most powerful attack—and its usual status of being immune to all damage had been stripped away. As long as these two factors were taken out of play, it was actually possible to fight Metatron in something other than a Hell stage. Naturally, they couldn’t underestimate the power of a Legend-class Enemy, but at the very least, Metatron was no longer on the unfathomable level of the Super-class Enemies of the Castle.

More than anything, if they could defeat the Enemy here, when it next regenerated, it would be back in its original territory, the deepest level of the Shiba Park Dungeon. It still wasn’t clear who had moved Metatron from there to the top of Midtown Tower, but it wouldn’t be easy to manage that feat twice. In other words, even if they didn’t manage to complete their mission to destroy the ISS kit main body that day, they could at least leave the tower defenseless for a while.

For these reasons, the nine Burst Linkers took on the challenge of a decisive battle with the Archangel.

Two minutes and thirty seconds after the assault began, Haruyuki—and probably his friends, too—were made powerfully aware of how soft their initial estimations had been.

“Wing attack’s coming! Get ready to evade!”

At Kuroyukihime’s instruction, the vanguard of Haruyuki, Takumu, Fuko, and Pard quickly jumped back and looked up at the sky. Above them, Metatron’s main four wings were spread wide. The feathers, twelve tapestries on each wing, shimmered with blue light. Ksha! The air split and all twelve shot down to the ground like lightning bolts.

The feathers were more than a meter wide, but thin like paper, and easily sliced through the armor of any avatar they touched. They whizzed through the air, their trajectories completely random, and Haruyuki and the others did everything they could to slip around and past them. Thin blue blades shot down one after another and dug deeply into the surface of the earth.

“Crow, watch out!” A voice cried out from behind him just when he thought he’d dodged them all.

An intense impact—but he took basically no damage. He looked back and saw Takumu holding up his right arm as he pushed Haruyuki aside. The tip of a sharp feather had pierced his Enhanced Armament and made it all the way through the thick plating to the avatar’s body. The pile driver, the symbol of Cyan Pile, was already battered and beaten after the spike had been transformed into a two-handed sword for the Incarnate technique Cyan Blade—not to mention blocking any number of Metatron’s attacks. Yet, it was still in one piece for now; the pummeled pile had not lost its shine.

When the forty-eight feathers were pulled back up into the air, Haruyuki slapped his hand on Takumu’s back and shouted, “Sorry, Pile!”

“It’s okay. I can still keep going!” His close friend’s words were reassuring, but there was a hint of exhaustion in his voice.

Haruyuki himself was aware of his focus getting worse. That he had missed the feather attacking from behind was proof of that. His health gauge still had more than 60 percent left, after the damage he took defending against the laser, but if his movement got any duller, it would be cut down to the red zone in an instant.

“Pile, hold on just a sec!” Chiyuri shouted from where she was stationed to the rear in the middle guard. “As soon as my gauge charges, I’ll heal you!”

“Got it!” Takumu waved his hand in response.

In a long Enemy battle, there was nothing more reliable than Citron Call. But the technique seriously ate up Chiyuri’s special-attack gauge, and there were basically no objects in the area that could be destroyed. Thus, even she needed to get close during the slim openings with Metatron and charge her gauge through direct attacks. Since they couldn’t lose Lime Bell, Akira was guarding her, but she was still without the majority of her flowing water armor, so they had to plan their assault timing carefully.

After the completion of the cutting-feather attack—this also likely had an official name like Trisagion, but the mysterious voice hadn’t said a word since the start of the battle—Metatron’s four wings folded back. That was when the beast was assailed by countless flames, drawing out parabolas in the sky.

This was Niko and Utai from the rear, the group’s long-range attack squad. The rocket missiles of the Red King, who had once again summoned the armored trailer Dreadnought, and the fissioning flame arrows of Maiden’s special attack, Flame Torrents, blanketed the Archangel’s massive body. Dozens of small explosions made the stage shake, and the first level of the Enemy’s four-level health gauge disappeared without a sound.

Still three levels to go…

Haruyuki shook off the thought that flickered through his mind and leapt off the ground. He joined up with Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri and the others who came racing over and launched his Aerial Combo, hovering next to Metatron’s torso. The matte, snowy-white structure felt to his hands like he was punching sturdy ceramic composite, and it neither cracked nor dented. But he believed that each blow brought the gauge down however little, and he put his all into every punch, kick, and spin.

“Crow, you’re going too far!”

He heard Kuroyukihime call out abruptly, and he opened his eyes wide. Without his realizing it, innumerable tiny holes had opened up all over the seven-meter head sitting on top of the long torso.

“Ngh…!” Guarding his body with his arms, he folded the wings on his back. His avatar was pulled downward by the virtual gravity, but not fast enough.

Tight, snail-like spirals poked their faces out from the openings in Metatron’s round head. Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! The spiral bullets shot out, machine-gun fire in all directions.

They had learned that the instant the holes appeared, they needed to immediately stop their attack and take cover in the one place the bullets didn’t reach—underneath Metatron’s torso. But Haruyuki had been late to retreat, and he was hit in the right arm and left hip, which knocked him to the ground. The white snails kept rotating for a while even after impact, and they dug deep into Crow’s silver armor, sending orange sparks and red damage effects shooting outward.

“Nngah—!” The pain was dizzyingly intense.

Clawed hands yanked him up.

Blood Leopard. From the fang-filled mouth, a stern order was issued in a tone that brooked no argument: “Crow, long-range with Rain and the others.”

“Huh…? I-I’m okay. I can still—”

“Get back, Corvus.” A new voice interrupted his rebuttal. “We’ll call you up again soon.”

When even Fuko was telling him to fall back, there was no point in arguing it. He could throw a tantrum, but it would only expose everyone else to danger.

“…I’m sorry!” Haruyuki shouted just this, and somehow managed to return the nod from Kuroyukihime, who was watching him with concerned eyes, before spreading his wings. He flew back to where Niko and Utai had set up camp, about fifty meters to the rear.

The instant he landed beside the tank, all the strength drained out of his legs and he dropped to his knees. His exhaustion was apparently greater than he’d thought.

Dammit! At such an important time! He tried desperately to stand, but—

“C, please rest a little.” Utai wrapped a small hand around his shoulder. “That is also important work.”

“That’s right, Crow!” Niko’s voice came over the speaker. “You’ve already done some seriously fine work. You leave the rest to us!”

Their kindness made him happy but also frustrated at the same time, and Haruyuki clenched his hands as tightly as he could.

He’d been faintly aware that he was not good with long battles. Even in his daily normal duels, if the fight time exceeded twenty minutes, his chances of victory dropped significantly. He was good at hyper-accelerating his senses in the critical moment, but the flip side of that was he couldn’t really show off his full power in situations that required a fixed concentration for a long period.

It was the same in the real world. He managed somehow to get through the homework every day, but even when he decided to voluntarily study for a long period, he would end up staring into space after two or three hours, and the meaning of the numbers and letters no longer registered in his mind.

He knew he couldn’t keep going like that. With his current scholastic abilities, there probably wasn’t any point in even talking about achieving the biggest objective he’d ever had in his life, the goal he secretly harbored in his heart—going to the same high school as Kuroyukihime in two years. For that, he would need to study diligently on his own and bring up his grades now, while he was still in eighth grade, but no matter what he did, his brain’s energy just wouldn’t last.

“You mustn’t rush,” Utai noted quietly, almost as if reading his mind. “One little thing, another, another, and then another. If you build your work up like this, you’ll reach your goal someday. No matter how far away or great it might be, I’m certain of it. C, you must already be aware of this.”

As Haruyuki lifted his face, the small shrine maiden drew her longbow. A smooth, effortless motion; calm, relaxed. The ultimate in refinement, backed by thousands, tens of thousands of repetitions.

She launched the flame arrow with a call of the technique name. It turned into a red shooting star and flew through the evening sky, splitting soundlessly. The flaming meteor shower rained down on the massive Enemy with terrifying precision.

One small thing, one at a time.

“…Right. If you’re tired, I guess you should rest,” Haruyuki muttered. He relaxed his clenched fists and let all the tension slip out of his body. Strangely, the sensation came back into his weak legs. “It was like that when I was cleaning Hoo’s hut, too. I didn’t try to clean everything right from the start. I thought of things I could do and got a little further, and then a little further, and then before I knew it, it was all finished.”

Utai said nothing, but a faint smile rose up on her face. Or so he felt.

Haruyuki stood up slowly and took a deep breath. The exhaustion was still there. But that was only natural. To repel Metatron’s laser, he had pushed his powers of concentration to the absolute limit. Right now, he had to do the things he could here.

He reached out the fingers of his right hand and generated a silver overlay in them. He built it slowly, without hurrying. Once it was large enough, he stretched his arm out in front of him. Slowly, slowly, he pulled it back.

Now, where to aim?

Laser Javelin, the sole long-distance attack available to Haruyuki, did not have a high accuracy. But Metatron was enormous. He should be able to aim for the wings, torso, or head.

Coolly, he observed the Enemy’s body. If it had a weak point, it would have been the strangely shaped horn stretching out from the top of its round head, but that was definitely too small a target. The next thing that stood out was the crown on the top of its head. When looked at closely, the crown alone, out of all the parts of Metatron’s body, was not white, but rather silver.

Try to hit it?

Eyes fixed on the platinum circlet and careful not to exert himself, Haruyuki pulled his right arm back to just before his shoulder. The silver lance produced itself in midair, trembling slightly. If Haruyuki wanted force, he would call out the name of the technique here and increase his image of it with that trigger. But right now, what he wanted more than power was accuracy; if he yelled, that would knock his aim off. Mouth closed, he gently cut the base of the lance free with his left hand.

The Incarnate lance flew, trailing silver light. Anytime he’d used it before, it had carved out a spiral trajectory, but just this once, it was flying in what was basically a straight line. Metatron had stopped for the wing attack, and the lance was sucked soundlessly into the crown tightly encircling its head.

Skeeenk! The clear metallic squeal reached even Haruyuki’s distant ears. At the same time, it looked as though the Enemy’s massive body stiffened, if only for a moment.

And then he heard the voice again.

Yes. That is good. Continue to aim for the same location.

—What? You’re still here? Why didn’t you say anything?

You were not listening. From now on, turn your ears this way and do exactly as I say.

Who died and made you king? he couldn’t help thinking. The formal nature of the speech was totally different from Utai’s. Once again, he felt the question of who exactly this voice belonged to, but it didn’t seem like this was the best time to take his eyes off Metatron. At the very least, if the voice was giving him advice, it wasn’t an enemy.

“Rain, Mei!” Haruyuki turned to Utai and Niko. “That crown thing on Metatron’s forehead seems to be a weak point. Let’s all concentrate our fire there.”

“Where’s the forehead?! And where do you get off bossing me around?!” Even as she yelled at him, Niko turned her main armaments a little to the left. Utai also lowered the sights on her longbow.

“We’ll all fire together. I’ll count down.” Bringing the light into his right hand once more, Haruyuki continued, “Four, three, two, one, zero!”

Bright ruby-red lines gushed forward from the two laser guns, a large flame arrow shot forth from the longbow, and a lance of light was released from Haruyuki’s hand. The three long-range techniques gradually closed in bit by bit, flying across the fifty meters, before fusing right in front of Metatron and slamming into the silver crown.

A high-pitched metallic shriek rang out, dozens of times louder than the previous hit. Kuroyukihime and the others on the front line leapt back in surprise. The massive Enemy body twisted in anguish; the wings fluttered open and closed.

“Wh-whoa…It worked…”

“It worked!” Utai agreed.

Nodding, Haruyuki sank into thought. If a long-distance attack was this effective, then a direct attack from close range would do even more damage to the crown. He unconsciously took a step forward, but then stopped. He’d been ordered to the rear by both Pard and Fuko; he couldn’t exactly just go back to the front line on his own—

“Get in there,” Niko said abruptly, her voice containing a wry smile.

“Huh? But…”

“You’re relaxed, you’re good. Or is that it? You not gonna obey the order of a king?”

“O-of course! …I understand. I’ll go.” Resolving himself, Haruyuki spread the wings on his back. “…Thanks, Rain, Mei!”

He kicked hard off the ground, strength now returned to his legs, and used his nearly full special-attack gauge to plunge toward the chaos around Metatron without holding back. Even as he flew along at top speed, the mysterious quiet in his heart didn’t go away. Normally, his field of view would always narrow down to the single point of his objective, but now not only was Metatron itself perfectly clear, but so were the developments around it with the vanguard team, the middle guard a little farther back, and even the half-destroyed Midtown Tower in the background.

Still raging, the Enemy spread its four wings—the feather cutter attack. The sharp, thin films shone blue, and Kuroyukihime and the others on the ground readied to dodge.

Looking at them from above, he saw that the wings were deployed in an X shape, but there was a slight opening in the middle, at the back. He should be able to slip through that gap and reach the head. Cutting back and forth from right turn to sharp left, Haruyuki carefully examined his assault course.

Ksha! The forty-eight feathers shot outward. While the four members of the vanguard on the ground determinedly evaded the feather blades that gouged into the earth, Haruyuki plunged forward from Metatron’s backside. He slipped through the gap in the wings and closed in on the round head.

The seven-meter diameter of the sphere was unfathomably large up close. Spiraling lines raced across the surface, and holes were burned not just into the front but the very rear as well. On the top sat the platinum silver crown, with a two-meter-long horn jutting up over the edge.

Without hesitation, Haruyuki grabbed onto the crown and launched a straight punch with his right fist, which bore the full thrust of his wings. A loud reverberation rang out, like a massive bell being struck. The sound waves radiated outward, making the twilight air shudder. Metatron’s enormous body twisted violently, and almost as though its nervous system had gone awry, it flailed its many legs and wings.

Grabbing onto the crown tightly with both hands so he wouldn’t be thrown off, Haruyuki shouted to Kuroyukihime and the others on the ground, “I’m attacking the crown! You guys keep attacking the body when Metatron starts to rampage!” He thought they would get mad at him for coming back without being asked, but they didn’t.

“K!” Pard responded instantly, and everyone else also voiced their agreement to the plan.

Haruyuki pushed back the impulse to start whaling recklessly on the crown; he needed to wait for the right timing. If he could prevent Metatron’s attacks by hammering at its weak point, then he should aim for the moment when it started the feather cutter or the snail shooter. Still clinging to the crown, he focused on the Enemy’s movements.

Seen from up close, the platinum crown had a strange design, several C-shaped parts all joined together, but the tapered ends turned inward rather than out. Thanks to this, they were like handles, making it easy for Haruyuki to hang on. But the sharp, tapered ends cut into Metatron’s white armor plate, and he wondered if it didn’t hurt.

But even as he considered this detail, 80 percent of his mind was carefully taking in every aspect of the Enemy; he wouldn’t miss the start of an attack. The rings that made up the body, each nearly two meters in diameter, began to spin at high speed. Purple sparks crackled in the several centimeters between the rings, forming air gaps. It was an area of effect electrical-discharge attack. Unlike Seiryu’s Thunder Blast, this one spread out horizontally, so unless you immediately went into a frantic full dash to get some real distance the moment you saw the first inklings of the attack, you couldn’t escape it.

But the four members of the vanguard trusted Haruyuki and stayed in close range. He couldn’t let them down. Taking his hands away from the crown, Haruyuki hovered and plunged his right fist—and unconsciously its overlay—into the joint between two C shapes.

The sound of impact nearly deafened him. Tiny cracks raced outward along the platinum surface, and Metatron howled soundlessly, its body writhing. The electricity, on the verge of being fired, discharged spontaneously and pierced the hollow body cavity, back and forth and then back to the other side again.

“Errrrng…yaaah!” The battle cry was Kuroyukihime’s. Jumping high up into the air, she yelled, “Death By Piercing!!”

The special attack shot out from her right hand to shatter one of Metatron’s legs. The other three—realizing perhaps that it was now or never—also launched an all-out assault with one attack after another. From the rear, lasers and fire arrows precision-sniped the torso, and they dug deeper down into the second level of the Enemy’s health gauge.

Normally, this would be where he did a fist pump with a “Yeah!” but the strange sensation that filled his mind threatened to disappear, so Haruyuki instead readied himself for the next attack.

He was maintaining a wide field of view, but it was different from being scattered. It was like he could now control with his own will all the focus that, up to that point, he’d only been able to pour into a single moment, a single instant. Accelerating full throttle was only good for those “now or never” moments. Until then, he would be quietly ready, watch the whole situation, and move smoothly.

Having recovered from the damage, Metatron went into a normal attack with its legs and tail. As they evaded these blows, Kuroyukihime and the others darted in to counterattack. Once this offense/defense had gone on for about ten seconds, the Enemy yanked its upper body upward. Countless holes opened up on the head, directly before Haruyuki’s eyes.

If Silver Crow’s whole body was showered by the spiral bullets at this close range, he wouldn’t be able to avoid immediate death. But unhurried, Haruyuki aimed for the moment when Metatron stopped moving and shot a right-hand strike forward, enhanced with Incarnate.

He hit in the same place as the last time, and the cracks in the crown expanded. Spiral bullets sporadically launched from Enemy’s head as it roared in anguish, but they had neither number nor force, so Haruyuki was able to defend easily enough with his arms.

The battle continued at a fixed pace, and Metatron’s health gauge was gradually but definitely decreasing. The second tier, then the third, disappeared, and once they’d dug into the fourth tier, the attack pattern increased, but Haruyuki continued to fulfill his chosen role without panicking. The crown was also gradually destroyed, and then about forty-five minutes after the start of the fight…

The first thing to shatter was the platinum crown adorning Metatron’s head. Haruyuki’s hand strike completely pulverized one of the C-shaped rings, and instantly, the rest came apart and clattered separately to the ground.

From the pattern thus far, Haruyuki had anticipated that this would be the beginning of the final wild rampage, but unexpectedly, the Enemy stopped moving completely. Kuroyukihime also seemed confused for a moment, but the order for a full-scale attack came flying soon enough. Chiyuri and Akira also took part, and light effects of all colors enveloped the massive body.

Each time a large technique exploded, the fourth level of the gauge, now dyed red, was visibly carved away, until finally, sliced through from belly to back by Kuroyukihime’s Incarnate technique Vorpal Strike, the Legend-class Enemy Archangel Metatron collapsed with a howl.

The white plates that made up its body slowly melted away, turning into particles of light from the ends. The spherical head broke apart, and light gushed out from inside.

Noting a message about the addition of a large number of points scrolling across the left side of his vision, Haruyuki jumped down to the ground.

“You did it, Crow!” Chiyuri came flying at him from behind and tousled his helmet.

Here, his supply of concentration finally exhausted, Haruyuki very nearly slumped to the ground.

“Whoopsy!” Chiyuri immediately reached to support him, lending him her shoulder to prop him up.

“Sh-shanks,” he replied. When he lifted his head, he found the smiles—or rather just the sense of smiles, of course—on the helmets of Kuroyukihime, Takumu, Akira, Fuko, and Pard. They all started to say, “Good—” and then exchanged glances before ceding the right to speak to their commander.

Clearing her throat, Kuroyukihime took the floor. “Good work, Crow. That was some excellent fighting. You stepped up another level.”

“N-no, that’s…” He shrank into himself, and Chiyuri gave him a whack on the back.

“Stand tall at a time like this, at least!”

“G-got it. So don’t pound on my back.” He took a deep breath and stood up straight, still leaning on Chiyuri. He could see the pair in the rear guard through the gap between Kuroyukihime and Fuko. Utai, on top of Niko’s tank, was waving wildly.

He went to raise his right hand in response, and then abruptly realized that there was something strange about the way Utai was waving. Less celebrating a victory, and more “watch out.” When he looked very closely, the headlights on the trailer were also flashing on and off. Wondering what was going on, Haruyuki casually turned his face toward the sky.

Something curious floated soundlessly there. A white spindle that tapered to the top and bottom. A long, thin sash was wrapped diagonally around it, hiding the contents. The whole thing was about two meters long. The complicated patterns on the surface glittered beautifully in the evening sun.

I’ve seen that somewhere— Haruyuki’s narrowed eyes flew wide open.

It was Metatron’s horn. The protrusion that had an unknown use and stretched out from the round head still lingered in the sky, even after the annihilation of the Enemy.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this…?” Even Kuroyukihime sounded dumbfounded, following Haruyuki’s gaze up toward the floating horn. “We defeated Metatron…”

“I checked the points addition. We definitely defeated it.” Akira’s voice was also slightly more tense than usual.

Then:

Inside his mind came the mysterious voice he’d heard any number of times during the fight.

What you all destroyed is nothing more than half my body.

Fwsh. The sash covering the horn opened up. Though—it wasn’t a sash. It was long, supple wings. Four pairs.

Emerging from within was a girl, body wrapped in beautiful armor and garb. The whole of her was a pure-white, not a single blemish to be seen. Her hair, her skin, her clothes, they were all matte-white like snow; and half of her was colored orange like the evening sun, the other half the purple of dusk. Even though her eyes were closed, the beautiful girl was otherworldly. Giving off no sense of a life force at all, but not a simple object either, she had a bizarre presence.

Slowly, supplely, both arms were spread out. Lids edged with white eyelashes cracked open the merest hint, and golden eyes took in the seven people on the ground.

An almost violent pressure slammed into him, and Haruyuki’s knees nearly gave way. He desperately braced himself, but he couldn’t stop his trembling legs. Chiyuri shrieked slightly in her throat, and Kuroyukihime and the others were entirely stiff. This pressure-like aura was without a doubt approaching the territory of a Legend-class Enemy—no, even a Super-class Enemy. In other words—

This girl herself was the true form of Archangel Metatron.

In his mind, which threatened to shut down in the extreme shock and shivering fear, Haruyuki struggled to understand. Things were clearly not lining up. The voice that had given Haruyuki advice any number of times in the middle of the fight with the massive Metatron, its owner was Metatron’s main body. What did that mean? Wasn’t it basically that this female-shaped Enemy had told Haruyuki her own weak point and made him defeat her? His doubts only increased his fear. “H…how…?”

And then he heard the voice again.

Little bird. You succeeded in destroying the disgusting yoke that bound me. It is my destiny to burn up soldiers, but I shall turn a blind eye this time. Although, if you all wish to fight, then that is something else.

“W-w-we…don’t wish to!” Haruyuki shouted in a trance.

The snowy-white archangel closed her eyelids once more and nodded placidly.

Well then, after a stroll through the lower world, I shall return to my Castle. Let us meet again someday, little ones.

The four wings wrapped one after another around her body, and Metatron returned to her spindle shape, her cocoon, before suddenly becoming a pillar of white flames and disappearing as though she had been completely burned up.

When the pressure that very nearly crushed him weakened and finally disappeared, Haruyuki staggered and crumpled to the ground. This time, Chiyuri did not offer support, but plopped down with him. It seemed that the threat had passed, but he was still left not understanding anything. He cocked his head from side to side.

“…So then, is it something like this…?” Takumu broke the short silence, his eyes still on the sky. After this preamble, he continued, although he didn’t sound too confident, “The reason Metatron was guarding Midtown Tower was because someone—probably a member of the Acceleration Research Society—tamed her, but she was against it. And then the crown on Metatron’s head was what that girl called a yoke—in other words, some kind of tool or something for taming, and when Crow broke it, she could be free.”

“Oh…Ohhh, I get it!” Haruyuki cried out, still sitting on ground. “Now that you mention it, just the crown wasn’t white. It was silver.”

This also explained why Metatron’s main body had ordered Haruyuki to aim for the crown with telepathy or whatever. If that was it, then you should’ve said so right from the start! he unconsciously called toward the sky, but of course, there was no response.

Kuroyukihime also nodded as though Takumu’s explanation made sense to her and looked at Fuko next to her. “At any rate, Raker, Curren, when we fought Metatron in the Contrary Cathedral, there was no main body like that, right?”

“There was not. Which means that what we thought we defeated was…”

“Only Metatron’s lower half.”

Chiyuri, still slumped on the ground next to Haruyuki, murmured, “So then, if we had defeated the massive part before Crow broke the tame crown…then, next we would’ve had to fight that girl?”

“Mm. It’s possible…”

The members of the Black Legion sank into silence, while Pard looked over at Haruyuki and said, “GJ.”

At this, he felt reassured that the battle was truly over and let out a deep breath. He hauled himself to his feet and lent Chiyuri a hand before turning his eyes toward Niko and Utai, who were on standby fifty meters away. The main guns of the trailer were turned in their direction, and Utai also had her longbow at the ready.

“Rain! Mei!” He waved and shouted loudly. “It’s okay now! Please come over here!”

“You gotta say something sooner!” Niko’s yell, amplified by the speaker, reached them with an assist from the wind, and he shrank into himself at the very reasonable nature of her request.

Utai leapt to the ground from the roof, and the weaponized trailer rumbled as it disassembled and melted into the air, disappearing. A small avatar dropped down from the cockpit area and stretched long and hard. The two red types clasped hands tightly before heading over to the others. Unsurprisingly, they looked exhausted; their footsteps were a little unstable, but linked by their hands, they continued to walk, supporting each other. Haruyuki felt something warm spread out in his heart at the sight.

When they were moving on the Castle for the mission to rescue Aqua Current, Utai had asked Haruyuki, Do you remember, C? The question was in reference to what Haruyuki had said to her when they were trapped inside the Castle. I have a friend I’d like to introduce you to one day. That friend was the very Niko walking alongside Utai at that moment.

There didn’t seem to be any need for it now, but he would introduce them properly once the mission was entirely over. And Hoo in the rear courtyard, too. Niko would definitely like that. And then they could all go check out the student council’s show together…

Haruyuki watched over the girls, these thoughts running through his mind, while ahead of him, Utai and Niko stepped into the long shadow of Midtown Tower stretching across the grassy field.

Sheenk.

Something flashed. On the roof of a low building far to the rear of the girls walking side by side. Not a reflection of the evening sun. A vivid-purple light, almost garish.

I’ve seen that light before. That was the only thought he had time for.

In the next instant, four beams of light soundlessly pierced the chest of Ardor Maiden. Her hand pulled free of Niko’s, and the small shrine maiden somersaulted forward and collapsed, while Niko stretched out her right hand again in an instinctive motion.

But that hand didn’t get very far.

Two jet-black panels sprang up from the shadow spreading out at her feet and clapped around Niko. Orange sparks shot off the entire body of the small avatar.

“Ah…Aaaaaah!!” Here, finally, a shout that was more like a scream gushed out of his throat.

Kuroyukihime and the others, getting ready to start the next meeting, whirled around and saw the situation in the distance.

The very first to react was Blood Leopard. She had no sooner howled in animalistic rage than she was leaping forward with all her might. She activated Beast Mode in midair, and when the crimson leopard touched down on the grass, she raced toward the Red King at a tremendous speed.

But the purple laser fired once more in the distance and plunged into the ground at Leopard’s feet. The cat avatar was forced to leap from side to side to avoid the beams of light that came this time, one at a time, with a built-in delay. During that time, the jet-black panels pinning Niko steadily pushed closer together. The Red King appeared to be fighting back as hard as she could, but she couldn’t win out against the pressure, perhaps due to her exhaustion.

“Run!” Kuroyukihime shouted, and they all kicked at the ground at the same time.

On his third step, Haruyuki jumped, spread his wings, and accelerated all at once. Forty meters until the imprisoned Niko…Thirty…

But then the gap between the two panels finally closed. There was no death effect. Niko was being held prisoner in the panels. The matte-black rectangular solids, reflecting absolutely no light, began to sink once more into the shadow reaching across the surface of the earth.

“Black…Viiiiiiise!!” Flying at top speed, Haruyuki yelled the name of his hated enemy.

There was no mistake. Those black panels were the transformed figure of the self-proclaimed vice president of the Acceleration Research Society, Black Vise. And the one firing the purple laser was the Quad Eyes Analyst, Argon Array.

He wouldn’t let them. He totally was not going to let them abduct Niko. Gritting his teeth so hard they almost shattered, Haruyuki flew.

On the building in the distance, the purple light flashed again. Haruyuki caught the attacking laser with the light-guiding rod of his left arm and reflected it. Then he brandished his right hand.

Twenty meters ahead of him, the rectangular body had sunk more than 70 percent into the shadow.

“Laser…Lance!!”

The long lance of silver light that shot forward dug deeply into the side of the black panel. But its descent didn’t stop.

Plrp. Leaving a black ripple behind, the panel sank into the shadow at the exact moment Haruyuki was thrusting his right hand into that very spot. Propelled by all the momentum from his flight, his right hand pushed into the earth nearly to his elbow. However, his fingertips touched nothing.

“Graaar!!” Catching up with him, Leopard dug into the earth with her claws, roaring. But all that she found was virtual soil; the black panels did not come out.

Black Vise had the ability to move freely within shadows. Once he sank into them, finding him from outside was…

—No, there’s still time!!

Haruyuki yanked his hand out of the earth and stood. He helped Utai up from where she landed, right next to the spot where Niko disappeared, and handed her to Fuko.

He wouldn’t give up. He absolutely would not give up. He took a deep breath and tried to somehow take back control of his thoughts burning too hot with rage.

“Pard, please chase down Argon! Someone, leave through the nearest portal and pull Niko’s cable!” Giving these instructions in a single breath, Haruyuki kicked at the ground again. He rapidly ascended to an altitude of thirty meters and scanned the surroundings.

The buildings of the Twilight stage were mostly pillar, so there were plenty of gaps and openings. The shadows that were Black Vise’s special roadways had to be cut off somewhere. And Vise would be heading not toward the base of Midtown Tower, but the edge. Because the tower was an independent building, and the first floor wasn’t in contact with the shadow of any other building.

Chasing the tower’s shadow with his eyes, the leading edge jutted out of the park and fused with the shadow of a building somewhere around where Argon was. Vise would appear just once, somewhere up there. Haruyuki couldn’t miss that moment.

He needed to open up his field of view—focus not on one point, but on the whole. The number of buildings was vast, and the paths of the shadows were linked in complicated ways, but he had to look at them all at the same time.

Leopard was running north in the park, chasing after Argon Array. Beyond that, in a narrow alleyway a little ways from the park, a purple reflection flashed. That was probably Argon. If Vise was joining up with her…Farther past that. Right around the place where a cluster of temples cut across…

Then Haruyuki saw it. From a shadow stretching out into the center of a large intersection, a jet-black rectangular body sliding upward.

Niko!!

I promised! I said I’ll protect you! That I’d come flying if you were ever in a jam!!

He turned the emotions that exploded in the center of his avatar into energy. He gathered up every image of light in the wings on his back and shouted, “Light Speed!!” A silver overlay jetted from his wings, and his duel avatar flew furiously.

In the distant intersection, the black rectangular body transformed into a human silhouette and began to cross the road. His arms held a red avatar, which had apparently lost consciousness.

Beyond the intersection was the next shadow. If Vise escaped into that, Haruyuki wouldn’t be able to follow him farther.

More. More. More speed.

A sense of hyper acceleration came over him, and the world changed color. The stretched-out time became a viscous wall, blocking the way forward.

More. More…

If you wish for it so badly…

Once more, that voice—he thought it had gone off somewhere, but again, he heard the voice of Archangel Metatron.

I shall lend you my power this once. Now call it out loud. My name.

In the top left of his field of view, a row of text in the system color flashed: YOU GOT AN ENHANCED ARMAMENT: METATRON WINGS.

In his accelerated consciousness, Haruyuki shouted, “Equip! Metatron Wiiiiiiings!!”

A pure-white light poured down from the heavens and hit his back. Another pair of wings formed above the metallic ones that were already there. Whiter than anything, thin like blades, but concealing a fearsome power: angel wings.

A dizzying propulsive force slammed into the entire body of Silver Crow, already accelerating with Incarnate. The tips of the fingers of his outstretched hands pierced the wall of time standing in his way.

“F…lyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

Four wings shining, Haruyuki became a beam of light and flew.

To be continued.