Accel World - Volume 18 - Chapter 9

9

Night. The enormous full moon, motionless in the center of the heavens, illuminated the earth with a pale light. The buildings had all been transformed into chalky gothic structures and cast black shadows on roads made up of packed white sand.

“That was a close call,” Sky Raker murmured as she looked up at the stars shining delicately in the night sky.

Haruyuki bobbed his head in agreement. “No kidding. For a second, I was wondering what we’d do if we got the Space stage.”

Silver Crow couldn’t fly in space since there was no air, so all they could have done was wait for the automatic disconnect and then dive again, spending another ten points. Fortunately, however, this was not a Space stage, but rather Moonlight. It was lovely to behold, and there were no troublesome terrain effects. The special feature of the Moonlight stage was that sound traveled long distances, there were few Enemies, and it was extremely dark in the shadows, making ambushes easier.

“But I did sort of want to see what the Enemies are like in the Space stage,” Raker finished, turning around.

“I—I don’t.” Haruyuki shook his head in a panic. “They’ll definitely be some kind of creepy space creatures.”

“Oh my! They might be cool space kaiju, you know? The kind they fight with Mobile Suits, or something.”

“Makes sense. In that case, I guess…”

“I was thinking that might be the case, but you know, something more alien-y would be more atmospheric. Parasitizing, vomiting acid, stuff like that.”

“Urgh. Spare me the acid.” Shaking his head once more, he glanced over at Raker.

She was in her usual white hat and dress, but her wheelchair hadn’t been summoned. Her high-heeled feet were firmly planted on the roof of the condo, and the evening breeze made her bluish-silver hair dance.

“Listen, Corvus.” Fuko dropped her voice slightly, so Haruyuki took a step closer. Looking down on the silent ivory-white town, Fuko began to speak slowly. “I also heard more or less about Sacchi’s situation. Naturally, I don’t want to part from her, either. In fact, I even invited her to take the exam for my high school any number of times. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get her to agree.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Perhaps because it’s a girls’ school,” Fuko replied, smirking briefly at Haruyuki’s bafflement before turning her madder-red eye lenses up toward the full moon above.

“When I learned that there was the possibility we would end up far apart…all I could think about was how to keep things the way they are. Just between us, I even thought about how Sacchi might stay with us in Tokyo if the issue with the White Legion and the Acceleration Research Society dragged on for a long time… But you were different, hmm, Corvus? You decided that if your time was limited, you wanted to take Sacchi as far as you could go. Until the end of the infinite time flowing in the Accelerated World.” Fuko’s gentle, rich intonation hid a hint of sadness.

“No.” Haruyuki shook his head any number of times. “I’m the same. I mean, I want to be with Kuroyukihime forever. I don’t want her to go far away. But…when she first told me about the old days, I said to her, ‘If Brain Burst’s a game, then it’s only natural to try to clear it.’ I don’t want to make those words a lie. That’s why…I…” Here, he choked up.

“It’s all right.” Fuko wrapped her arms around him gently. “You’ll find a path forward as long as you keep looking for it and pushing ahead. Your efforts definitely won’t be in vain. I’ll lend you whatever modest strength I might have. For Sacchi’s sake, for the Legion’s…and for yours as well, Corvus. Now…Shall we go to the Castle?”

Having smashed the walls and beams of his own condo to charge his special-attack gauge, Haruyuki flew off the highest floor with Fuko tucked under his arm.

He headed east, gliding occasionally to conserve energy. Once they passed Nakano, the skyscrapers of west Shinjuku appeared ahead of them. He slipped through the tips of the shining towers bathed in the moonlight, crossed the Yamanote line, and flew on, looking at the vast expanse of Shinjuku Gyoen to his right.

Finally, an incredibly massive structure came into view off in the distance. A snow-white palace surrounded by a pitch-black, bottomless gorge. Dreamily beautiful, nightmarishly frightening, the furthest end of the Accelerated World, which sat right at its center.

In the sky above the ravine, a perfect circle five hundred meters across, there was an invisible boundary wall of supergravity at all times that permitted no flight to the other side. The only roads across the valley and into the castle were the large bridges to the north, east, south, and west, and the main gates that soared up on the other side of them.

Fuko stared for a while at the Castle that slept protected by these four gates, and then looked up at Haruyuki abruptly. “Have you decided which gate to charge yet?”

“Oh. Yes.” He nodded and gained a little altitude. “At first, I thought about going in through the north gate, since I’d heard that Genbu is the only one of the Four Gods that doesn’t fly.”

“That is exactly right,” Fuko agreed.

“But there’s kind of a problem in terms of terrain with the north and east gates, and the west gate, too.” Haruyuki hovered for a moment at an altitude from which all four gates were visible and explained to Fuko what he’d spent a full day thinking about.

The north gate of the castle, guarded by the God Genbu, was called Inuimon in the real world. Likewise, Seiryu’s eastern gate was Sakashitamon, Suzaku’s southern gate was Sakuradamon, and Byakko’s western gate was Hanzomon, all of which had their defenses. The roads before the gates at Inuimon, Sakashitamon, and Hanzomon all had serious bends in them and didn’t lead directly to the building, so their prospects there weren’t good.

But at Sakuradamon, Sakurada Avenue stretched out from the foot of the bridge to the intersection at Azabudai Itchome in basically a straight line for about 2.2 kilometers. His previous approach run had been about two hundred meters, so this was, in fact, eleven times longer.

“I’m going to accelerate as much as I can again before charging into the God’s pop area—the bridge in front of the gate. But since my flying power’s gone up at least a little since last time, I want to get the biggest preliminary boost possible.”

“I see,” Fuko said. “That means the south gate is optimal, hmm?”

“Yes. What do you think, Master?” Haruyuki asked.

Fuko thought a bit. “The Four Gods all have their own characteristic abilities. Genbu has gravity attacks, Seiryu has Level Drain, Byakko has quick movement, Suzaku, flight and fire. They are all fearsome powers, but I think that your flight ability is actually least compatible with Byakko and Suzaku. Byakko can move so fast, it’s like teleporting. Slipping through its claws would be a near-impossible task. And charging Suzaku’s Flame Breath head-on would be extremely reckless.”

“Right.” Haruyuki nodded, remembering the mission to rescue Ardor Maiden on June 18th, exactly a month earlier.

Using Fuko’s Gale Thruster as a booster, Haruyuki had shot across the large bridge, and the reason he hadn’t been hit with the God Suzaku’s Flame Breath was because Kuroyukihime had made herself a target with her Incarnate technique Vorpal Strike. But this time, they would have no comrades to cover them. He and Fuko had to somehow reach the gate alone.

“Last time, it was about three seconds from the time Kuroyukihime charged onto the bridge until Suzaku finished appearing. If we can break through the five hundred meters of the bridge in those three seconds, we won’t be attacked by Suzaku.”

“I see. Five hundred meters in three seconds. So that means a speed of six hundred kilometers per hour, hmm?” Fuko nodded, showing off her impressive mental calculation abilities.

“That’s…right,” he answered, catching up. “My flying ability alone has a maximum speed of five hundred kilometers, and if I use my Incarnate technique Light Speed, I can get up to a thousand kilometers. If we add your Gale Thruster to that, Master, I think we can surpass the speed of sound—twelve hundred kilometers per hour.”

“But we need to factor in our combined weight and the air resistance as well. If we assume our speed is halved to simplify the calculation, then we’ll just barely be able to do six hundred kilometers per hour. But I’m not going to let you go alone just because of this, you know?” Fuko said, as if in warning.

“R-right. I know.” He bobbed his head. “Actually, there’s a possibility we could add some speed. But it’s a bit of a wild card.”

“Mm-hmm?” Fuko cocked her head to one side.

“Um, I’ll explain in detail once we reach the takeoff point!” Haruyuki said, starting to move again.

He took off to the southeast, heading around Yotsuya, and flew with the Castle in sight on his left. They passed the government buildings of Nagatacho, now transformed into solemn temples, and after they slipped through the luxurious mansions from Akasaka to Roppongi, their target, Azabudai Itchome, came into view.

Haruyuki landed in the center of the wide intersection and gently set Fuko down on the ground. They stared silently at Sakurada Avenue, stretching out toward the north. Off in the distance down the 2.2 kilometers of road and five hundred meters of bridge beyond that, he could faintly make out the silhouette of the Castle.

“So then, what exactly is this possibility you mentioned?” Fuko turned her gaze back toward him.

Haruyuki cleared his throat. “Right. Okay, well anyway, I’ll try calling her.” He closed his eyes beneath his goggles and focused his mind.

He called her through the fine link that stretched from him in the Mean Level of the Unlimited Neutral Field to the Highest Level, the very top world.

Can you hear me? I need your help. If you can hear my voice, could you please show yourself…?

Rrrrring! The core of his duel avatar resonated with a bell ringing, fell in tune with it, and finally, the sound melted into him, and he could no longer hear it. Raising his hands in front of his chest, he slowly opened his eyes. A white flickering was born in the palms of his hands, and this instantly became a ring and a spindle and wings, a small 3-D icon.

“Hey, Metatron. Thanks for coming out,” Haruyuki said to the icon who was the terminal for the Legend-class Enemy Archangel Metatron.

Fuko’s eye lenses flashed.

“…Um…Metatron?” Haruyuki said again, moving the index finger of his right hand to poke her.

Metatron flapped the wings of her icon to brush his finger away. “It has been quite some time, Silver Crow,” she snapped.

“Oh. S-sorry. I got busy with stuff…”

“There is no need to apologize. However, given that you have not shown your face in such a long time, why must I help you now?”

“I-I’m really sorry.” Haruyuki bowed his head deeply, trying to somehow put her in a better mood.

“Your pet is as annoying as always, hmm, Corvus?” Fuko asked, exasperated.

“Who are you calling a pet, you insolent creature?! Sky Raker, or whatever your name is, I demand that you prostrate yourself before me this instant!!”

See? Haruyuki couldn’t keep himself from murmuring in his mind. The wild card’s on a rampage.

It took three minutes to finally pacify Metatron. Since it took just a little over twenty minutes for them to travel there, they had an hour and a half until the automatic disconnect safety was activated. Considering the time they would need to secure a safe location within the Castle, they couldn’t spend too much time preparing.

“So what exactly is it you would have me do, Silver Crow?” Metatron finally seemed willing to listen.

“So, um, I want to borrow your wings again,” he hurried to explain.

“What? Is that all? Those wings are still on loan to you. You have no need to come to me every time and ask for permission to equip them.”

“System-wise, that’s true, but they aren’t actually mine, after all. And there was one more thing I wanted your help with,” he said.

The icon blinked the ring above her head in irritation. “How many times must I tell you before you understand? My body right now is in the middle of restoration. If you are to battle that Acceleration Research Society, then I would gladly join you, but unfortunately, I still do not have that power.”

“N-no, that’s not it. We’re not taking them on today.” As he brought the icon to face the north so Metatron could also see, he began to explain the details of the day’s impromptu mission. “Um. We’re going to charge into the Castle.”

The icon’s wings stopped dead. She descended into Haruyuki’s palm before flapping her wings to rise up again. Whirling around, she flashed her ring with ferocious intensity.

“Say that first, you fool!”

“Aah! S-sorry.”

“Area Zero Zero. You are well aware of how strongly I desire information about what you refer to as the Castle, are you not?! If you are going to enter it, there is no reason I would not join you. In fact, if you had not called me, I would have evaporated you ten times in succession once my powers returned!”

“Oh, ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha…” All Haruyuki could do was laugh awkwardly, while behind him, Fuko murmured in an exasperated voice, “You really are an irritating little person.”

Sky Raker, equipped with Gale Thruster, and Haruyuki, equipped with Metatron Wings, faced each other in the center of the intersection at Azabudai Itchome. In the last Castle mission, Haruyuki had ridden on Fuko’s back, but that was because her role had been as a catapult, breaking away at the foot of the bridge. This time, they would both be going in, so they needed a more stable formation for their avatars.

Instinctively, Haruyuki knew this, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be hard to keep his wits about him when he embraced Fuko from the front. His heart pounded, and he fixed his arms ahead of him at a strange angle.

Fuko giggled. She took a step toward him and wrapped her arms around him. “You never change, do you, Corvus?”

“I-I’m sorry. I haven’t grown…”

“Some things are better unchanged.”

“What are you dawdling about?” the 3-D icon on Haruyuki’s right shoulder snapped in irritation. “If your preparations are complete, then fly immediately.”

“R-right.” Haruyuki slipped his own arms through the space between Fuko’s back and Gale Thruster and pulled her close.

“We have to be more tightly fixed in place,” Fuko noted, strengthening her embrace, so Haruyuki followed her example.

Although they were both duel avatars in hard armor, the pressure he felt had a softness to it somehow, making the gears of his thoughts slip, but he shook his head and got back on track. There was no room for error here. He had to focus his entire being on flying.

“I’m good on the bottom. Please make the corrections to our course, Corvus,” Fuko instructed.

He took a deep breath. “Roger. I’ll tell you when to fire Gale Thruster.”

“Please do. My special-attack gauge and my thruster-energy gauge are both fully charged.”

“Me too.”

“I have been prepared for some time,” Metatron said, a little quicker than usual.

“R-roger…You’re not going to fall off while we’re flying?”

“Your relative coordinates are fixed, so there is no issue. Now commence activity immediately.” Metatron fluttered her wings as if to say she could wait no longer, and smiles spread across the faces of Haruyuki and Fuko. The tension building in his chest melted away, and his mind was calm.

“Okay, we’re going to fly!” Haruyuki announced, deploying his own wings first to gently lift off. He started hovering at ten meters altitude and tilted his body parallel to the ground. Fuko, in his arms, would be flying on her back, but she looked at the upside-down field with an accustomed air.

Before their eyes, Sakurada Street stretched out straight ahead like a runway, gleaming white. Far in the distance, he could see the hazy spires of the stately Castle. In the deepest layer of that palace, the Shrine of the Eight Divines, the final Arc lay sleeping, The Fluctuating Light—TFL.

In the Highest Level, Archangel Metatron had once told him:

“The reason for the existence of this space fusing three worlds—if I was to follow the example of you little warriors—the Accelerated World. It is to break into the Castle, a separate world in the center of this world, and the Shrine of the Eight Divines sunken in its depths and reach The Fluctuating Light sealed inside. I am confident of this.”

Metatron had declared that TFL itself was the meaning of the existence of the fighting game Brain Burst 2039. And Haruyuki believed her.

Kuroyukihime. I’m sorry for taking this risk in secret. But I will unlock the secret of TFL and return to you. To reach the end of the Accelerated World with you, Haruyuki called out in his heart.

Then he opened his eyes and stared at the end of the long, straight road.

“Suzaku will start to appear the instant we cross the boundary between the road and the bridge. We will reach and enter the south gate within three seconds from that point.” He reconfirmed the strategy, and Fuko nodded silently. Nodding back, he took a deep breath. “I’ll count down. Five, four, three, two, one…zero!!”

He activated the silver wings on his back with everything he had. The ten metal fins beat against the air, and the ferocious thrust they generated made the two avatars accelerate like a cannonball. The chalky buildings standing on either side of the road advanced frame by frame like a movie.

Weeeen! The wall of air increased in density. Their subjective speed reached two hundred kilometers per hour, and the instant he felt the acceleration from his flight ability dull, Haruyuki howled a brief “Aaaah!!”

He flapped his new wings as hard as he could—the Enhanced Armament Metatron Wings, sharply shaped like swords. White light jetted from them, and the intense thrust from dropping into second gear accelerated the pair abruptly.

“You’ve become quite masterful with these wings of mine.” This thought from Metatron, motionless on his shoulder, flashed into the back of his mind. He didn’t have the mental leeway to respond in words, but he sent out a feeling of gratitude as he continued to accelerate full throttle.

In inverse proportion to his rapidly decreasing special-attack gauge, his flight speed skyrocketed. The buildings on either side became a flowing line of gray and started to melt away. However, at four hundred kilometers per hour, their acceleration started to falter once again. Despite their combined weight, the doubling air resistance was more difficult than he’d expected. The air became a highly viscous liquid pushing the pair back.

As he gritted his teeth, his wide-open eyes caught the shadow of a massive structure on the right side of the road—Toranomon Hills Tower. This was the midpoint of their runway. Holding onto Fuko tightly, he shouted half in his mind, “Master!!”

“Roger!!”

Gale Thruster sent pale-blue flames gushing from Sky Raker’s back.

Their acceleration’s third gear was also incredible. Haruyuki felt the armor of his entire body squeal at the intense Gs, while the high-frequency hum of Silver Crow’s four wings was drowned out by the roar of the rocket boosters. Their subjective speed exceeded six hundred kilometers per hour, and his field of view gradually contracted.

As the world narrowed into a small circle, Haruyuki finally saw it: the bridge that appeared off Sakurada Avenue and the massive palace gate beyond it.

Theoretically, if they managed six hundred kilometers per hour, they would cross the five-hundred-meter-long bridge in three seconds and reach the gate before Suzaku finished appearing. But they were just barely going that fast. He wanted another level of acceleration.

I guess…I’ll have to use it after all! Bracing himself, Haruyuki focused his imagination.

Light. The image of a light that pierces everything.

Silver Crow’s entire body was enveloped in a faint glow. The Incarnate overlay also cloaked Fuko in his arms and Metatron on his shoulder.

G…ooooooooo!!

After this soundless battle cry, Haruyuki shouted, “Light Speeeeeeeed!!”

Top gear. Their final acceleration boost came from the lone second-level Incarnate technique Haruyuki had learned. The wall of compressed air generated a shock wave and shattered the buildings on either side.

Seven hundred…seven hundred and fifty…eight hundred kilometers per hour!

The end of the runway was approaching. Large buildings came into view once again ahead of them. On the left was the Metropolitan Police Department, on the right, the Ministry of Justice; beyond that, the earth disappeared, and there was only the bridge across the bottomless ravine and the Castle it connected with the field.

Almost on the bridge. Three seconds…two…

In the midst of a super-acceleration that made everything feel like it was in slow motion, Haruyuki saw it: Bright-red flames flickered to life on the Suzaku altar in front of the Castle’s south gate. In the blink of an eye, the flicker became a bonfire and transformed into a bird of flames with massive wings and a long tail. The appearance effect of the Super-class Enemy, one of the Four Gods, Suzaku.

But why?! We’re not on the bridge yet!! An astonished scream echoed in Haruyuki’s mind.

Suzaku’s appearance was two seconds earlier than he’d expected. It would be impossible to cut past the altar and break through the gate before it finished manifesting. But he couldn’t stop now. Even if they decelerated here, they’d only end up stopping in the middle of Suzaku’s territory.

Break through, Corvus!!

You must go, Crow!!

Thoughts from Fuko and Metatron hit him at the same time.

“Unh…Aaaaaaaaaaah!!” Howling, Haruyuki mustered up every last bit of energy his mind and the system could offer and charged onto the bridge, accelerating even further.

When they reached the halfway point of the bridge, the God Suzaku finished materializing. The immortal bird, wrapped in crimson flames with a wingspan of thirty meters, opened its glittering ruby beak wide, flapped both wings powerfully, and floated up ahead of Haruyuki and Sky Raker.

An orange light grew inside the beak—the Breath attack.

They weren’t going to make it. The instant those flames rained down on them, Haruyuki’s and Fuko’s health gauges would drop to zero, and they would fall into an inescapable state of Unlimited EK.

Suddenly, an intense light nearly blinded him. The source was his own shoulder. The 3-D icon settled there emitted a white light so bright it washed out even Suzaku’s flames, while a thought filled the air, sonorous and solemn, befitting an Archangel.

“Stubborn beast, embodiment of destruction!! I shall not allow you to obstruct my flight nor that of my servant!!”

Her voice spread out through the field with an energy that was almost physical, and Suzaku stopped moving for the briefest of instances.

And then the Super-class Enemy roared like an explosion of flames, its voice too familiar to Haruyuki.

“The ruler of a mere hole in the ground would dare turn a hand against me, a God?! Foolish traitor, turn to ash with the little insects!!”

Because this exchange took place in thought rather than out loud, it did not even take a full second. But that almost-second was the most precious second of all the time Haruyuki had experienced in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

Suzaku started the motion for its breath activation again. The remaining distance was one hundred meters.

A torrent of flames jetted out from the diamond-shaped opening of its beak. The very tip of the orange blaze shone an intense bluish-purple, indicative of the terrifyingly high temperature.

The hellish conflagration charged toward them from above, and the world was dyed the color of flames. Haruyuki flew at the limits of his superspeed while adjusting the angle of his wings to lower their altitude. If Fuko’s back touched the bridge, they would definitely lose their balance, bounce up, and be swallowed by flames, but they couldn’t evade the Breath unless they got as close as possible to the bridge.

Another centimeter. One more. And then…five millimeters.

Gale Thruster’s stabilizer made a chk! sound as it scraped against the bridge’s paving stone.

A single drop of Flame Breath bounced off Haruyuki’s back, and that alone burned away 10 percent of his health gauge.

“Aaaaaah!!” With an unconscious howl, Haruyuki mustered the last of his imagination and kept flying away from the flames charging them from above. Cruising at an altitude of fifteen meters, Suzaku changed the angle of its breath to aim at Haruyuki and his comrades. But it wouldn’t be able to hit them if they flew directly under it.

Stray sparks of fire ate into his armor and tore through his gauge. Gale Thruster made contact with the bridge two, three more times, sending sparks scattering.

Only fifty meters until the blind spot under Suzaku…forty…thirty. They should have been able to race through this distance in the blink of an eye at this speed, but it seemed hopelessly far.

No, it definitely wasn’t hopeless. He had to believe with a single-minded focus and fly. In Fuko’s Gale Thruster, Metatron’s wings, and his own will.

Fly. Fly. Flyyyyyyy!!

Flash.

A blue light pierced Haruyuki’s wide-open eyes. It was not the rage-filled bluish-purple of the Flame Breath, but an endlessly pure, deeper than any other, lapis lazuli blue.

The color of the sky. A color he had seen just once before.

The source of the light was the Castle’s south gate blocking the road ahead. The thick stone doors had at some point opened just a little—wide enough for a single avatar.

A silhouette stood quietly in the darkness of that gap. The moonlight reflected off the armor, making it shine a royal blue that was even noble.

The silhouette had its right hand on its left hip. This image overlapped in his mind with the special attack motion of the twins Cobalt and Manganese in the fight the day before. The unsheathing of a sword…

The silhouette moved its right hand so quickly, it resembled a blue aura—an Incarnate overlay gushing from its entire body. This was clearly an attacking movement, but Haruyuki did not so much as hesitate in the direction or speed of their flight.

A clear voice reminiscent of a young samurai rang out sonorously.

“Heavenly Stratus!!”

The blade lashed out at incredible speed on the horizontal and then vertically drew out a cross-shaped sword of light.

At the same time, an enormous blue cross was carved into the back of the God Suzaku, closing in before Haruyuki and his comrades.

The Super-class Enemy wavered slightly as it gushed pulsations of rage. The trajectory of the Breath pressing in on Haruyuki’s back was knocked off, and the flames were swallowed up by the ravine to the side of the bridge.

Last chance!! Spending all his remaining energy, Haruyuki pushed for one last acceleration.

Finally, they charged into the space beneath Suzaku. The rage-filled aura pressed down on them from above and tried to crush them.

But this pressure was an illusion. They didn’t begin to compare with the God Suzaku when it came to battle power, but they couldn’t lose in determination.

Fighting the pressure, Haruyuki turned their course upward. A mere thirty meters until the gate. If they could fly through that opening, Suzaku couldn’t come after them. He was laser focused.

But the Super-class Enemy did not miss this instant when he turned his mind from the powerful foe above to the gates in front of him.

“Up, Crow!!” Metatron’s voice echoed in his brain.

At the same time, a belt of flames whipped toward them from above. Suzaku’s tail. If it hit them, they would crash into the bridge and be killed instantly.

“I won’t…let yooou!!” Screaming, Haruyuki removed just his left hand from Fuko’s back and held it up high.

He had already activated his second-level Incarnate technique Light Speed. And before this moment, he’d never even attempted to activate, much less succeed in activating, two Incarnate techniques simultaneously. But he had no choice now.

With the image of light still gathering in his wings, a silver overlay also rose up in his hand. Fingers stretched out like a sword, he thrust his hand directly at the tail of the immortal bird.

“Laser Sword!!”

A sword of light extended more than two meters from his hand and severed just one of Suzaku’s flaming tail feathers.

Fuko also thrust her left hand out and shouted resolutely, “Wind Veil!!”

The green overlay that gushed from her left hand became a whirlwind that swallowed them up. The Incarnate barrier fought the flames that closed in and sent waterfalls of sparks scattering. But even Fuko could not completely defend against Suzaku’s flames, and sparks broke through the barrier to singe their armor.

Sensing the health gauges in the upper left of his field of view dropping rapidly, Haruyuki made a last-minute correction to their trajectory. His aim was the slight gap the Laser Sword had made in Suzaku’s tail feathers. He inclined his body, folded his wings at an acute angle, and opened his eyes wide.

“Yaaaaaah!!” With a final battle cry, he charged through the eye of the needle.

The instant they intersected with the tail feathers, his field of view was dyed a bright red. His health gauge dropped even further, falling to 50 percent.

In the next instant, Haruyuki and his comrades emerged beneath the night sky, a plume of sparks trailing behind them like a comet tail. He listened to Suzaku howl with rage behind them as they flew the final thirty meters and plunged through the crack in the doors.