Accel World - Volume 21 - Chapter 6

6

“Nngh!” At the same time as he landed, a sharp pain pierced his right foot, and Haruyuki let out a small grunt. As a metal color, Silver Crow had some resistance—albeit not much—to spike-type damage zones. But whenever he stepped down hard or landed from a jump on the countless thorns that rose up to cover the ground with the earlier Change, several of them pierced the soles of his feet, inflicting sharp pain and damage.

Meanwhile, the duel avatar facing him stood tall, coolly composed as though the thorns didn’t even exist. This was because two needles grew from the tips of her slender feet and one from the heels, so that the thorns of the ground didn’t reach her soles. And the needles weren’t only on her shoes. Keen barbs glittered on her knees, elbows, shoulders, and even on her surprisingly thin torso. Together with the rose-red armor, the countless spikes decorating the elegant design of the F-type avatar made her the very image of a rose.

“Sorry. I can’t let you through, Corvus,” she said in a gentle voice, tilting her sweet face mask slightly to one side. “Could you perhaps go off somewhere else?”

Her tone and the name she used for him reminded him strongly of Sky Raker, momentarily striking him speechless. He glanced up at the tapered tower rising up behind the rose avatar to rouse his battle spirit, before bringing his gaze back to her.

“I can’t do that. All the more so if someone of your class is protecting her.”

“Oh my! You’ve heard of me?”

He announced the name that had been in Kuroyukihime’s notes: “Third of the Seven Dwarves, Rose Milady.”

“Ding-ding.” The rose avatar nodded with a smile. “Although some people call me Grumpy.”

Contrary to this nickname, there was nothing particularly grumpy or threatening about her demeanor, but there was no mistaking that this was one opponent he couldn’t afford to let his guard down with. He’d already lost the power of flight in her initial attack.

After finding success in the mission against the last boss of the Shiba Park Underground Labyrinth, the first form of the Archangel Metatron, Haruyuki and his comrades had left the dungeon together with the finally freed second form—Metatron’s true form—and started back for Sengakuji. Haruyuki had held Trilead, while Metatron carried Lime Bell for him, so he’d been able to fly at basically full speed. They soared over the university campus and then south down the Dai-Ichi Keihin highway until finally their goal came into view. There, he had spotted a single Burst Linker on the roof of the tall, narrow building towering up on the northern side of Sengakuji.

He had no doubt that the pale-peach armor was that of the F-type who had hidden herself and changed the Territories stage into the Unlimited Neutral Field. Haruyuki instinctively knew that the reason she’d reappeared was to bring about some new supernatural phenomenon. And that this phenomenon would be something to push Nega Nebulus even farther up against the wall.

But his friends were going to regenerate in a few minutes. After a moment’s hesitation, Haruyuki decided to have Metatron go on ahead by herself to Sengakuji. He had taken Chiyuri from her, and the three had flown toward the roof of the building in question. But when they were less than a hundred meters out, a rain of something had been poured down from the roof. Unable to completely evade the objects in the air, he’d ended up with both wings pierced. Only after he made a soft landing did he learn that the “something” had been keen-edged thorns some twenty centimeters in length.

From there, several things had happened in quick succession. In the direction of Sengakuji to the south, a pillar of white light—most likely Metatron’s Trisagion—poured down from the sky. Then the circle of an aurora spread out once more from the roof of the building they were trying to reach, and the Demon City stage transformed into an utterly evil stage he’d never seen with damage zones everywhere. And finally, the rose-colored duel avatar had appeared.

He’d made Lime Bell and Trilead flee to a building since they were taking damage from the thorns and set out to land the first blow. But the instant he stepped hard onto the dense thorns covering the road, they pierced the armor of the bottoms of his feet, stopping his movement. That was when the rose avatar dropped down from the building and started chatting with him. So.

Faced with the third of the Seven Dwarves, Rose Milady, Haruyuki tried to take in the current situation. The fact that Metatron’s Trisagion had fired meant that there was a good chance that Fuko and the others on the Sengakuji grounds had managed to regenerate. And the Oscillatory side would have taken serious damage. He couldn’t imagine that even Snow Fairy and Glacier Behemoth could survive such a superpowered laser attack. On the other hand, he was concerned about the stage that came with the new Change. It had been nine months already since Haruyuki became a Burst Linker, and he had reached level six; there couldn’t have been that many stages left that were an absolute first for him. And yet, the fact that he had no knowledge of this one meant it was very likely the highest of the dark types—the Hell stage.

In Hell, the Archangel Metatron’s powers were greatly weakened. Her main form wouldn’t be able to escape this system-type restriction. But she wasn’t even completely recovered from her previous outing and she had launched her Trisagion at full power once more. She had to have been suffering in this miasma.

This thought made him want to race off to Sengakuji right that second, but he couldn’t ignore the tower before his eyes. The Burst Linker at the top was the very person with the bizarre power of the Change. And the fact that one of the Seven Dwarves had stayed back from the main battlefield to protect her proved that whoever it was in that tower, she was Oscillatory Universe’s trump card. Haruyuki absolutely had to defeat her somehow before she disappeared again.

“I know painfully well that you’re strong. But you’re going to have to let me pass,” Haruyuki announced, looking squarely into Rose Milady’s white eye lenses.

A faint smile rose up on the face of the rose avatar as she gave voice to an unexpected question. “So the fact that you all are alive means you defeated Shadow Cloaker then, Corvus?”

After a moment’s confusion, he realized that this was the name of the ninja avatar they’d fought on the roof of the hotel near Shinagawa Station. When he nodded silently, Rose’s smile grew wider.

“Then you must be pretty strong, too. But you can’t beat me. This isn’t the usual Territories stage anymore. In an all-out slaughter like this, Oscillatory Universe isn’t—Brain Burst isn’t—such a sweet ride that kids like you can defeat the Seven Dwarves.”

Haruyuki could see that these words were not a threat but rather her true feelings on the matter. Rose Milady was undoubtedly a master on the level of Sky Raker and Blood Leopard, and against such an opponent, in a contest where anything goes—when it came down to a fight of Incarnate against Incarnate, Haruyuki didn’t have a ghost of a chance of winning. This was as clear as day.

But right about now, at Sengakuji, his regenerated comrades would have been starting their counterattack against Oscillatory Universe. He couldn’t let another Change get in the way of their fight. It was hard to imagine a greater adversity than the Hell stage, but he had no guarantee that this was the worst Oscillatory would bring against them.

I’ll push my way through!! Haruyuki was about to shout.

But before he could, Chiyuri cried out from where she had retreated to a building to the rear. “Crow! There!!”

Reflexively looking back, Haruyuki saw something incredible.

A massive shadow moving just on the other side of a group of low buildings. He couldn’t feel its heavy steps on the earth because it was soft-bodied like a squid, moving as though it were sliding along, twisting countless tentacles. It had to have been ten meters tall. If this was a Hell stage, then that had to have been a Devil-class Enemy, the kind the Blue King had mentioned at the meeting of the Seven Kings. Despite the fact that Haruyuki and his comrades must have been in its aggro range, it didn’t so much as glance at them on its journey straight south.

Haruyuki spotted a silver crown embedded in the devil’s tapered head. Just like the Enemy encamped at Shinagawa Station, it was under the control of Oscillatory Universe, and now it was headed for Sengakuji. To wipe out the regenerated members of Nega Nebulus once more.

“Say, Corvus?” Rose Milady called, and Haruyuki turned around once more. Clad in a red that was almost too vivid, the avatar turned so that the silver needles decorating her body shone as she spoke in a kind and patient way. “There’s nothing else you can do with the power you have. Leave right away with your two friends there. Flee to somewhere with no Enemies and hide there until it’s all over. You three alone might make it.”

Haruyuki understood that these words, too, were not a threat nor any kind of bravado, but rather a genuine warning. But he couldn’t listen to it. If he ran now, he would have no longer been a Burst Linker even if he managed to survive.

Instead, he caught her eye lenses once more and asked, “What exactly does Oscillatory Universe—does the White King want? What is she trying to make happen in the Accelerated World by creating the Armor of Catastrophe, the ISS kits, and then this new armor?”

“The end and the beginning. That’s all I can say right now.”

“The end…and the beginning?” Haruyuki couldn’t begin to imagine what this meant; it was just too abstract. But if there was even a one-in-ten-thousand chance that the members of the White Legion were even remotely just in their purpose, he could never agree with the idea of sacrificing the members of his Legion to that end. Absolutely not.

“Thank you for the warning,” he replied quietly, then lowered his stance into a ready position. “But we are never going to see eye to eye. I can’t run away now.”

“No? Too bad. I also can’t allow you to pass.” Rose gently raised a hand.

Chiyuri and Lead called to him from behind.

“Crow! Me too!”

“I will also fight, Crow!”

Haruyuki turned toward them and thrust out his left hand. Given that neither were metal colors, just stepping onto the thorny ground would cause them serious damage. The road to the tower was narrow, enclosed by tall walls on either side; there was no way to evade the damage zones. But with this hand, he communicated not only his intent that they should leave the fight to him, but also his impromptu strategy.

Of course, just like in the real world, you couldn’t use telepathy in the Accelerated World. There were abilities that allowed the transmission of thoughts in ways other than vocal, but neither Haruyuki, Chiyuri, nor Lead possessed any of those.

However. Any number of times now, Haruyuki had experienced something he could only see as a mental connection.

The voices of Fuko and Chiyuri when they’d charged into the battle to rescue Ardor Maiden from the altar of the God Suzaku. Kuroyukihime’s voice when he’d been swallowed up by the rage of the Armor of Catastrophe and tried to destroy the avatar of the Black King. And the voice of the Archangel Metatron that had guided and encouraged him so often.

He more or less understood the logic of this conversation through thought now. Most likely, it was brought about by what Metatron called a link—a direct connection on the Highest Level. Something resembling the link established between Metatron and Haruyuki had been generated instantaneously with Kuroyukihime, Fuko, and the others, and these links could transmit thoughts. They were so small they didn’t begin to compare with his connection to Metatron, but he had to have one with Chiyuri and Lead, too. If in this moment alone, even just one small thought could reach them, then he could see a chance of winning, albeit a faint one.

Unlike Snow Fairy, Haruyuki couldn’t yet shift to the Highest Level under his own power. But he imagined this link in that world where there was no time or distance that bound him to Chiyuri and Lead and sent out a focused thought.

A second later, their actual voices reached his ears.

“…Got it.”

“Understood.”

He didn’t know if they were responding simply to his gesture to hold them back or to his thought. But he had faith that he’d reached them and brought his hand down.

Once he drew Lucid Blade, Rose Milady said nothing further but simply stood quietly, her hand in the air, fingers loosely splayed.

There were eight meters between them. He couldn’t find any real opening to make a slash attack, but the seconds would only pass by pointlessly unless he moved. Exhaling and then inhaling, he brandished his sword.

“Nngh!!” Haruyuki leapt off the ground with the tip of his foot. The sharp thorns pierced his sole, and the fierce pain was accompanied by a drop in his health gauge, but he ignored both of these. He took another step, and yet another at a trot, getting into position for a slash attack.

Rose still didn’t move. She wasn’t fleeing or defending or aiming for a counterattack; she was just standing there.

In the compressed time, the first thing he sensed was a fragrance. A rich, bewitching, sweet scent. This was followed by color. A deep, almost wet green, and a red, vivid like blood. His surroundings had stopped being the black thorn-scape of the Hell stage and transformed into a garden of large roses blooming in every direction.

Finally, Rose’s mouth moved as she uttered the attack: “Secret Garden.”

A thin, even redder overlay enveloped the already rose-red avatar.

Countless vines shot up from the green covering the ground at his feet and twisted around him. The downward swing of his blade stopped in midair, and he was frozen in place.

A restraining technique, he thought. And then innumerable needlelike thorns popped out of the vines that held him fast and dug deep into Silver Crow’s armor.

“Nngh!”

A pain racked his body, so powerful that the pain of the Hell stage spikes stabbing into the soles of his feet didn’t begin to compare, and his health gauge dropped over 70 percent at once. Haruyuki moaned, unable to withstand it entirely, and he heard the voice of Rose, as gentle as ever.

“Sorry. I never know what kind of roses will blossom in the garden. The thorns of the red roses are quite painful, hmm? Don’t worry. I’ll make you comfortable soon enough.”

A new vine stretched up from his feet, and given that his health gauge had not stopped its precipitous decline, any new thorns would surely kill him instantly.

“Nngh…Unh!” Groaning, Haruyuki intently repositioned his grip on his beloved sword as it was about to fall from his hands.

The new vine crawled up from his hips to his chest. At a glance, it was only about a centimeter thick, but it was sturdy like a wire rope; he’d never be able to tear it off with the strength of his limbs alone. Only Incarnate techniques could fight back against Incarnate techniques, but as long as his arms were fixed in place, he couldn’t manage this with his Laser Sword. But Haruyuki mustered the last of his strength and tried to bring his sword down.

Rose’s eyes narrowed in something like pity.

In that instant, Haruyuki thought, Now, Lead!!

* * *

“Heavenly Stratus!!”

The crisp voice echoed through the air, and a mere millisecond later, an azure blast came flying in from the rear to cut a straight line across Silver Crow’s torso and the myriad vines.

If Trilead had aimed normally, however high-level his Incarnate technique might have been, Rose would no doubt have avoided it. But because of the blind spot created by Crow’s body, she was an instant too late to respond to the slashing attack that came flying in after slicing through Silver Crow. The crescent moon of blue light slammed into Rose’s chest and ripped deep into her torso. But it didn’t sever the high ranker’s body.

No good…One more hit. Haruyuki decided immediately, and with only his upper half free from the restraint of the vines, he brought down Lucid Blade. Normally, from this position, he wouldn’t have been able to put enough force into the swing to sever the hard armor of a duel avatar. He also had no time to switch Lucid Blade to lightsword mode. But the mysterious voice he’d heard during the fight with Glacier Behemoth was still burned into the back of his mind.

There’s no need for power in sword techniques in the Accelerated World. No matter how hard the item, there is a “seam” to sever.

The seam was like the grain of wood. There shouldn’t have been such a thing in the homogenous avatar armor, but he strangely understood what the voice was trying to say. The essence of a duel avatar was not metal or resin, but data. A vast set of coordinates.

Why could a sword cut the armor of an avatar or an Enemy? Because it was sharp. Because the power was concentrated in so few coordinates that it made the sword sharp. The extreme of this was Graphite Edge’s dual swords with blades on the molecular level. In which case, to cut a target, Haruyuki must aim not for a surface, but a line. And not a line, but a point. The logic being that the localized cutting power generated by the damage calculation would grow rapidly.

Unaware even of the pain that danced along his nerves after his avatar had its abdomen cut in two, Haruyuki focused all his mental energy and brought Lucid Blade down. The sharp tip precisely caught the end of a small needle extending from Rose’s chest. He wasn’t cutting it off with physical strength. The sensation was of sliding the coordinates of his beloved sword blade through the coordinates of his target. Fuse while cutting—a Way of the Flexible on the micro-level with a sword.

The extremely thin blade sliced through the metal needle as if through butter and kept sliding down into the naked body of the avatar. Already injured from Lead’s earlier slicing attack, Rose smiled as though in admiration and closed her eyes.

At the same time, Haruyuki saw that his own health gauge was decreasing with terrifying speed. He would, in fact, die there.

…Unless.

“Citron Caaaaaaaalllll!!”

Chiyuri’s voice rang out, and a bell sounded as green light poured down and enveloped Haruyuki’s body. The drop in his health gauge stopped with just a few pixels remaining and shuddered as though fighting against the system before steadily increasing again.

And then the avatar of Rose erupted in an explosion of red light and scattered.

“I’m not giving up yet,” Shihoko/Chocolat Puppeter had declared to Magenta Scissor. It wasn’t a lie. However hopeless the situation, she had no intention of throwing in the towel and falling to her knees.

But in this tight spot, tighter than any she’d been in so far, surrounded by ten evil Enemies, larger than anything she’d ever seen, with sharp thorns covering the ground, Shihoko was at a loss to find something she could actually do. She’d made a modest safe zone by freezing her Cocoa Fountain, but because of that, she was unable to produce her greatest weapon, the automatic fighting Chocopets, and her main body didn’t have any long-distance firepower. All she could do was stand protected in a circle of her more experienced comrades.

If nothing else, at least, she could tattoo her heart with the battle of Sky Raker, Blood Leopard, Black Lotus, and Magenta Scissor with her red overlay, trying to protect her. So that she wouldn’t forget it even if the time were to come when she was no longer a Burst Linker. Shihoko opened her eye lenses wide.

Mihaya Kakei/Blood Leopard had questioned herself any number of times: Why do I cherish Yuniko Kozuki/Scarlet Rain so much?

It wasn’t because they’d had a particularly special meeting. After the former Red King had lost all his points and left, Prominence split into several small groups, and people left one after another, weakening the Legion to the point where they soon wouldn’t be able to avoid extinction. In this turbulent period, Niko had been desperately trying to protect herself and her few comrades. Her level was still low and her method of fighting clumsy, but her spirit alone had been hot, a conflagration. On what was probably a whim, Mihaya had joined Niko’s team and shared her experience and techniques with her. At the time, she’d never dreamed that Niko would bring the Legion back together, reach level nine, and sit on the throne as the second Red King—plus take Mihaya on as Submaster.

In the midst of all this upheaval, an unshakable feeling when it came to Niko had appeared inside of Mihaya at some point. But what that feeling was, she still didn’t really understand. It was different from the solidarity and gratitude she had for her parent and cousin Akira Himi/Aqua Current. And it was different from the respect and admiration she had for Fuko Kurasaki/Sky Raker, who was what she wanted to be as a Burst Linker. She just intently, earnestly cherished the younger girl.

In Japanese, the root of the word cherish meant pressing in very close, and this had apparently led to the meanings of need for urgency, critical, and priceless. When she thought about Niko, something urgent closed in on her heart, so she had nodded her head in great understanding when she’d come upon this root.

Maybe it was that the perilousness and ephemerality in this girl Niko that made Mihaya feel this way. Of all the kings, she was the only second, an extreme and powerful duel avatar completely specialized in super-long-distance firepower. The heavy responsibility of the Legion Master had been gradually forced upon her. And the real-world Yuniko made use of two different personas, most likely unconsciously. With so many unstable elements just barely balancing, Niko was quintessentially Niko.

Which was why Mihaya was secretly relieved that Prominence had merged with Nega Nebulus and that Niko had been appointed the new Legion’s provisional Submaster. The pressure of Legion management would be shared with the Black King now—although it wasn’t that she didn’t feel insecure there in her own way—and she expected that the burden on her would be lighter now.

Even after they were caught that day in the White Legion’s trap, the first thing she’d felt was not fear that she would lose all her points, but relief that Niko was not in the battlefield. Of course, she had no intention of simply being taken out, and she definitely had her eyes peeled for a chance to counterattack, but that was all the more so when she thought that Niko was safe.

Thus, when the pillar of light poured down on Sengakuji, the stage changed to Hell, the Devil-class Enemies appeared, and then Black Lotus stepped out onto the stage even though she was not supposed to be there; Mihaya had felt anticipation and unease at the same time. She wanted to see Niko one more time. She didn’t want Niko to lose all her points.

Feeling as though conflicting feelings were toying with her, she was rooted to the spot, and the roar of the ten Enemies shook her body. The strange creatures were drawing in from all directions in the plaza. The Devil-class Enemies, which only appeared in a Hell stage, had a battle power on par with Legend-class. And if there were ten of them, then it was very much within the realm of possibility that Nega Nebulus would fight in earnest and still be wiped out, even with the Black King joining the fight. They had to create an escape route somehow, but there was no opening in the group of Enemies surrounding them.

Mihaya gritted her teeth, and Aqua Current hit her lightly with a clenched fist covered in water. “Myah, this is the big moment.”

Even though she was normally called Pard in the Accelerated World, her parent dared to utter her real-world nickname.

Mihaya gently held her hand. “K.”

“We’ll create an opening. Aim for Ivory with Cannon,” Current said.

Mihaya’s eyes opened wide for a moment before she understood. Several of them, starting with the Black King, possessed long-distance Incarnate techniques that were more than sufficient to instantly kill Ivory Tower, but Ivory would render those Incarnate techniques useless. In which case, Mihaya likely possessed the most powerful long-distance special attack with the longest range of anyone there, so she had to take on the role of attacker.

But there was one major issue. Having just regenerated, Mihaya’s special-attack gauge was basically empty. That would have been the same for everyone there.

And of course, as only a parent could, Current spoke again, reading Mihaya’s thoughts. “Olive’ll do something about your gauge.”

“Something.” She couldn’t imagine what exactly he was going to do, but there wasn’t time to ask for details. “K.” Mihaya nodded again, and Akira nodded in return.

They had formed a circle with Chocolat Puppeter, Bush Utan, and the other younger members in the center and were ready for the devils’ simultaneous attack. They had already cut the distance down to thirty meters, and now they approached from all directions like a black tsunami.

“Incarnate defenses are going to be canceled! Everyone, on my signal, attack the devils head-on!” Raker cried out.

Even if all fifteen used their most powerful special attacks, there was no way they could wipe out ten Devil classes, but that was not their aim. The goal was to blind Ivory with flashy lights and explosions, so that Mihaya could launch a special attack while his attention was elsewhere. She couldn’t imagine that the same strategy would work twice, so they had just this one chance.

“Mode Change,” she commanded in a quiet voice, and when she transformed into her leopard Beast Mode, she lowered herself to the ground and waited for her moment.

The earth shook harder with every step of the ten super-heavyweight Enemies, and the innumerable spikes growing there resonated in harmony, producing a bizarre sound.

“Now!!” Sky Raker called.

From the center of the circle, Olive Grab shouted, “Sacrificed Nectar!” His torso and four limbs, slender like poles, instantly swelled up into the shape of rugby balls—well, olives—and popped open. The better part of the avatar disappeared amid a waterfall of golden liquid, and Bush Utan caught the remaining head. The rain poured down on everyone in the area before evaporating.

This technique could only be described as a suicide bombing, and Mihaya was stunned into silence. But the true surprise came after that. Her nearly dry special-attack gauge rapidly increased. Even if he had to lose his entire body in exchange, this was an incredible technique, so incredible that it was almost out of balance with the price paid. He most likely had to sacrifice something else as well, but at the moment, she merely stopped at thanking him in her heart and waited for the right time.

Similarly fully charged, her comrades shouted as one.

“Lightning Cyan Spike!!”

“Flame Vortex!!”

“Flying Panheaaaaad!!”

“Ruthless Shear!!”

“Thousand Prickles!!”

“Colossal Horn!!”

“Cyanide Shot!!”

“Icilin Strike!!”

“Spiral!!”

“Wind Bullet!!”

“Vorpal Strike!!”

Multicolored light effects dyed the plaza, and eleven long-distance special attacks and Incarnate techniques shot forward, rippling outward and avoiding the ice cube. Powerful flashes and explosions pushed back the approaching herd of devils ever so slightly. But the quadruple bars of the top-class Enemies’ health gauges essentially didn’t drop. And it seemed that Ivory Tower had no intention of canceling out Incarnate attacks so long as they weren’t aimed at him; he wordlessly lorded over them, staff still raised in one hand. There wasn’t even a hint of carelessness or arrogance to be found in his gaze.

Keeping her body low within the circle, Mihaya glared at Ivory in vexation. Just one moment. All she needed was a single moment. If he would just look away…

Abruptly, in the midst of the explosions, she smelled strawberries again.

And then a voice from high above called out the name of a twelfth technique and proved that this was neither delusion nor hallucination.

“Coronal Mass Ejection!!”

Crimson flames ripped across the purple sky. A shower of missiles, shots from four Vulcan cannons, a volley of large-diameter laser cannons. All blended together into a storm of long-distance firepower that slammed into the devil with Ivory on its shoulder before exploding dramatically. The devil protected Ivory Tower with its hands, so he was essentially unharmed. But even he couldn’t ignore such a grand attack, and he turned his narrow gaze beyond Mihaya.

Restraining her own powerful desire to look back, Mihaya cried in the quietest possible voice, “Bloodshed Cannon!!”

Her fully charged special-attack gauge disappeared, and a gun barrel of red light formed around her crouched body. With a clap of thunder, Mihaya became a bullet and was fired.

“I do sincerely apologize, Crow.” Trilead put both arms against his sides and started to bow deeply, but Haruyuki hurriedly moved to stop him.

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Lead.”

“The fact that I inflicted such an injury on you is due to nothing other than my own inexperience.”

“No, no. I asked you to do it. There was no other way to take down Rose Milady.”

“But…” Lead hung his head.

“That’s right!” Chiyuri slapped him on the back. “We won thanks to you, Lead! And I healed H—I mean, Crow’s injuries. It’s no biggie! We’re all good!”

Haruyuki wanted to protest that, actually, it had hurt an unbelievable amount, but of course, he held his tongue. Instead, he stroked the torso that had been split in two with Lead’s Incarnate technique, but there wasn’t so much as a scratch remaining on his metal armor.

“Still…I know I’m late to the party here, but you—your Citron Call is seriously incredible,” he muttered.

Chiyuri blinked a few times before saying in an exasperated voice, “Yeah, you really are late to that party.”

“No, it’s just like, it’s plenty wild in the Normal Duel Field, too, but…When it’s applied to the Unlimited Neutral Field, it’s like perpetual motion…” He trailed off.

“You’re not using words right.”

Trilead finally smiled just a little, and the tension left his shoulders.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Haruyuki was about to put a hand on Lead’s back when he heard the thunder of a number of ferocious and terrifying roars, the likes of which he’d never heard before, and the air shuddered and shook. Judging from the reverberation, the noise came from a few hundred meters away, but the chill racing up his spine made his entire body stiffen up.

“Wh-what was that?!” Chiyuri cried.

“That super-huge Enemy from before,” Haruyuki responded in a hoarse voice. “The fight at Sengakuji’s started.”

“Then we gotta get going!”

Yeah, let’s go. Haruyuki desperately swallowed the words back down.

The truth was, he wanted to fly right back to Sengakuji and add his strength to that of his regenerated comrades. But at the top of the tower before them was the Burst Linker with the power to interfere with the entire battlefield. If they let her be, she might put them in an even more terrible situation than they were already in. That was exactly why they’d decided to take on the do-or-die fight against the tower’s guardian, Rose Milady.

“Bell, Lead. Go back to Sengakuji and help the others. I’ll go to that tower,” he announced heavily.

Chiyuri reflexively started to argue but then pursed her lips tightly shut. She nodded silently and then said, “Okay. All fine and good to go back. But the thorns on the ground…”

Haruyuki glanced back. They were standing inside a building a little ways off from where they’d fought Rose Milady. Dark, lustrous spikes grew densely on the road outside, and nonmetal colors Chiyuri and Lead would take damage simply by standing on them. If they ran the three hundred or so meters to Sengakuji, they might die before they made it there. Of course, their special-attack gauges would build up in proportion to the damage they took, so it was possible for her to heal with Citron Call. But there, too, was a serious problem. Choir Chime, the large Enhanced Armament equipped on Lime Bell’s left arm, was nearly twice as long as her forearm, so she couldn’t turn it on herself—in other words, she couldn’t heal her own self.

Haruyuki earnestly set his mind to figuring out if there was some other way.

“I’ll carry her,” Trilead declared suddenly.

Haruyuki was surprised, but Chiyuri threw her head back in shock, crying, “Whaaaaaat?!”

“B-but, Lead, I mean, you’ll take dam—”

Lead cut Haruyuki off with a cool smile.

“It’s all right. Master Graph used to make me do things like run across magma before.”

This could have been a joke or the truth. Haruyuki managed to return a faint smile and shook off his hesitation. “Got it. Thanks, Lead. Take care of Bell…and everyone else.”

“I will. I promise,” Trilead replied crisply, turning his back to Bell as he crouched down.

With Chiyuri on his back, Lead practically flew along the thorny road, and Haruyuki looked up at the southern sky once more. The buildings blocked his view, so he couldn’t see it directly, but the sound of explosions came intermittently from the direction of Sengakuji. There was no doubt that Fuko and the others were fighting hard against the Devil-class Enemies.

Master, Shinomiya, Akira, Pard, Ash, Metatron…I’ll be there soon. Please just hang on a little longer! Haruyuki called out to his friends in his heart and then turned on his heel.

Before him, a rose-red death marker was spinning slowly. Haruyuki couldn’t see her, but Rose Milady was somewhere nearby in a ghost state. Most likely, if she’d really been serious, she could have killed Haruyuki, Chiyuri, and Trilead with a snap of her fingers. If she’d been like the ninja he’d fought near Shinagawa Station and hadn’t said a word to him from the start, if she’d attacked with her full power without bothering with a restraining technique, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

Haruyuki didn’t understand why she hadn’t. But he bowed his head silently toward the marker before spreading his restored wings and taking off from the thorn-covered ground. The tower rose up at the end of the narrow road like a black lance. Aiming for its tip, he shot upward.

The very top of the tower was a small circular terrace, wrapped in gray miasma. In one corner, he found a human shadow very much like a girl curled up holding her knees. A slender staff lay at her side. Her dress-type armor was peach with a hint of purple in it. Translucent-ish platinum-white hair flowed down her back, and glass high heels encased her slender feet. He couldn’t see her face beneath her large hat.

The girl avatar didn’t lift her face even after Haruyuki landed on one edge of the terrace. Although she had to have heard the sound of his metal wings vibrating, her thin shoulders and the fingers gripping her knees didn’t so much as twitch. He felt nothing remotely like battle lust coming from her, so he felt confident that he could’ve gotten the upper hand by drawing his sword and attacking. Instead, however, he walked over to her slowly and knelt down.

“Um. I’m Silver Crow from Nega Nebulus.”

The pale-peach avatar still made no movement, but a few seconds later, a thin voice reached him. “If you’re here, that means you won against Rose, huh?”

Haruyuki had the sudden feeling he’d heard the voice before, but he couldn’t place it. After thinking a little, he shook his head. “No, I don’t think I won. Rose could’ve killed us, but she didn’t.”

The girl was silent for another few seconds before she finally lifted her head. Her face mask was so delicate, elegant, and anguished that it seemed impossible for it to be less matched to the words duel avatar. Her citron-colored eye lenses stared at Haruyuki for just an instant and then were lowered once more. “I’m Orchid Oracle.”

The avatar name very much suited the completely non-battle-type figure. And he felt it was also a pair with Rose, who had been guarding her.

Still not really understanding what he wanted to do with this person or what he wanted to say, Haruyuki dipped his head once more. “It’s nice to meet you, Oracle. Um, I…”

But before he could find the words with which to continue, she said something unexpected.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve met.”

“Huh?” Frowning beneath his goggles, he stared hard at the avatar once more. It was true that this wasn’t the first time he’d seen her. He had seen her twice before, once when she changed the Territories stage to the Unlimited Neutral Field with her Incarnate technique Paradigm Revolution and once when she changed the Demon City to the Hell stage. But he had only caught a glimpse of her from afar. They’d never spoken, so he wasn’t wrong in offering the greeting “Nice to meet you.” Was he?

When Oracle spoke again, her statement was a thousand times more shocking.

“You and I have met before…Haruyuki Arita.”

Cracked in the real!! Reflexively bracing himself, Haruyuki was on the verge of clenching his hands into fists when he was overcome once more with a powerful sense of déjà vu—or rather a sense that he already knew, and he froze. In his ear, he heard the echo of a faint voice from far away.

“Oh…Did you need something?”

It had been ages and ages since he had heard that voice. From back before he was even a Burst Linker.

After appearing out of the blue in the squash game corner of the Umesato local net, Kuroyukihime had asked him, “Don’t you want to go further, boy…to accelerate?” and invited, “If you do, come to the lounge at lunch tomorrow.” And Haruyuki had mustered up his infinitesimal courage and visited the school cafeteria lounge.

There was an unspoken rule that this area was off-limits to seventh graders, and when he entered it, the eyes the older students turned on him were perplexed, looking at the rare beast of a lost child. But there had been one person who very kindly asked him what he needed there. Short, fluffy hair. Gentle smile. The scent of black tea wafting around her. The treasurer of the Umesato Junior High student council, Megumi Wakamiya.

“Wakamiya?” he asked in a voice that was not a voice, and Orchid Oracle assented with the faintest of smiles.

Suddenly, it felt as if the floor at his feet—no, the field itself—was crumbling to pieces around him, and he steadied himself with a hand on the floor.

Megumi Wakamiya was a Burst Linker…and a member of Oscillatory Universe. That meant that Kuroyukihime’s closest friend was an underling of her greatest enemy, White Cosmos.

“But…That’s not possible. That can’t be.” Shaking his head, Haruyuki tried desperately to deny the name he himself had uttered. “If Wakamiya was a Burst Linker, then her name would show up on the matching list at Umesato. There’s no way no one would notice for over two years. And…And…”

Suddenly, transparent liquid filled his eyes beneath his goggles, warping his field of view.

But there’s no need for a duel avatar to have the ability to shed tears, he thought, perplexed, in one corner of his mind.

“And even if you were her…,” he continued, “that means you were lying to Kuroyukihime all this time? Were you pretending to be her friend up to today, waiting for the moment when you’d betray her?”

“…No.” Orchid Oracle—Megumi Wakamiya—denied the charge, a hint of emotion bleeding into her voice. “I wasn’t lying to her or anything like that. I’ve always been Kuroyuki’s friend—her best friend. I love her. I want us to be close forever.”

“So then…why?! Why didn’t you say anything before today?!” Haruyuki pressed her.

“I can’t say,” Megumi replied, her voice shaking slightly. “It’s just…I’m a Burst Linker who lost all her points. I had the Brain Burst program forcibly uninstalled and lost all my memories of the Accelerated World.”

It took a little time for these words to take on any meaning inside his mind. He took several deep breaths before asking hoarsely, “You lost…all your points? So then…who is the you that’s here right now?”

This time, Megumi was silent.

The fierce sounds of battle continued from Sengakuji to the south. His Nega Nebulus comrades were engaged in a terrible struggle against the Devil-class Enemies. Suppressing the urge to go running to them that very second, Haruyuki waited for Megumi’s answer.

“The White King has been studying how to regenerate Burst Linkers for a long time,” she replied finally.

“S-studying regeneration? But doesn’t the White King have the special attack Resurrect by Compassion for regeneration?” And then it clicked in his mind. Megumi wasn’t talking about regenerating duel avatars. She was talking about regenerating Burst Linkers. “D-do you mean…a way to bring back Burst Linkers who’ve lost all their points?”

“Yes. There are already a number of limited successes. You would know that, Arita.”

“Successes,” Haruyuki murmured, and the words Takumu had once spoken to him at the main headquarters of the Acceleration Research Society came back to him.

What if the memories of Burst Linkers at total point loss aren’t annihilated but taken from them? They’re pulled from the head of the Burst Linker and saved somewhere in the Brain Burst central server. And then someone—probably a member of the Acceleration Research Society we don’t know yet—called up those memories somehow…

“The first Red King, Red Rider, and…the Acceleration Research Society’s Dusk Taker?” Haruyuki croaked.

Megumi nodded silently, pulling her knees even more tightly against her body. “I only just heard about all that from Milady while we were on standby here. But I think they’re temporarily regenerating them by downloading the memories left in the Brain Burst central server into a ‘vessel.’ With Red Rider, it was an Enhanced Armament. And with Dusk Taker, it’s a separate Burst Linker. But it looks like the White King still can’t manage true regeneration—she can’t bring back the memories of a Burst Linker at total loss as is and reinstall the BB program.”

Of course she couldn’t. That was the greatest principle that was the foundation of Brain Burst, and if true regeneration were possible, the existence of Burst Points themselves would lose all meaning. But if it were possible, then it might be able to erase the pain Kuroyukihime felt after pushing Red Rider to total point loss with a surprise attack, the hurt in Niko’s heart from judging Cherry Rook with her own hand.

“So then…how are you…?” Haruyuki asked, a vast fear and faint hope in his heart.

But Megumi Wakamiya hung her head once more and slowly shook it from side to side. “That…That alone I don’t know. Not me. And not Rose, either.”

“Y-you don’t know?”

“No. I got my memories from my time as a Burst Linker back today, when I went to the school library to return a book I’d borrowed after the closing ceremony and student council meeting. I guess I lost consciousness for a minute or two at a carrel desk, but the library was empty, so no one noticed.”

“At the library? So then you weren’t connected to the global net, right?”

“Right. Maybe they came into my Neurolinker through the local net or maybe a program had been set up to activate on a timer…Either way, when I came to, the memories of when I was Orchid Oracle were already in my head. And there was an order from the White King with basic information about Nega Nebulus on my virtual desktop.”

“A-an order,” Haruyuki stammered. “What…?”

“I was to move to Minato Three by four o’clock, and once the Territories started, I was to follow the instructions of Ivory Tower,” she replied slowly.

He realized that these utterly simple instructions hid a terrifying truth. The White King had indeed seen through Nega Nebulus’s strategy. And if he were to believe Megumi, she hadn’t been feeding the king information as a spy, which meant that White Cosmos had set up this elaborate trap based on nothing but a hunch.

“So then, shifting everyone from the Territories to the Unlimited Neutral Field, and changing the Demon City to the Hell stage, that was on Ivory Tower’s instructions?” Haruyuki asked, dumbfounded, but then layered another question on top before Megumi could reply. “No, to begin with, before that…Why are you following the White King’s orders? Just because you got your memories back doesn’t mean you forgot about Kuroyukihime, right?”

“There’s no way I could forget Kuroyuki.” Her voice was tinged with sadness, and Haruyuki couldn’t hold back any longer.

“So then…! Why did you betray her?!” he shouted. “Is the White King more important to you than Kuroyukihime? Or is it because you’re afraid of the Judgment?!”

“That’s not it,” she protested. “I already lost all my points once. I’m not fixated on my old Legion Master or Brain Burst after all this time.”

“So then why?!” he demanded.

“That’s…That’s.” Megumi clutched her hands tightly together in front of her chest, as if a knife had been plunged into her heart, and squeezed out in a pained voice, “It’s because I was told…if the White King’s research is completed, someone I care about could also be recovered.”

“Someone…you care about?”

“Of course, I love Kuroyuki. She’s my best friend. But…I care just as much about this person. I mean…she’s my parent, after all. I can’t compare them.”

“Your parent,” Haruyuki parroted, staring at Megumi’s face mask.

Droplets of light spilled one after another from her citron eye lenses and melted into the air, disappearing.

He couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Because for him, too, his parent Kuroyukihime was the very reason that he continued to be a Burst Linker. Not knowing what more he should say, Haruyuki bit his lip.

“I haven’t had any memories as a Burst Linker in the two years and four months since I started at Umesato,” Megumi said, the tension in her avatar easing slightly. “But the reason I knew that you were Silver Crow, Arita…is because no one is more worthy of being Kuroyuki’s child than you.”

He cocked his head to one side unconsciously at the unexpected statement. “Me?”

“She trusts you, and you care so deeply for her, too. Even without my memories of Brain Burst, I was a little jealous of you.” She laughed faintly and turned her eye lenses toward the purple sky. “My parent was also a wonderful person. Totally different from Kuroyuki, though. But she was kind and strong and had big dreams. But maybe because her dreams were too big…A bunch of Burst Linkers who’ve forgotten her now caught her in a surprise attack, and she lost all her points in an Unlimited EK.”

“Her dreams were too big?” Haruyuki repeated, a memory locked deep inside tickling him a little.

“Yeah. She was trying to create a way to avoid total point loss by having a lot of Burst Linkers lend points to one another. So that someday, everyone in this world could laugh and have fun with this game Brain Burst.”

Haruyuki felt a shock that numbed him to the core and half groaned, “What…? That’s…the cooperative Legion…But…”

Megumi reacted instantly, wildly. “H-how do you know about that, Arita?!”

“H-how?” After a moment’s confusion, he remembered Megumi Wakamiya had been away from the Accelerated World for over two years. Even if she had guessed that Haruyuki was Kuroyukihime’s child, she would of course have had no way of knowing that Silver Crow had been the sixth Chrome Disaster or that he had shared part of the memories of the first Chrome Disaster, Chrome Falcon.

But he didn’t have time to explain everything about the Armor of Catastrophe, so instead of answering Megumi’s question, he focused on confirming the question in his mind. “Is your parent Saffron Blossom?”

“How did you know that?” Surprise colored her face mask once more. “She lost all her points in an Unlimited EK long, long before you became a Burst Linker.”

“Wait a second. If Saffron is your parent, then there’s no way the White King would regenerate her. I mean…I mean.” Haruyuki saw again the scene of Saffron Blossom being killed over and over and over by the Legend-class Enemy Jormungand while three Burst Linkers watched coldheartedly. “I mean, the one who pushed Saffron Blossom to total point loss with the Unlimited EK was White Cosmos herself.”

Megumi didn’t react immediately.

Her face mask, devoid of expression, moved back and forth over and over, in childish refusal. Her eye lenses flashed irregularly, and anticipating Zero Fill, Haruyuki reflexively moved to touch her hand, but she pulled her body away as if rejecting his comfort.

“No.” Her voice was hoarse, dry. “That’s a lie. The White King…She protected me when I had nowhere to go; she taught me so much…She said she’d bring Saffron back once she finishes her research.”

“That’s the lie. The White King lied to Kuroyukihime, too, and set it up so that she would drive Red Rider to total point loss. She spreads terror and false hope like poison; she’s manipulated so many people!”

“No…Stop it! Just stop it!!” Megumi put her hands over her ears and cried out in an even more pained voice, “I betrayed Kuroyuki to bring Saffron back to life. I did it even though I knew we couldn’t go back to being friends! This is the only path for me now!!”

“That’s…That’s not true!!” Lost in the moment, Haruyuki reached out and grabbed Orchid’s slender arm. “I mean, I betrayed Kuroyukihime. I fused with the Armor of Catastrophe, and I lost control of myself. I attacked her. But…no matter how battered she got, Kuroyukihime didn’t try to fight back. She believed in me; she accepted every blow. I’m sure she would do the same for you, Wakamiya. I mean…I mean, the two of you are…”

Haruyuki couldn’t find the words to express the relationship between the two young women. Megumi had said “friends,” but he felt that this didn’t fully tell the tale of what existed between them. Like Saffron Blossom and Chrome Falcon, they were bound by unconditional trust and compassion. Whatever trick the White King sent their way, even if the meeting between Megumi and Kuroyukihime itself was one of her schemes, they had cultivated and built a bond that absolutely couldn’t be spoiled.

“Saffron…Falcon!” Haruyuki unconsciously called out to the two ancestral Burst Linkers. “Please help Orchid Oracle—your child!!”

The phenomenon that occurred in that instant was impossible for Haruyuki himself to perceive, but in the Brain Burst central server—the Main Visualizer—a temporary link was established between the quantum circuits dedicated to Haruyuki and the longsword-type Enhanced Armament known by the name Star Caster. He could no longer touch this Enhanced Armament, given that it was sealed away inside a certain player home in the form of a card, but inside the server—on the Highest Level—distance and obstacles in the field held no meaning.

Star Caster contained the memories of a Burst Linker who had long ago lost all her points and left the Accelerated World. It held the memories of Saffron Blossom, who had championed the idea of a cooperative Legion as one of the Originators.

Abruptly, a breeze blew in carrying a sweet, refreshing scent and cleared away the miasma of the Hell stage. Or so he felt.

Megumi Wakamiya opened her eyes wide, and then Haruyuki heard it, too. A voice with a childish note to it that somehow gave the impression of deep caution and calm.

“Okki, I’m sorry for making you so sad. And thank you. I couldn’t do much for you as a parent, but you didn’t forget me.”

“H-how could I forget you, Fron?!” Megumi shouted, pulling away the hands that covered her ears. “It was you, wasn’t it? You guided me to the Accelerated World in Okinawa! I…I miss you! If I could just see you again. I…I—!”

The voice, youthful and solemn at the same time, responded.

“I’m sorry. I can’t see you anymore, Okki. But I’ll always be watching over you. When you’re accelerated—and when you’re not. Always.

“So…do what you think is right, Okki. Do what you can now for the sake of the person you love…”

The voice faded and disappeared.

“Fron!!” Megumi reached out a hand, trying to grab hold of something that wasn’t there, and eventually lowered it slowly. The tears that fell one after another from her eye lenses hit Haruyuki’s chest and scattered into a modest light before disappearing.

A remarkably strong explosion sounded from the direction of Sengakuji, and the slender tower shook.

Once the shaking had stopped, Megumi raised her face mask. “Arita— No, Silver Crow. Take me to the battlefield.”

“Bloodshed Cannon!!” Mihaya shouted under her breath, but with the maximum of fighting spirit.

Her avatar became a bullet fired diagonally upward, piercing the orange flames of the explosions and the gray of the miasma.

Blood Leopard’s sole and greatest long-distance attack, the origin of her nickname Bloody Kitty. If it made a direct hit, it would shatter even the heavy armor of green-type avatars, but if it missed its mark, and she plunged into a building or the ground, she would die instantly. Since she was aiming for an enemy who was high up, if he dodged her, she would just keep flying up into the sky, but her Fall Protection ability likely wouldn’t be able to fully absorb the resulting damage. Thus, Mihaya had intently waited for the moment when Ivory Tower’s attention was elsewhere.

The special attack Coronal Mass Ejection that had given the human-type devil upon whose shoulder Ivory rode such a fierce blow was Scarlet Rain’s trump card. And anyway, there was no way that Mihaya would mistake Niko’s voice for anyone else’s. It wasn’t just the Black King, Kuroyukihime; the Red King had also dived into this battlefield. And she had released all her firepower at just the right moment to draw Ivory’s eyes.

Dammit. Reckless as always. Once we burst out, I’m really going to let her have it. This thought flitted through the back of her mind as Mihaya charged forward in bullet form. Just thinking about Niko, her spirit was surprisingly brimming with energy. Her whole body sang.

I will not miss. I’ll smash you to dust!

With unwavering confidence, Mihaya pierced the flames of the explosion and closed in on her target. Ivory finally caught sight of her, but it was already too late. There wasn’t a Burst Linker in the Accelerated World that could avoid Bloodshed Cannon at this point. Or so she thought.

Suddenly, Ivory Tower’s left arm was dyed a lustrous black, deeper than darkness.

“Layered Armor.” As he called the technique name, he transformed into several thin, ink-black panels along the trajectory of the Cannon.

The shock from colliding with the first panel threatened to knock her consciousness out of her avatar, and Mihaya gritted her teeth. A sound like breaking glass rang out, and the thin panel shattered. But two more appeared immediately, and once again, the shock of collision was unbelievable. Three, four black panels. Each time she smashed one, Blood Leopard’s armor was damaged, and her health gauge dropped precipitously.

Five panels. Six. On the seventh, her charge finally stopped. Falling as she returned from bullet form to her original leopard-shaped avatar, Mihaya caught sight of Ivory.

Except—it wasn’t Ivory Tower, the fourth of Oscillatory Universe’s Seven Dwarves and the full proxy of the White King. His entire body had transformed into a bizarre figure, several matte-black thin panels layered in the shape of cooling fins. His head, too, was a collection of black panels, with no face mask. But from between the gap between two panels, Mihaya could sense a definite gaze watching her.

Lowering his left arm—70 percent destroyed—the layered avatar shook the face that was not a face from side to side as he spoke in a curiously calm voice. “My goodness. And I was planning to hide from you, even submitting to dying alongside you repeatedly in Brinicle.”

The voice and tone were totally different from Ivory Tower’s. She could only assume it was a different person. Or rather, Mihaya knew this black duel avatar.

The shadow user who kidnapped Scarlet Rain at the end of the attack on Midtown Tower. The vice president of the Acceleration Research Society, Black Vise.

Had he stepped in for Ivory Tower between the moment Bloodshed Cannon launched and the bullet arrived? No, that was impossible. There definitely hadn’t been time for that, and Mihaya had seen it with her own eyes. To defend against Bloodshed Cannon, Ivory’s left arm had turned into several black panels.

But on the other hand, it was absolutely impossible for one duel avatar to turn into another duel avatar. It was completely different from changing into Beast Mode like Magenta Scissor, Moose, and Thistle or equipping Enhanced Armament like Niko and Raker. This was a total transformation.

In the reaction of the defense against her Cannon, Mihaya had fallen without being able to take on a passive posture to fall safely, but a cushion of water caught her. Then she was caught in Aqua Current’s arms, but forgetting to offer her thanks, Mihaya stared up at the layered avatar on the devil’s shoulder as if to burn a hole in him.

In his unharmed right hand, he gripped the staff to control the Enemies. There was no sign of Ivory Tower in the area. And on Vise’s right hip, there remained a deep wound from the Black King’s Vorpal Strike. Ivory Tower really had transformed into Vise. Or had Vise transformed into Ivory?

It was just too much, and Current, Raker, Maiden, and the others were speechless. The first to react was the Black King.

“You…Black Vise!!” Black Lotus turned the sword of a hand up toward the layered avatar. “So Ivory Tower is your true identity!!”

Vise shrugged lightly. “Now, now. Why would you think that? The opposite is just as possible.”

“No, it’s not,” the Black King snapped. “Because the system has never once displayed the avatar name Black Vise. That name is nothing more than what you call yourself!!”

“I see, I see. So you won’t forgive the doubling of the black color? Quite rude, hmm?” Vise laughed, sounding more than comfortable, and then adroitly spun the staff in his right hand. At some point, the surrounding devil Enemies had stopped moving once more. In the pressure-filled silence, a calm voice flowed, strongly reminiscent of a schoolteacher. “But, well, since it’s come to this, it seems I’ll have no choice but to also have you retire from the Accelerated World, Black King. I shall gladly take on the vacated color name.”

He brought the staff, spinning like a baton, to a stop and raised it leisurely. The silver sphere embedded at the top glittered ominously.

“This time, most certainly, we will end this. Whoops, before that.” Vise moved the staff lightly, and one of the devils launched a ball of roaring flames from its mouth. It hit the ice cube that Mihaya and the others had tried not to destroy and instantly melted it.

The ice came pouring down with a roar, and from inside, Snow Fairy said in her childlike voice, “Aah, we finally made it out!”

Glacier Behemoth shook his massive bulk, sending water droplets flying. “So in the end, it comes to this, hmm?” he said, half sighing. With Fairy still on his head, he stepped back along the thorny ground. Slipping through a gap between the devils, he retreated to a building on the west side of the plaza and prepared himself to watch over the end of the fight with the remaining Oscillatory members.

The fifteen members of Nega Nebulus stayed locked together and didn’t move. They couldn’t move. None of them, including Mihaya, had anything left to try to turn the tables. The special-attack gauges that Olive Grab had charged for them with his do-or-die suicide-bomb technique were all used up, and the chocolate pond at their feet defending them from thorn damage was starting to melt.

“Our only choice is to use our Incarnate techniques together at the same time,” Akira murmured in her ear, still holding Mihaya.

That was the only means left to them. But most likely, the instant he saw any overlay, Black Vise would turn back into Ivory Tower and try to wipe out their Incarnate with Imaginary Time. Their chances were poor, but they would have to set up a final contest by holding on until Vise showed them an opening once more.

“Now, members of Nega Nebulus. It is time to say farewell.” Black Vise casually brought down the staff in his right hand.

The momentarily frozen devils flashed their variously shaped eyes all at once, emitting strange cries from many mouths, as they closed in like black walls from all directions.

“Like I’m gonna let yooooouuuuuuu!!”

The voice that rang out did not belong to any of the fifteen surrounded by devils. An armed red tank charged in from the north of the plaza, wildly firing bullets and missiles. Dreadnought, the transformed mode of the Red King’s Enhanced Armament Invincible. As a duel avatar, it boasted the largest scale in the Accelerated World, surpassing even Glacier Behemoth, but it didn’t begin to compare with the ten-meter-tall Devil-class Enemies.

Even so, with her charge, which appeared to be the last of whatever power remained to her, Niko created a slight gap in the circle of devils and shoved the tank through to fly into the center of the circle. She immediately returned to Fortress mode, providing cover for the fifteen members of Nega Nebulus as she spread out two massive armaments like arms.

Massive swords, lances, fists, and tentacles thundered down. With each fierce blow, an explosion ripped into the seams and joints of Invincible’s armor, and parts began to peel away and fall off.

“Aki, let me down!” Mihaya shouted, trying to move carefully with the aftershocks of the violent pain of Bloodshed Cannon still rippling through her.

But Aqua Current kept Mihaya tightly in her arms and activated an Incarnate technique. “Phase Trans: Adamant!!”

The flowing water armor that covered Current’s body gathered in her arms and froze to create gauntlets with large blades.

And then Invincible erupted in a remarkably fierce explosion and scattered in all directions. The large armaments of the sides and the missile pods broke up into enormous pieces in midair and disappeared, and the leg parts followed them after too many repeated blows. The cockpit block managed to survive somehow, but without any mobility of its own, it dropped to the ground.

“Rain! You okay?!” the Black King called, green overlay in both her arms.

“Yeah, basically!” Niko’s voice came from the cockpit. “I know you said to cover the girl, but I can’t move no more!”

“Understood. Leave the rest to me! Overdrive! Mode Green!” The parting lines that ran all across the body of the Black King emitted a vivid-green light.

That light had not yet disappeared when Black Vise brought The Luminary down, and the devils attacked as one once more. Roars. Impacts.

Aqua Current’s right arm stopped a very large sword and then flew off from the shoulder and shattered into pieces. Cracks ran along the Black King’s dual swords, and Cyan Pile’s pile driver exploded. Not to mention, two death effects erupted upward, purple and gray; Moose, protecting Thistle Porcupine, and Ash Roller, protecting Bush Utan, had fallen. And there was no doubt that the members who managed to survive had seen their health gauges drop significantly, too.

…One more time. She would use Bloodshed Cannon one more time and take out Black Vise. That was the only way of turning this around that came to mind. But Mihaya’s armor was battered and cracked, and the damage reached down to the naked body of her avatar. If Current hadn’t been holding her up, just staying on her feet would have been difficult. On top of that, she needed 20 percent more in her special-attack gauge.

“Aki, I don’t have enough in my gauge. Cut me with that sword,” she said to Current.

The avatar, who had lost nearly half of her flowing water armor, quickly shook her head. “Better to absorb it from me.”

“I can’t use Mental Bite unless I’m human. I won’t be able to withstand the next joint attack. Hurry!”

The face mask of the ever-calm Akira twisted up in agony behind the water. She brought the short blade stretching out from her gauntlet up to Mihaya’s back as she leaned against her.

Black Vise raised the staff once more on the shoulder of the human-shaped devil. In sync with this movement, the Enemies also brandished their weapons and fists.

“Sorry, Myah,” Akira murmured, about to put strength into her blade.

And then green light flashed from the supposedly deserted southern side of the plaza—in other words, from behind Black Vise—to envelop the layered avatar. A sound of resonance like a bell rang out, and the staff clutched in Vise’s hand, the Arc, The Luminary, vanished without a trace.

“Hrng!” Vise grunted in surprise, and the human-shaped devil grabbed him with its massive hand. Mihaya thought it was trying to protect him from their attacks like it had a few minutes earlier, but that wasn’t the case.

A roar full of rage ripped out of the devil’s throat as it crushed the inky avatar with a single squeeze. The dozens of thin panels became thousands of fragments and scattered, and dull-black flames erupted from inside the fist. Those flames drooped down to the ground like a viscous fluid and turned white to produce a death marker the color of an elephant’s tusk.

Stunned, Mihaya tried to guess what had happened. The reason the Devil-class Enemy had been released from Vise’s control was because The Luminary had vanished. The reason it vanished was because it had been hit with a green light. And there was no mistaking that light.

Citron Call, the special attack of Nega Nebulus’s Watch Witch, Lime Bell. And it hadn’t been the mode that rewinds the time of the target, but rather Mode II, which rewinds status changes in a duel avatar. The Arc that Vise had was probably transferred to him by the White King, but Lime Bell had made it as though that transfer never happened.

Opening up her leopard vision all the way, Mihaya stared south of the Sengakuji plaza. The small silhouette in the pointed hat brandishing a bell-type Enhanced Armament was definitely Lime Bell. And beside her was a death marker, although it was unclear to whom it belonged. Most likely, whoever it was had used up all their power carrying Lime Bell to that position in Black Vise’s blind spot, taking thorn damage all the while. Thanks to their efforts, their most powerful enemy, Black Vise/Ivory Tower, had temporarily left the battlefield.

But it was still hard to say that this turned the battle situation in their favor. Freed from the rule of the Arc, The Luminary—or out from under its control, the devils would rampage even more wildly and come to attack Mihaya and her comrades. On top of that, there were still ten members of Oscillatory remaining, including Fairy and Behemoth.

“Everyone, hang on a little longer! We’ll focus our attacks on one of them and create a way out!!” The Black King quickly called out. “Overdrive! Mode Red!!”

The parting lines that shone green changed to a ruby red. With the pain racking her entire body finally weakening, Mihaya also pulled free of Akira’s arms and braced herself firmly on the chocolate ground.

The ten Devil-class Enemies once again targeted Nega Nebulus and howled fiercely, their massive bodies shaking.

“Aaaaaaah!” Black Lotus’s battle cry was on par with that of the devils, as a blue overlay reminiscent of a super-hot star gushed from her arms.

Even Mihaya, now a member of the Black King’s Legion, couldn’t help but feel a shiver of fear at the purity and intensity of that light. She couldn’t even begin to imagine exactly how much training was required to polish a technique to such an extent without falling to the dark side of the Incarnate System. Incarnate techniques didn’t normally work very well on Enemies, but the strength of her imagination was enough to easily pierce such resistance.

Mihaya thought that they might really be able to take down just one Devil class at least. But at the same time, she also understood painfully well that not all of them would make it out. Even if they did break out of the circle of devils, an endless damage zone and ten veterans, including two of the Seven Dwarves, awaited them. Encamped as they were in safety zones inside buildings, they far and away had the advantage in a group battle. Not to mention, the cockpit block of Invincible could no longer move and simply sat next to Mihaya and the others. Most likely, Niko intended to provide cover for their retreat with her last weapon, four automatic guns. But Mihaya couldn’t leave her behind. There was no way.

First, though, they had to defeat the devil before them. If even half the group could get away, they would still have a thread of hope. She lifted her battered body to scrape together the last of her strength.

And then she heard that voice from the sky once more, the voice that had changed the Territories stage to the Unlimited Neutral Field and the Demon City to the Hell stage.

“Paradigm Restoration.”

Ice claws digging into her heart, Mihaya looked up. Beneath the swirling purple clouds, an F-type duel avatar floated, wrapped in a faint-pink light. But she wasn’t flying under her own power. A silver avatar pressed up alongside her to hold her aloft with an arm. Platinum wings stretched out gracefully from his back, each one an arrangement of ten metallic fins shining with a light as if to purify the miasma of Hell.

“C,” Ardor Maiden said.

“Corvus,” Sky Raker murmured.

There was no mistake. It was the Black King’s child, the lone duel avatar in the Accelerated World with the ability to fly, Silver Crow. If it were anyone else, this was the sort of thing that would make a person assume Crow had turned to the White Legion. But Mihaya—and probably everyone else there—was certain the possibility of that was zero.

Pale-peach light poured down in a straight line from the staff in the F-type avatar’s hand and spread out in a cylindrical aurora. Touched by this light, the Devil-class Enemies vanished without a sound as if they had only ever been illusions right from the start. And that wasn’t all. The jet-black thorns covering the ground and the purple clouds embedded in the sky also disappeared, transforming into cold, flat, steel tiles and a dark-gray night sky. Hell had turned back into the Demon stage.

But no…no, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t all. The fact that the dawn’s light had also vanished from the sky meant that this was no longer the Unlimited Neutral Field. The instant she came to this conclusion, Mihaya started to think about what she should do now. But the two kings were already moving.

“Starburst Stream!!”

The Black King called a fierce technique name Mihaya had never heard and swung her dual swords encased in a pale overlay ferociously one after the other, over and over. With each stroke, the light turned into a shooting star and raced off toward the eastern side of the plaza.

Meanwhile, the Red King leapt out of her half-destroyed cockpit block, crimson light shining in her fists.

“Radiant Burst!!”

Her arms flashed at a speed that was impossible for even Mihaya’s leopard eyes to make out, firing the red aura like heavy artillery. The blue shooting stars and red bullets the two kings fired were swallowed up by one corner of the eastern side of the plaza, chasing after the quickly expanding aurora.

Here, Mihaya finally understood the kings’ intent. The pink aurora generated by the F-type avatar in the sky above was opaque. She and her comrades couldn’t see beyond the aurora to the other side, but that also meant that no one on the outside could see them, either. In other words, if they launched long-distance attacks to chase after the aurora, the members of Oscillatory Universe on the outside would have no way of perceiving them before they hit.

Shining with a pale-peach light, the aurora passed the large building on the east side of the plaza and turned it back into its normal Territories stage form. Ten Burst Linkers were in the open area on the first floor, trying to catch the final moments of Nega Nebulus. Snow Fairy, still standing on top of Glacier Behemoth’s head, was about to shout out. But she was too late.

The Incarnate techniques, launched by two level niners with everything they had, hit the ten square on. An impact wave rippled the earth and pushed back toward them, causing Mihaya to unconsciously brace herself.

Blue and red light merged, expanded, and swallowed up the ten silhouettes before transforming into an incredibly massive spiral of exploding light to eliminate the members of the enemy Legion along with the ostensibly indestructible building of the Demon City stage. The light shot up higher and higher until it reached the dark sky and evaporated the thick clouds before finally weakening.

The ten health gauges that had popped up in the right side of Mihaya’s field of view, including those of Snow Fairy and Glacier Behemoth, dropped all at once and disappeared.

Haruyuki keenly understood that his own instantaneous power of thought, which he had taken up as an issue lately, absolutely didn’t begin to compare with that of Kuroyukihime and Niko. They couldn’t have predicted that Orchid Oracle would appear in the sky with him and return the Unlimited Neutral Field to the Territories with a second forced Change. Thus, he’d intended to land once the Change was complete and explain the situation to everyone before taking on the challenge of the final battle with Oscillatory Universe.

To start with, Haruyuki hadn’t even known that Kuroyukihime and Niko were taking part in this fight. When he’d flown from the northern tower to Sengakuji and discovered Black Lotus and part of Invincible on the ground among his comrades, he’d been so stunned he nearly dropped out of the sky. Pushing back the desire to go to Kuroyukihime’s side that very moment, he stayed in the air to wait for the Change to end.

But the two kings entered attack formation a few seconds after the aurora started to spread out and annihilated Snow Fairy and her team with an unavoidable Incarnate attack immediately after they shifted back to the Territories stage. That power of judgment and ability to act couldn’t be explained away with just battle experience.

Most likely, the fact that they were even in the stage at all was the result of their preeminent thinking abilities. He wouldn’t know until he heard the details, but for some reason, they had realized that this was a White Legion trap and had come chasing after the bus they’d only just disembarked from. If Kuroyukihime and Niko hadn’t been there, they probably wouldn’t have been able to withstand the powerful attack of the Devil-class Enemies.

The members of Nega Nebulus standing together below him were seriously injured, and Cassis Moose and Ash Roller weren’t even there. Looking to the south, he found Lime Bell alone, leaning against the wall of a building. Trilead had carried her there, so he’d no doubt exhausted his strength on the thorn damage. If this were the Unlimited Neutral Field, there would have been a marker, but they’d returned to the Territories stage, so he’d left the stage, per the rules.

On top of that, he couldn’t spot any sign of the Archangel Metatron, even though she’d gone ahead of them from the Shiba Park Underground Labyrinth. Haruyuki had seen the white flames of Trisagion pouring down from the heavens, so he was certain she had made it to the battle. But there was no way she would’ve remained undamaged by the Hell stage that appeared immediately after that. Had she gone back to Shiba Park to avoid its effect? Or…

Racked by anxiety and impatience, he continued to hover until, finally, the aurora reached the wall two kilometers away and vanished. He was about to hurriedly return to the northern tower when Orchid Oracle looked back, hanging from his right arm, and spread her hand out to grab his mirrored goggles.

“Hey, Arita.”

“Huh…? Wh-what?”

“Why is Kuroyuki here?! Did you actually make her take part in the Territories?! There was a nonzero possibility that the White King would have been on the defending team, though!!” Her scold held a firm note, quite fitting for a member of the student council, and all he could do was shake his head, his face still in her hand.

“Y-you’re wrong. In the plan, Kuroyukihime and N—the Red King were supposed to defend Suginami. I only just realized she’s here, too. I’m totally shocked. But if they hadn’t been here, I feel like we wouldn’t have survived the Enemies’ attack.”

“…That’s true. But honestly, Kuroyuki, you…” Megumi let out a sigh and let go of Haruyuki’s face before clenching her jaw with readiness and resolve. “Arita, bring me down where they are.”

Haruyuki glanced at the ground before asking, “But, Wakamiya, for the members of Nega Nebulus…”

You changed the Territories stage to the Unlimited Neutral Field and pushed the Legion up against the brink of extinction. In a certain sense, you’re an even greater enemy than Snow Fairy and Ivory Tower.

Haruyuki couldn’t give voice to these words, but Megumi seemed to understand. She smiled faintly.

She nodded and added in a small voice, “But quit with the ‘Wakamiya’ in front of everyone else.”

“I’d also ask that you refrain from calling me Arita,” Haruyuki replied, then vibrated his wings to drop straight down.

Before his feet even touched the steel ground, his comrades were racing over. But when they saw Orchid Oracle in his arms, they stopped, with looks of doubt mixed with wariness.

He knew he had to explain it all to them, but he couldn’t hold on a second longer. “Um, what happened to Metatron?!”

“Whoa, hold up there. That’s the first thing you say?” Niko said with a wry smile, then pointed a small hand toward the Invincible cockpit block lying on the ground a little ways off. “Angel girl’s in there.”

Before she was even finished speaking, Haruyuki had taken his arm off Orchid and was running over to the cockpit. “Metatron!” He peered into the open hatch.

But the dank pilot’s seat was completely empty. A cold hand clutched his heart. Had she disappeared? Had she burned up her very existence with the full power of Trisagion like when she had helped Haruyuki at the Acceleration Research Society headquarters? He was about to call the Archangel’s name once more, and he took a deep breath of cold air with his virtual lungs.

But then a small spot of light grew on his left shoulder before flashing and taking shape as a pure-white 3-D icon.

“…Metatron…” He said the name in a trembling voice and was about to touch the icon when the small wings slapped at his hand.

“Honestly. If you’d so much as thought about it, you would’ve understood. This is no longer the Mean Level of your Unlimited Neutral Field, but the Low Level of your Territories stage, so I cannot materialize as a Being. And I won’t disappear over a thing like that. You’re a thousand years too young to even begin to worry about me, Servant.”

Although, in subjective time, they’d been apart less than an hour, he felt nostalgically fond of Metatron’s ever-lofty tone and heaved a sigh of relief. She was right; when he thought about it, it was obvious. The Devil-class Enemies had disappeared, so it was only natural that Metatron’s true form would also be gone. To be more accurate, it was Haruyuki and his friends who had disappeared from the Unlimited Neutral Field. Once the mission was over, he would go and see Metatron’s true form once more, he resolved. Like that, he returned to his landing point among the others with the icon riding on his shoulder.

When he saw them up close, his companions’ avatars, having made it through a terrible battle, were without exception in a terrible state. Armor was cracked and shattered, and more than a few were missing parts. All that remained of Olive Grab was his head in Bush Utan’s hands, and it was a mystery as to how he was even alive in that state. Haruyuki wanted to run over to them and apologize for having fled from Snow Fairy’s Brinicle and sing the praises of their incredible fighting skill. But the air was still hard and strained; even now that the battle was over, he felt slightly rebuffed.

Black Lotus and Orchid Oracle were facing each other a little ways off from the rest of the group. As they stared wordlessly, a storm of passionate emotion spilled over such that Haruyuki could even feel it, a wall to keep him from calling out to them.

Glancing up at the restored timer, he saw that there were still over a thousand seconds remaining in the Territories. It had probably gone back to the point in time when Oracle shifted the stage, but it was too long a period for them to simply wait for time to be up. Clenching his fists, he stared at the Black King’s face mask. Beneath her cracked goggles, her bluish-purple eye lenses shone quietly. Most likely, Kuroyukihime had also already come to the realization that Oracle was Megumi Wakamiya.

As Legion Master, she was not allowed to respond with self-interest to Orchid, a member of the Legion who had just tried to round up all her Legion members and drive them to total point loss. But on the other hand, Megumi was Kuroyukihime’s best friend. And she had lost her memories as a Burst Linker while she was a student at Umesato. Once her memories of her parent Saffron Blossom had returned, and she had been offered the possibility of her recovery, Haruyuki didn’t think she could have done anything other than obey the White King. But Megumi would have to explain that to Kuroyukihime herself.

Why didn’t you say something, Wakamiya?!

Perhaps this thought of Haruyuki’s reached her; Megumi called out to Kuroyukihime for the first time. “Black Lotus.” But the words that followed were nothing like what Haruyuki had expected. “Kill me. When you do, these Territories will end in your victory.”

The tips of Black Lotus’s battered blades twitched. Kuroyukihime’s conflict came through to him painfully clearly, and he clenched his fists even tighter. At the moment, the only remaining member of the White Legion was Orchid. It was true that if she was defeated, the Territories would end, but could he actually say that this was the best option here?

In the total silence, only the numbers on the timer dropped slowly.

When these hit one thousand, Niko spread her hands. “I dunno what the sitch is, but the two of you are still alive and all, so…First, you gotta talk it all out. Otherwise, there are things that just don’t get said, y’know? The rest of us’ll just go off somewhere else.” Whirling around, she turned to her comrades and clapped her hands loudly. “Hokay! We’re movin’, gang!”

“Wh-where, yo…?” Bush Utan asked, dumbfounded.

Niko snapped a finger out to the east. “At times like this, you gotta line up toward the sun and walk!”

“The night came back, though, y’know…”

“Shut up! See with your heart! C’mon! Move it! Move it!”

Sky Raker giggled and started walking at the head of the group. Aqua Current and Ardor Maiden followed her, and having joined up with the group again, Lime Bell chased after them with the rest of the Legion. After taking one final look at Kuroyukihime and Megumi, Haruyuki turned around.

“Honestly,” Metatron muttered. “The process of determining your intent is as inefficient as ever for you little warriors.”

He grinned wryly. “Sometimes, there are things more important than efficiency. I mean, Metatron, this time, you—” You tossed logic out the window and came to help us, didn’t you? He was about to continue, but for some reason, the Archangel apparently sensed this and whapped his helmet preemptively, so he gave it up.

The party continued to walk to the east, cutting across the crater produced by the Incarnate techniques of the two Kings. As he stared at the back of Niko up ahead, Haruyuki remembered her words.

First, you gotta talk it all out. Otherwise, there are things that just don’t get said, y’know?

As head of Prominence, Niko had judged her own parent Cherry Rook after he became the fifth Chrome Disaster. Maybe she saw their relationship in Black Lotus and Orchid Oracle.

Haruyuki didn’t know what kind of answer Kuroyukihime and Megumi would come up with or if they’d be able to stay friends. But he thought it was definitely worthwhile for them to lay out all their feelings and have that clash. Once upon a time, Haruyuki had also created a wall between his childhood friends Takumu and Chiyuri, closed his mouth, and brushed away the hands that were offered to him. His encounter with Brain Burst had deepened that rupture and also healed it, but a regret that couldn’t be completely wiped away still lingered in his heart.

The wounded Burst Linkers continued to walk aimlessly east in the Demon City stage with the night fog hanging in the air. They cut across the JR train line and slipped through Shibaura Central Park, and just as a large river came into view up ahead, a system message burned bright red before his eyes, announcing the end of the Territories and the victory of Nega Nebulus. The sixteen Burst Linkers stopped walking and looked up at the dark sky until they automatically departed the Accelerated World.