Accel World - Volume 25 - Chapter 12

12

When he appeared in the Blue World in his pink pig avatar, just as he had the previous day, Haruyuki bounced once on his bottom before immediately standing up and looking for something that could be the gate for him to go to the Highest Level—an object to focus his mind and thrust his fists at. But the only furniture in his room was the desk, the bookshelf, and the bed; there wasn’t even a mirror.

Left with no other choice, he turned to the windows with the curtains still open and got into position, clenching his right hand into a fist. Fighting back the urge to hurry, he tried to remember the sensation when he had shifted the previous night at the Shinomiya house.

And then a minuscule dot flickered before his eyes. A white light that should not have existed in the Blue World. The dot lazily grew into a small circle, with a sharp spindle descending from it and wings growing from both sides. A pure white three-dimensional icon, clad in golden phosphorescence.

“Huh?!” A cry of surprise slipped out of him, and he tentatively reached out with his readied right hand to try and touch the icon.

“How many times must I tell you not to touch me so casually, servant?!”

It was a clear voice, sounding like the most exquisite music under the sun to him, one he’d waited so, so long to hear again: the overbearing and yet somehow gentle voice of the Archangel.

“Metatron!” he cried hoarsely, and leapt toward the icon, his short pig arms open wide, fully prepared to be scolded once more. He held the small object—not even ten centimeters long—tightly to his chest and rasped, “You’re back.”

He had been sure that she would immediately start berating him or else whap him on the head with her wings, but the icon remained silent for the time being.

Finally, she slipped away from his arms and rose into the air. She stopped just out of reach of his pig avatar arms and spread her wings as far as they would go. In the next instant, a golden light dazzled the Blue World, and Haruyuki unconsciously closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, fearing that she had disappeared, he beheld the slender figure of a girl standing in front of the window. White dress and long, silver hair. White wings folded up on her back, a thin ring of light above her head. The second form of the Legend-class Enemy, the Archangel Metatron—her true form.

Before his dumbfounded eyes, Metatron slowly moved her beautiful countenance from side to side, eyes still closed, and said, “This…does not appear to be the Lowest Level.”

“N-no.” Haruyuki bobbed his head up and down. Top-level Beings like Metatron called the Unlimited Neutral Field the Mean Level—“mean” meaning “in the middle,” apparently—the regular duel stage the Low Level, and the real world the Lowest Level. Naturally, she had never seen the real world, and this would have also been her first experience with the Blue World. “We call this the initial acceleration space or the Blue World. It’s like…a space that connects the Lowest Level and the Low Level.”

“Well then, does that mean that this drab room is a re-creation of the room you live in on the Lowest Level, servant?”

“I-it does.” He nodded, and the Archangel gazed around from on high.

“And what is this form you’ve taken?” she asked doubtfully.

“Oh. This. Um. It’s like the avatar I use when I dive in VR spaces on the Lowest Level. Does that make sense?”

“You mean the form you take when you enter a world other than BB 2039, yes?” Metatron responded, before bending over and violently grabbing both of his pig avatar’s long, slender ears. She raised the flailing Haruyuki up to the same height as her own face and furrowed her brow slightly. “Servant, it is incredible that you would use such an embodiment and yet dare to call my own an insect or a pet.”

“I-it wasn’t me who said that!” he protested desperately as he stared intently at the face of the Archangel before him.

The same transcendental beauty he’d first seen at Tokyo Midtown Tower. He sensed no sign of damage, but the wounds that Metatron had incurred in the battle with the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II, couldn’t be seen from the outside.

“Metatron…Is your recovery done?” he asked, ever so timidly, and the Being lightly shrugged the wings on her back.

“I called you because it was complete. Normally, I would summon you to Fufuan on the Mean Level, but it would no doubt take you more than a hundred seconds to make that move, so I generously came to you.”

“Th-thanks.” He tried to bow his head at the Archangel’s thoughtful gesture, but he was still dangling by the ears, so all that happened was his body rocked back and forth.

In fact, it was about ten kilometers from the Arita home in Koenji to Fufuan in Shiba Park, so even if Silver Crow flew at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, it would still take him six minutes—about three hundred sixty-four seconds. And he had another reason he couldn’t make the trip now, even if Metatron had summoned him there.

“I’m glad you came,” he said. “The truth is, I can’t enter the Mean Level right now.”

“Hmm?” Metatron cocked her head to one side questioningly. “I blocked all information output while in recovery, but I still monitored the barest minimum of sensory information through the link with you. I assume you succeeded in your attack on that burning ball—Inti?”

“Y-yeah, basically.”

“I ended my monitoring there to devote all my resources to my recovery, however,” she said with a sniff. “Did something happen after this attack?”

“Uh, um,” he stammered, unsure where to start.

“It’s fine,” Metatron said impatiently. “I shall refer directly to your memories.”

“What?!” he cried. “I thought you could only do that on the Highest Level?!”

“I told you that I would enhance the link while recovering. Now it’s possible to share memories as long as we exist on the same level. As we do now.”

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Metatron brought Haruyuki dangling from her hand up close to her face and touched their foreheads together.

Crack! He felt something like a spark. A massive amount of information was copied from his quantum thought circuits to hers.

Even after she finished referencing his memories, Metatron didn’t move her hand. After a few seconds, he heard a faint voice very close to his pig ears. “Tezcatlipoca.”

The Archangel finally released the contact between their foreheads, but rather than lowering him to the ground, she pressed him to her chest. Stunned, Haruyuki felt his whole body enveloped in something soft and warm, but the Archangel herself seemed to be unaware of her own action. He got the instinctual impression that a large quantity of information was being processed beneath her closed eyelids.

Finally…

“An execution device to close the world. That such a thing was inside of Inti…”

Her murmured words closely resembled those of Centaurea, but they had a far more serious ring to them now.

It was only natural. Haruyuki and the other Burst Linkers wouldn’t lose their actual lives if the Accelerated World disappeared. But Metatron and the other Beings would vanish in every sense of the word if this world were to disappear.

Wait.

The reason for Sentry’s casual tone wasn’t because she was making light of the giant, since they wouldn’t actually die. It was because she was trying to encourage Haruyuki and the others and give them some peace of mind. Losing Brain Burst was the same as actual death—the majority of Burst Linkers no doubt secretly held this belief in their hearts, and Sentry, having managed to come back to life once already, would have been largely frightened because she truly knew what death meant.

He couldn’t let the world end. For Metatron’s sake, and for the sake of every Burst Linker.

“It’s okay, Metatron.” He raised his face, still pressed to the Archangel’s chest. “We’re totally not going to let this world be closed. The White King and the other Oscillatory members talk like there’s no avoiding the end, but I don’t think that’s true. I mean, we’re making progress, albeit only a little at a time. We’re getting closer to our goal of attacking the Castle and reaching the final Arc, the Fluctuating Light. One step at a time.”

“Crow.” Metatron murmured his avatar name instead of “servant” and suddenly opened her closed eyelids. Her divinely golden eyes stared intently at the pink pig buried in her own chest. “C-come now! What are you doing?! The nerve! A mere servant!” She grabbed Haruyuki’s ears and tossed him away.

“Wah! Y-you were the one who hugged me!”

As he bounded across the blue floor, he was happy. This absurdity is really Metatron.

Before he knew it, nearly half an hour had passed, and the end of his acceleration was approaching, so Haruyuki hurriedly explained that evening’s mission to Metatron.

Six people would simultaneously destroy the six Luminary crowns that bound Tezcatlipoca, and he would use the opening that created to escape. Centaurea Sentry would lend Metatron a blade to use. And the meeting at ten would take place in a dive chat in the real world, but they were planning to talk to Metatron at Fufuan or somewhere in the Unlimited Neutral Field to confirm the mission details.

The Archangel nodded once. “Indeed, if you assemble a group with skills on par with those of Graphite Edge, it would be possible to destroy those despicable crowns of thorns. In fact, the issue is what comes after…the escape.”

“Huh?” He frowned at her.

“When you destroyed the crown that bound my first form at Midtown Tower, that form was immobilized for seven seconds. You and I will be able to fly to a safe distance in that time, but what about the other five? There is no guarantee that they will indeed be able to flee a safe distance merely running along the earth.”

“Oh…”

She was exactly right. The five attackers besides Metatron—Trilead Tetroxide, Cyan Pile, Centaurea Sentry, Lavender Downer, and Graphite Edge—would have to escape on their own feet after the execution of the mission. But no matter how fleet of foot they might have been, the distance that could be run in seven seconds was between a hundred and two hundred meters. The Tokyo Grand Castle site was a square kilometer, so the distance from Tezcatlipoca in its center to the main gate was about five hundred meters. It was absolutely impossible to run this in seven seconds.

“…”

She made him realize that he’d been so totally focused on his own escape from Unlimited EK, he’d neglected the safety of his comrades, and Haruyuki hung his head.

But his ears were again grabbed forcefully. Lifting his pig avatar, Metatron had the slightest air of hesitation, made clear by her lowered eyelashes, before she held him to her chest once more.

“Rest easy, Crow.”

“Huh?”

“I will evacuate the other five. You think only of your own escape.”

“B-but! If you try to carry five people, Metatron, your speed will—” he argued.

“Who do you think I am, exactly?” The Archangel poked his forehead lightly with an index finger. “Now that I have recovered my full strength, it is nothing to me to carry a mere five little warriors.”

“Th-then at least take the Metatron Wings.” He tried to return the Enhanced Armament she had given him, but this, too, was rejected with a fingertip.

“Our link is incorporated into them. You cannot remove them. If I say it’s all right, then it’s all right. I could fly all the way to my own castle in seven seconds,” the Archangel boasted and then smiled gently. She used both hands this time to set Haruyuki’s avatar down on the bed; her fingertips were slowly disappearing. “Now then. I will await Graphite Edge and the others at Fufuan. Oh, yes.”

Just as she was on the verge of leaving the initial acceleration space, Metatron added in a small voice, “I do not dislike this embodiment of yours.”

When his acceleration ended, Haruyuki sent a mail to Kuroyukihime, Fuko, and Seri that Metatron had fully recovered. During the time he had left to wait after that, he opened up a 3D map provided by Tokyo Grand Castle and focused on memorizing the terrain to the extent possible. His role was to take off from the balcony the instant the crowns were destroyed and escape in the direction that seemed safest. Depending on the situation, this might not be the skies above, but rather a flight skimming the ground. If he didn’t have the park terrain memorized, it could have a serious impact on his speed.

Soon.

If he and the six attackers could complete the mission closing in on him and escape from Tezcatlipoca’s reaction range, they would be able to shut down the scheme of the White Legion that had been ongoing since the Inti drop three days earlier—no, most likely the line could be traced much further back than that. He couldn’t imagine what the giant would do when freed from the control of the Luminary, but even if, hypothetically, the White King did succeed in taming it again right away, she would no longer be able to set it upon any other Legion Burst Linkers in the Unlimited Neutral Field. Given how massive it was, they would be able to detect and evade it before it grew dangerously close, even if it did fly.

Just one more. If they could climb over just one more wall, they would at last be able to go beyond the calculations of Transient Eternity, White Cosmos. And they would climb it. Most definitely.

Suddenly, the last words he had heard from the White King on the balcony of Heimwert Castle came back to life in his ears:

And if you dive on your own at any other day and time than the one I specify, consider yourself dead a second later. And your comrades, as well, of course.

He shook his head fiercely and pushed away the syrupy echoes.

“As if I’ll die. Not me, not them,” he promised aloud and then turned his entire mind toward the 3D map open on his desk.

At nine thirty, Chiyuri and Takumu came to the Arita house together. They chatted happily while drinking the caffeine-free soy lattes with just a bit of sugar that Chiyuri had brought, and at ten o’clock, they sat together on the living room sofa and dived.

The meeting venue was once again the back of the flying whale Thalassa. The usual faces were there, but there was also one new participant from the Prominence side. Lavender Downer, whom Cassis Moose had referred to by the nickname of Tranquil.

Haruyuki had seen her at the Prominence merger meeting, but to be honest, she hadn’t made a particularly strong impression on him. He remembered that her duel avatar was a small, slender F-type in a costume like a blazer-style uniform over pale-purple armor, but he had no memory of her having a sword. She had raised her hand in conditional agreement with the merger.

Her appearance in the dive chat also resembled her duel avatar. A subdued gray blazer with a lavender necktie—she was the only one there who was wearing anything that could have been seen on a person in the real world. Her shoulder-length hair was tied to one side behind her left ear, and she was wearing glasses with frames just a bit of a darker purple than her tie.

After Cassis Moose introduced her at the podium, Lavender Downer simply said, “Hello” and took a step to return to the general seating area. But a weasel in Japanese clothes—Centaurea Sentry—slipped out from the ranks and stopped her with one hand.

“It’s been a while, Lav.”

“CenSen…”

They referred to each other by nicknames of a close friendship, but made no move to shake hands. Instead, they faced each other wordlessly. The corners of Sentry’s mouth softened slightly.

“I appreciate your cooperation with this extremely dangerous mission. Our estimation was a forty percent chance of rejection.”

“I heard that Crow rescued Orkki and Rose, so…”

“I see. Incidentally, have you knowledge of the whereabouts of the other flowers?”

At this question that Haruyuki did not understand, Lavender Downer shook her head from side to side. “But I thought you and Orkki had lost all your points, and you’re both alive, so…”

“I suppose so. Well, we’ll tell our many stories after the mission.”

Lavender Downer nodded and returned to her seat, while Sentry looked around at the meeting participants and said to no one in particular, “Is that Anomaly not here?”

Indeed, he could see no avatar that might have been the central pillar of their attack, Graphite Edge.

“I’m terribly sorry.” Trilead stood up, an apologetic air bleeding out from his mask. “My master says he will join us in the Unlimited Neutral Field.”

“Hmph. He never changes. Raker, excuse our interruption. Please proceed.”

Having been given the floor by Sentry, Fuko stood behind the podium in the now thoroughly familiar teacher avatar and tapped on the blackboard behind her with a pointer. Drawn on it was an expressionless giant and an arrow pointing downward from above its head.

“Our strategy, as it were, is extremely simple. I will carry two attackers, Metatron three. We will take off from the Telecom Center Building, enter the sky above Tokyo Grand Castle, and drop the attackers above Tezcatlipoca. I will continue on my way in the direction of Wakasu, while Metatron will drop down with you. The six of you will sever your assigned crown and land on the ground. During the time Tezcatlipoca is rebooting after being freed from the tamed state, you will escape through the main gate in the west. Silver Crow will be given the signal through the link with Metatron and dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field, at which moment he will immediately escape in the safest direction. The end!”

As soon as Fuko had finished this fluent overview, Kuroyukihime raised a hand. “Raker, a question?”

“Go ahead, Lotus.”

“Perhaps it’s a bit late to be mentioning this, but aren’t we relying too heavily on Metatron when she’s only just recovered? Transport, attack, message—these are all key components.”

“You’re right.” Fuko nodded, a complicated look on her face. “But it really is impossible for me to carry six people, and their swords won’t reach the crowns on the head and chest from the ground. I considered all the options, and this is what I ended up with.”

“How about we at least only have her take care of transport and the message? In specific, the sixth attacker could be me—”

Instantly, not only Fuko, but all assembled in that place cried out as one: “Nooooo!!”

Kuroyukihime pursed her lips and pouted like a child, and muffled laughter rose here and there.

“Um.” Haruyuki quickly raised his own hand.

“Yes, Corvus?”

“When I was talking to Metatron before, she said it would be too hard for the other five attackers to escape on foot during the time Tezcatlipoca rebooted, so she’ll carry them when they escape.”

“…”

After being at a loss for words for a moment, Fuko smiled ruefully. “Then it seems we will just have to get a mountain of cakes for little Metako.”

They then went into a detailed run-through and the meeting ended at ten forty-five PM.

After that, the mission team would dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field and assemble at the base of the old Tokyo Tower. They would join Metatron, have one final meeting, and then head for Odaiba’s Telecom Center Building via the Rainbow Bridge. The rooftop heliport was over 120 meters off the ground, so it was just barely taller than Tezcatlipoca. If they took off from there, it would be possible for even Sky Raker’s Gale Thruster, with its limited energy, to carry two people and fly all the way to Tokyo Grand Castle. Metatron might say that she would carry five people both ways, but the faster their attack, the better.

If I was there, I could share the transport role, Haruyuki thought, but this time, at least, all he could do was sit and wait quietly for Metatron to contact him. Thanks to the bell he heard through their link, they could push his dive to the last possible second. According to the experiments done by those who had come before him, it was possible to stretch out the “t” for about two seconds after saying “Unlimited Burst,” so if he focused his mind to the limit, it was possible to cut the lag down to 0.1 seconds, or one minute and forty seconds in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

With Takumu, who had dived already, in between them, Haruyuki and Chiyuri looked at each other from either end of the sofa.

“It’ll be okay, Haru. Everything’s going to go fine,” Chiyuri said.

“Yeah.” He nodded gently, and then asked a question totally unrelated to the mission. “So does it look like you and Taku’ll be able to get out of practice for the trip?”

Chiyuri shrugged. “I’ll be able to. But it’s right before the Kanto meet for Taku. He’s been really looking forward to the trip, though, so I think he’ll make it work.”

“Yeah? It’s just, if Taku doesn’t come, I’ll end up being the only boy,” Haruyuki said. “I’m going to invite Lead, though.”

His childhood friend returned a slight smile. “If it ends up being just you, your grandparents are gonna be surprised, I bet.”

“This is no joke. You have to help me figure out the most natural explanation for why we’re all friends.”

“Can’t you just be honest and say we game together?”

“My grandpa’s pretty into games. He’ll definitely ask which game.”

“Say we’re a fighting game club.”

“Okay, look…”

While they were chatting about nothing, eleven PM drew steadily nearer. The mission team should have already met up and started moving to Odaiba. If there were any problems, Metatron was supposed to let him know via their link, but he hadn’t heard any bells yet.

Suddenly, Chiyuri reached across Takumu’s body with her left hand, and Haruyuki took it in his right, and together they put their linked hands on top of the hands Takumu had folded across his stomach.

10:59. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds, forty seconds, fifty seconds. Fifty-five seconds. Six. Seven. Eight.

“Unlimited Burs…”

Ting! A bell sounded in the core of Haruyuki’s mind.

“…T!!”

The dry sound of acceleration cut his soul away from his physical body and sent it flying into the distance.