Interlude: Another Story
Altar-Dryfe border
King of Light, F had ended up doing nothing but watching the battles unfold. Unlike the other spectator, Franklin, he hadn’t intervened even once during the entire fight.
That was partly due to each battle being engaging in its own right, and partly because he prioritized organizing his impressions and thoughts regarding Ray’s battle.
Though, primarily, it was because he didn’t have the means to intervene.
Even now after all the battles were over, he was busy penning down text in his notepad.
I was right to come here. There was immense value in seeing something directly rather than as a recording. It allowed the observation of many more honest emotions than some footage sullied by the technique, worldview, and editing of the one who did the recording.
This was especially clear in the comparison between the video of Ray’s fight against Logan and the fight against King of Beasts he just witnessed. The real thing had made the recording seem tame by comparison.
All the battles ended while he was still writing down everything he needed.
All right. I suppose I’ll now have to investigate what happened at the capital. F had actually figured out that the capital would be attacked a whole two days ago.
The reason for that was simple: he was invited to join the group behind it.
Specifically, the invitation had come from the infamous criminal clan, Illegal Frontier. “Ideas” claiming to serve the Soul Trader, La Crima, asked him if he would like to be a supporting member of the clan.
Long story short, the negotiations had failed.
The ones who tried to invite him instead attacked him, but he defeated them all, and among all the chaos, he learned of their plans to attack the capital.
It was difficult for him to choose which place to observe, but he opted for the assembly hall because Ray was there.
I’m sure I made the right choice because of the number of Superiors that were here too, but I’m still curious about the situation in Altea... Also, just how many of them did I.F. release into the city?
F hadn’t intervened in the battles around the assembly hall like he had with the Love-Duel Festival. One reason for that was the fact that he prioritized filling his notebook... while the other was his lack of reserve fighting power.
After all... his Embryo, Zodiac, was almost completely depleted of light energy.
He had used it all against the Ideas that attacked him after their failed invitation.
F was Altar’s strongest ranged pre-Superior, yet they had given him that much trouble.
And now, such creatures had been released into Altea.
Hm... Overcome by curiosity, he elevated the Zodiac he employed to spy on his surroundings.
Once high enough to see Altea, he made it face the horizon.
Of course, he couldn’t normally see what was going on over there from this distance, but there was now an anomaly that was visible even to him.
In the center of the capital, there was a colossal pillar of fire.
It was an abnormality far larger and far taller than even Xunyu’s Baolongba. And, again, it was rising from the center of the capital.
It almost seemed as though it was the city’s final day.
“Hmm...” He had chosen to observe these battles instead of the assault on Altea, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was happening there.
Control AI no. 1’s workspace
“...Hhaah.” While the battles around the assembly hall were still commencing, Chrono Crown... no, control AI No. 12, Rabbit... returned to the avatar space with a somewhat uncomfortable expression.
His current avatar wasn’t the one he had made to look like his late Master — the one that had just been decapitated by Kashimiya — but the control AI he used to welcome new players.
This avatar was about what you would imagine a White Rabbit plush would be, clock and all. He was always in far too much of a hurry to welcome new players, but as the situation showed, there were times when he had occasion to use it.
“...So now there’s gonna be a war,” he said. “It’ll cost me some time... but I suppose there’s no way around it.”
War took his Resources and his freedom. He did all within his authority to prevent it, but as a result, he had died in a way that perfectly fit his role... to a Master in his sixth form.
He was aware that he’d gone too far and that Alice wouldn’t restore Chrono Crown for a while, so he could no longer stop the conflict.
At least he was able to witness the extraordinary boy known as Kashimiya and die to his impeccable technique, so he tried to at least be glad that he’d made a good memory to share with his Master.
“Hm...?” But then, he realized that something wasn’t right in this workspace.
He expected to have encountered his colleagues and gotten some stern talking-to by now, but they were all somewhere else.
He looked around a bit and found them gathered in a single place. Besides Cheshire — whom Rabbit had just fought — Bandersnatch — who was too big for the space — and Dormouse, everyone was here, in the monitor room they’d used when deploying Gloria to the kingdom.
“Did something happen?” he asked one of his colleagues — The Queen, who had the appearance of a carnivorous beast-woman.
“Welcome back, Rabbit... That avatar really is cute.”
“Shut up. Anyway, what happened?”
“There’s a bit of a disagreement about how to handle a certain situation. Mostly between Dormouse and Humpty.”
Rabbit looked and saw the two arguing over comms.
While they talked, they sent each other info and argued over simulations.
“Ohh? Now this is something.”
By that, Rabbit meant that it was rare for Dormouse to quarrel over anything.
Though, as colleagues who worked together for millennia, the control AIs rarely squabbled in general these days.
His own encounter with Cheshire was quite an exception, resulting mostly from Rabbit’s relative lack of maturity — even though Cheshire was the youngest in terms of their numbering and interacted with people more often than most.
“What’s the reason?”
“Is eliminating a risk worth it if it brings another risk.”
“...That’s not an explanation.”
“Well, basically, there’s a chance to destroy the seed of the next calamity along with all of Altea, and they’re talking about what they should do.” Rabbit had no words, but he instantly understood that something big was happening at the capital.
“...You could’ve told me that before the peace talks,” he said as he realized that this could’ve prevented the war far more effectively.
He also understood that the incident surrounding the peace talks wasn’t isolated to just the area around the assembly hall.
Thus, the story shifted to the capital, where there was no Ray, and none of Altar’s Superiors.
This was far from over.
To Be Continued
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