Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 4 - Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Battle of the Artists 
 
This is a story of a certain man. 
He was a composer bearing musical talent that placed him among the greatest of his generation. Even those without an ear or mind for music would often see his name on movie credits. 
The man dreamed of making an opera. It had been a dream for most of his life — ever since a particular opera had enchanted his young self. 
He wished to depict the life of a true hero. The champion would not be based on any existing legend, and his opera would show the hero’s life from start to finish, displaying people’s joy, anger, grief, and raison d’etre in a seamless chain of song and story. 
That was extent of his vision. 
And yet it couldn’t come true. 
His outstanding track record had made it more than obvious that he could not only handle the opera’s musical composition, but the script and production, as well. 
And yet it couldn’t come true. 
If he had communicated his intention to make an opera, countless sponsors would’ve jumped in to support him. 
And yet it couldn’t come true. 
A certain person was stopping him from giving shape to the vision he’d always dreamed of, and that person was himself. 
Though the vision within him was very much alive, it was so vague and fragile that it always crumbled the moment he tried to make it more concrete. 
He’d spent many a day in front of his desk, thoroughly troubled by his inability to create what he so desired. Though he’d composed countless musical masterpieces during his long life, facing his own dream caused him to stagnate. 
It took a whole two years of such distress for him to come to know the reason. 
I see... I can’t create it because there’s none of it within me. 
The story he’d envisioned was failing to take shape because he knew nothing of the battles and struggles of heroes. No matter how hard he’d tried to give shape to his dream, it had always instantly felt fake and vanished. At least, that was the conclusion he’d arrived at. 
But then, how do I come to know the battles of heroes? 
He himself was far too old to set foot on the battlefield, and it needn’t be said that it would all be meaningless if he died there. Not to mention that the sagas he’d sought simply didn’t exist in the modern world. 
Why wasn’t I there during the times when knights thrived? Why couldn’t I witness legends be born? 
Upon realizing that such experiences were lost to the world he was part of, the man despaired, compromised his desire, and began to accept the fact that he might have to present his dream work in a half-baked state. 
That was when... 
“Infinite Dendrogram will provide you with a new world and your very own unique possibility.” 
...those words reached his ears. 
The words “new world” caught his attention, and he soon found out that it was the promotional line of a certain game. 
Though he’d made game music in the past, he’d had next to no experience playing them. However, Infinite Dendrogram had a mysterious attraction to it that seemed to pull him inside. Thus, he’d entered the world where he could come to know experiences much like the ones he’d envisioned. 
 
Duel city Gideon, ninth district 
Unlike the fourth district, where most of the wares being sold were relatively safe in terms of legality, the ninth district was home to many black markets. Due to that, it was usually about as chaotic as the eighth district — home to pimp and thief guilds — but tonight, it was strangely neat. 
That was due to a lack of people and the great reduction in buildings caused by countless explosions and crashes. 
At the center of all the destruction, there were two people. 
One of them was the Death Shadow, Marie Adler — the PK often referred to as the “Superior Killer.” 
The other was the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell, and the three parts of his Embryo — a group that had given the death penalty to many formidable Masters of the kingdom. 
Both he and Marie had Superior Jobs and high-rank Embryos in their sixth form. Excluding the overwhelmingly mighty Superiors, who didn’t even break a hundred in total number, these two were among Infinite Dendrogram’s most powerful. 
As one would expect of a battle between such entities, the damage it caused to the surroundings was grave enough to liken it to a natural disaster. 
However, anyone observant enough would see that only one of the two was responsible for all the destruction. 
The crumbling buildings, plants, and paving were all Veldorbell’s doing, but that certainly didn’t mean that Marie was considerate of her surroundings. 
“Tch...” she clicked her tongue as she filled every one of Arc-en-Ciel’s chambers with Red Burst and fired bullet creatures made of pure explosive power at her opponent. 
Their damage potential was great enough to instantly kill low-ranks and not be taken lightly by high-ranks. If they landed on Veldorbell, the buildings surrounding him would certainly be blown away. 
However, not a single one of them hit. All the bullet creatures shattered and exploded midair a little over a hundred metels away from Veldorbell. 
Damn it. No matter how much I shoot, none of my bullets get close, Marie thought in frustration. 
The phenomenon was caused by one of Veldorbell’s Embryo abilities. It was an area-of-effect attack that crushed everything within a range of several hundred metels and reduced it to dust — a property which let it double as defense, as well. 
The battle so far and the information she’d gathered yesterday were enough for her to be certain of what had caused all this destruction. 
It’s sound... she thought. No doubt, Veldorbell’s attacks were all caused by air vibrations. 
Then again, the way they shattered physical objects made it painfully obvious that there was more to them than that. 
Just like my onmitsu grouping is a branch of the ninja grouping, musician jobs also have branches for songs and instruments and the like, Marie thought. With that in mind, this King of Orchestras fellow is probably in... the conductor grouping. 
The conductor grouping contained jobs focused on conducting orchestras, and those with jobs in it were generally equipped with abilities that increased the effects of the party members’ musical skills. 
No musician jobs were battle-oriented, and were they to participate in fights, they would either buff their allies or apply debuffs to the enemies. Thus, the conductor grouping could be considered a support job for support jobs. 
Of course, that’s something I’ve never encountered in battle before, Marie added silently. 
And yet, the power demonstrated by Veldorbell put him among the most destructive forces Marie had ever faced. Even more when she discounted Superiors. Clearly, it wasn’t anything she’d have expected from a “support job for support jobs.” 
Seems like his Embryo evolved to have some offensive music skills, she thought. This destruction is the result of him using his skills as King of Orchestras to greatly magnify their power. 
She was also confident that he had skills that reduced MP consumption. After all, he’d been channeling this lethal, ultimate skill-like attack since the beginning of the battle, which would be impossible unless he had something that compensated for the cost. 
My guess is that, rather than crumbling the objects by matching the resonance frequencies, the sound is causing destruction through a high output of air vibrations... shockwaves, basically. After all, even her bullet creatures were getting destroyed before they could reach Veldorbell. 
“It pains me to admit it, but I’m at a compatibility disadvantage here,” she muttered. 
Marie was completely correct. Though the bullet creatures from her Arc-en-Ciel had high utility due to their many types, they were all living creatures, and as such received great damage upon entering the vibration field. 
That applied to Marie, as well. It rendered her incapable of using her other forte — hiding her presence and performing a close-range sneak attack on her opponent. It was fair to assume that Veldorbell had no intention of disabling the vibration field until he consigned her to a death penalty. 
Now, how do I go about this...? 
Marie was a veteran player bearing the title of “Superior Killer.” The Masters she’d defeated were far too many to count. Naturally, she wasn’t unfamiliar with situations in which she was at a disadvantage in terms of either power or compatibility. She was the Superior Killer exactly because she’d won against such odds. 
Marie pondered. I have Ellie to worry about, so maybe I should just use Daisy or Shirahime? 
Just like any sufficiently experienced Master, Marie had an ace up her sleeve — her ultimate skill. Were she to use any of those available to Arc-en-Ciel, she could probably make it through this predicament. 
But if I use them here, I’ll have fewer options when fighting Franklin. 
Though Arc-en-Ciel’s ultimate skills were powerful, using them came at a great cost. If she used them here, there was no doubt that she wouldn’t be in top form when facing Franklin. 
Trying to defeat a Superior while not being at her best was nothing but a fool’s errand. Not to mention that she assumed Franklin had yet to show even a tenth of his total battle potential. 
Now that she’d failed to kill him with that surprise attack on the Night Lounge, it was safe to expect an all-out battle next. And when it came to not showing their full potential, she assumed her current opponent, Veldorbell, was the same. 
It was obvious that there was more to his Embryo abilities than this vibration field. At the very least, it was mixed with two more attacks. 
My passive skill that counters mental debuffs is flaring up... I guess he’s also using some sound-based hypnosis. 
The onmitsu grouping had high mental debuff resistance to begin with, and Marie was the grouping’s Superior Job. Not only that, she’d spent some of the afternoon mock-fighting Rook, who’d somehow found out her true identity, and thus had equipped an accessory that increased her resistance to Charm and similar status effects. Due to that, she was able to negate the effects of Veldorbell’s hypnosis, but it was obvious that it was very real and had a greater range than the vibration field. 
Then, there’s another... Marie thought as her Danger Perception skill flared up and she let her survival instincts make her jump to the right. 
A moment later, something invisible passed through the space where she’d just stood. 
The Danger Perception skill flared up yet again, and she quickly dodged while kicking up a piece of rubble, which instantly got split in half. The cross-section was abnormally smooth and sharp. 
“Cutting” with sound... she thought. Seems like an ultrasound scalpel to me. 
Though it had little to do with surgery, the surgical precision was definitely there. The cut reminded her of the ultrasound attacks used by a certain kaiju from an old movie. 
Needless to say, it wasn’t a feat that the laws of physics allowed. However, they weren’t on Earth, but in Infinite Dendrogram — a world where magic was taken for granted. 
It’s a magic-leaning musical skill... I’m honestly quite impressed by his Embryo’s rich variety, especially when considering that it’s bound to nothing but sound. 
Ultra vibration waves. 
Hypnotic sounds. 
An ultrasound scalpel. 
Marie guessed that each of these skills was used by one of his Legion of three. 
Type Legion is generally split into two categories: those that do nothing but grow in number or those that are few, but are each equipped with a different skill. It’s quite clear that Veldorbell is a prime example of the latter. 
Distributing abilities generally made them weaker, but Veldorbell used his skills as King of Orchestras to compensate for that and make them even stronger than before. 
Experienced as she was, Marie felt pressure that was equivalent to or even greater than the one she’d felt when facing three sixth-form Guardians. 
“What a troublesome enemy,” she muttered. 
Being a Superior Job and a Master of a sixth-form Embryo, she knew better than most that people like her already had one foot in the realm of Superiors. That went double for cases where Embryos and jobs had superb synergy. 
“Troublesome, indeed... And yet...” 
Due to that, she could easily tell that Veldorbell was a formidable foe. However... 
“The music itself is just so... enchanting.” 
Though the vibration field was a true hell where everything shattered and crumbled, the music reaching the soundscape outside of it was simply magnificent and nothing short of moving. 
While gathering data for her manga, Marie — or, rather, Nagisa Ichimiya — had once gone to listen to a famous orchestra’s classical concert. It had been grand enough to leave her astonished, but not even that could hold a candle to Veldorbell’s performance resounding throughout the battlefield. 
Marie certainly wasn’t the only one who felt that way. There had already been a few city inhabitants who, despite all the chaos in town, had wandered towards them, enchanted by the melody and searching for its source. Then they had run away when they’d realized that it was caused by a deadly battle. 
“I wonder if it only sounds great because of your skills as King of Orchestras,” muttered Marie. 
“Who knows?” Veldorbell’s music turned to words as he replied. “At the very least, I wrote the score myself.” 
Though the destruction and the heavenly performance had thrown the soundscape around him into chaos, Veldorbell could still hear her speak. 
The hundreds of metels between them would have made conversation impossible even if the vibration field hadn’t been there. However, Veldorbell was using some sound-transfer skills to allow a proper exchange between them. 
“Yourself...? That’s quite impressive,” said Marie. “However, that makes it even harder for me to understand something... Why are you in a robot production clan? You seem like you’d be more comfortable in an art or battle clan.” 
“Don’t assume I don’t take part in their production activities,” replied Veldorbell. “Just a short while ago, I helped them with the composition of the Grand Marshall’s new opening song.” 
“Gran...?” 
While speaking truths which sounded like jests, Veldorbell continued playing his words. 
“The reason why I joined is simple. Franklin won the previous war, and I’m certain that he’ll become a crucial part of many future battles, as well. Sooner or later, he might become a hero... or get defeated by a hero, instead. I honestly do not care.” 
“Hero?” Marie repeated. 
“Yes. I wish to see the birth of a true hero... to see a champion rise up before my very eyes.” 
Though the voice reaching her ears through the music wasn’t natural, Marie felt immense amounts of passion in it. 
“In that case, why didn’t you team up with King of Beasts or Hell General?” she asked. 
“I couldn’t relate to either of them.” 
Marie was about to say something along the lines of “Yet you could relate to that?” but she simply didn’t. 
She wasn’t restraining herself from saying it, she just felt like it wasn’t the time for such talk. 
Before she’d realized it, the music had turned silent and the effective range of the vibration field began to shrink. 
Is he out of MP...? Wait, no! 
Disregarding Marie’s perplexity, Veldorbell spun his baton and stopped. It was a motion signaling the end of a performance. 
Seemingly obeying his command, the three mechanical beasts comprising Veldorbell’s Embryo stopped playing. With the end of the heavenly music, the destruction of the surroundings also ceased. Despite that, Marie couldn’t see this as a golden opportunity to attack him. 
Her perception skills weren’t flaring up. However, her womanly intuition... or perhaps her instincts as an animal were warning her about some grave danger. 
“Percussion’s solo. Strings and Wind, take to tuning,” said Veldorbell, using his own vocal chords for the first time since the battle had begun. 
At his words, the kobold went forward and readied its drum. The cat sìth and the centaur stood behind it, pulled cables out of their mechanical bodies and connected to the kobold. 
“Ah...!” 
The feeling from before did a complete 180. Now, Marie felt an impetus to act and stop whatever they were doing as soon as possible. 
But before she could move, Marie started coughing up blood. 
“Guagh!” 
And that wasn’t the extent of it — she began bleeding from her eyes and ears, as well, and the dizziness accompanying it all left her unable to move her body properly. 
Damage...? What’s going o—? 
That was when she realized that, despite the performance being over, the dust around her was still vibrating as though caught in a tidal wave of sound. 
It’s high-volume sound... in a frequency below the human audible range! Low-frequency soundwaves had a wavelength of less than 20hz — the lower limit of what humans could hear. However, sounds didn’t stop existing just because people couldn’t hear them. Just like audible sounds of great volume could force a person to cover their ears, megavolumes of low-frequency sound could shatter eardrums and damage the nerves despite not being heard. 
But what’s causing it... Wait... Up! 
Using her Conceal Reveal skill, Marie looked up at the sky. 
There, she saw a night sky and a celestial body much like the Earth’s moon, before which there was a silhouette of a harpy with a keyed instrument hanging on it, which it skillfully played with its talons. 
“A fourth!” Marie exclaimed as she came to understand Veldorbell’s intentions. 
The reason why he’d spent the past few days performing in the central plaza was to give the people the impression that his Legion consisted of just three creatures. That increased the effectiveness of the surprise attack from the hidden fourth and set his enemy up for his more powerful skills. 
That was Veldorbell’s score — his orchestra. 
Marie looked at the harpy up in the sky. 
Oh, I see, she thought, realizing that Veldorbell’s bird-like hat was just another way for him ensure that no one expected the harpy. 
Upon realizing what his Embryo’s motif was, most would question the lack of a bird, and the mask was there to prevent that. Veldorbell had been writing the score for the flow of this battle long before it even began. 
The harpy landed next to its Master, and connected to the kobold via cable, just like the other two. Seeing the Legion of four all in one place, Marie became all the more certain of what she was looking at. 
The centaur was the donkey. 
The cat sìth was the cat. 
The kobold was the dog. 
The harpy was the rooster. 
It was a group of four animal musicians. Thus, Veldorbell’s Embryo was... 
“Beast Orchestra — Bremen, ‘Percussion.’” 
The name came in the form of the ultimate skill. The focused emission of ultra vibration waves that followed engulfed the surroundings, and Marie with them. 
 
Bremen was the four-in-one Type Legion Embryo belonging to the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell. 
Strings was the centaur playing a violin. 
Wind was the cat sìth playing a flute. 
Percussion was the kobold banging a bass drum. 
Clavier was the harpy playing a piano. 
Each of the four was set with their role and could even play sounds from other musical instruments of the same type, and the resulting melodies were great enough to surpass large-scale orchestras. 

When in battle, they attacked and destroyed the enemies with Strings’s ultrasound scalpel, Wind’s hypnotic music, Percussion’s vibration waves, and Clavier’s low-frequency soundwaves. 
Veldorbell, being a man who’d dedicated his life before Infinite Dendrogram to music and was now seeking battle, felt that the abilities of his Embryo were simply tailor-made for him. He wasn’t unique in that regard, for most Masters were more or less pleased with their Embryo powers and could understand why they were as they were. 
Many would claim that being unable to dislike a power born from oneself was only obvious. However, there were always exceptions, and Veldorbell was one of them. 
Indeed, he was pleased with its abilities, but when his Embryo had hatched, he couldn’t help but be disgusted by its motif. 
Each and every Embryo was based on Earth’s myths, legends, fairytales, champions, or natural phenomena, which set their name and appearance. 
Velborbell’s Bremen was based on “The Town Musicians of Bremen” — a children’s tale that most people in civilized countries were familiar with. And that motif was exactly what Veldorbell disliked. 
”The Town Musicians of Bremen” is about a group of animals that set out on a journey with the vision of becoming a musical band, he thought. However, on the way, they get a warm house and food from a bunch of robbers and are so satisfied with it that they start living there... compromising on their vision. 
Being someone who had a dream and strove make it come alive, Veldorbell simply couldn’t tolerate what they were. 
Feeling as though they represented his foolishness from the time when he’d thought of compromising and presenting his vision in a half-baked form, Veldorbell continued hating the appearance of his Embryo. 
But at the same time, he... 
 
The vibration waves faded away at the speed of sound, bringing about an uncomfortable silence. 
The trajectory of the attack was covered in pulverized solid objects... the dust it had left behind. Nothing else was there — not even a trace of Marie. 
All alone, Veldorbell was standing in the ruined ninth district. 
Bremen’s ultimate skill, “Beast Orchestra — Bremen,” was the type that focused the entire Legion’s power into just one of the four and allowed it to release a musical skill that greatly surpassed its usual output. 
Due to that, it could have a total of four different effects. The one he’d used now, Percussion, released expanded vibration waves that went on for a few kilometels as they tore the pavement as far as Gideon’s outer walls. 
That abnormal power was due to the ultimate skill still being counted as “musical,” making it benefit from the King of Orchestras’ “Orchestral King’s Conducting” passive skill, which made all musical skill effects several times greater. 
Naturally, it was incomparable to the vibration barrier from before. 
There had been no bystanders in its way because they’d been afraid of getting caught in the battle’s crossfire, but if there had been, they would’ve surely been reduced to dust. And that was exactly what seemed to have happened to Marie. 
“Sound Search,” said Veldorbell, causing everyone in his Legion besides Percussion to investigate the surroundings. 
They started making sound and examining the area like a sonar. Even if something was hidden, he could find it as long as it had physical presence. 
“No one’s there,” he said at last. There were no creatures in the area surrounding him. That could mean that Marie had gotten the death penalty and vanished or that she’d somehow escaped and gone to face Franklin. In either case, Veldorbell was the one who’d won. 
“Heart Beat Palpitation, cancel,” he said, canceling the skill responsible for the vibration field. 
It had been active even after he’d stopped swinging the baton before using his ultimate skill and even after he’d used it. The only moment it hadn’t been was when he’d used Beast Orchestra — Bremen. 
If Marie had concluded that Veldorbell had ended the performance before using the ultimate skill and decided to close in on him, she’d have died without him having to use it. 
“...Well, that certainly cost me a lot,” he muttered to himself. 
The passive skills available to King of Orchestras not only increased the power of Bremen’s musical skills, but significantly reduced their MP and SP cost, as well. Even so, a skill as great as Heart Beat Palpitation wasn’t cheap. Keeping it up for a minute had cost Veldorbell, who had a Superior Job, about 4% of his total MP and SP. There was also the cost of the ultimate skill to consider, so he turned off the vibration area to use the relevant restoration items. 
A second later, he felt a blade run through his back and split his spine in half. 
“?!” 
The fatal damage it had caused was negated by the Lifesaving Brooch he had equipped. However, the attack was followed by many more. Before Veldorbell or his Bremen could even do anything, his neck and back was cut several tens of times. 
“Heart Beat Palpitation!” 
And so, just as Wind created the familiar air vibration field, the attacker backed away at supersonic speed. 
“You... You’re...?!” he voiced his confusion, speaking through music yet again. The reason he did this was that his natural voice would always be drowned out by the vibration field. As confused as he sounded, however, he didn’t even need to ask to know the identity of the attacker. 
“That’s sixteen with the right and twenty with the left,” said the culprit. “I believe that should take care of the defensive items.” 
In her right hand, there was an Epic special reward, the paralyzing dagger known as “Palsy Stingblade, Belspan,” while in her left, there was the attack trajectory-concealing blade, Night Pain. The one wielding them was none other than the Death Shadow, Marie Adler. 
I was too careless, thought Veldorbell. Though his enemy had been nowhere in sight and hadn’t appeared on his sonar, he shouldn’t have canceled the vibration field. After all, it had been the only thing preventing Marie from attacking him. Without the field protecting him, Veldorbell was a sitting duck, just waiting to be killed. 
Indeed, he was the King of Orchestras — a Superior Job. However, that was a job from a non-battle-oriented grouping. Though combining its abilities with those of his Bremen gave him battle potential rivaling that of battle-oriented jobs, he had little in the ways of defensive stats such as END. 
Like Marie, with her AGI-focused battle-oriented Superior Job, had just demonstrated, those who got close to him could kill him ten times before he could even do anything. 
Just as she’d explained to Ray, a difference in mid-battle speed could create a difference in the amount of actions the combatants could take during a specific amount of time, and it was often a far more important issue than strategy or skill. 
Veldorbell had survived Marie’s onslaught thanks to his equipment, but... 
They’re all gone now, he thought as he confirmed that not a single one of his defensive accessories remained. 
“How did you survive my ultimate skill?” he asked. 
“Well, who knows?” she said as she formed an indomitable smile. 
Though she didn’t show it, she certainly wasn’t in a good state. The damage she’d received from Clavier was still there, and her SP was nearly depleted. Her SP was what she’d sacrificed in order to survive Veldorbell’s Bremen — that was the cost of the skill she’d used. Specifically, “Art of Vanishing” — the greatest skill available only to the onmitsu grouping’s Superior Job, Death Shadow. 
Just as it said in the name, it allowed the user to vanish from the world for a limited amount of time. While it was active, nothing could see them, touch them, hear them, or perceive them in any other way. It was stealth perfected, and the only reason why she’d been able to remain unharmed in the face of an attack so devastating. 
This skill was also what had made it possible for her to escape the barrier shrouding the central arena. Unlike the Master Jiangshi’s Zhenhuo Zhendeng Baolongba, it didn’t do any damage whatsoever, but it was still a skill that matched or perhaps even surpassed it. 
Naturally, keeping it active came at a cost, and vanishing for a mere minute would completely drain her SP. 
This time, she’d kept it up for half a minute, making her lose half of her total SP and leaving it at less than 20%. 
However, she believed that it’d been worth it, for she had been able to make her opponent believe she was dead and surprise him with an attack that had deprived him of his accessories. 
I should make sure to kill him, no matter what, Marie thought. The moment she’d used Art of Vanishing, she’d already given up on fighting Franklin. 
Veldorbell had turned out to be far stronger and more dangerous than she’d expected, and she figured that if she didn’t defeat him here and now, the chances of someone else defeating Franklin would drop, too. Thus, Marie was now determined to defeat Veldorbell with all she had. She took out a single bullet from her left hand — specifically, from the Embryo crest on it. 
The cartridge was about three times the size of the bullets she usually put in Arc-en-Ciel. Its sides were red and black and it had the picture of a character on it. 
“It can’t end here. I cannot accept not witnessing what happens tonight.” Veldorbell was speaking through his music. 
“I have a feeling that history will be made here — that tonight will be legendary.” 
Despite being artificial, the voice in his music had more emotion than it would have if he’d spoken using his own chords. 
“Thus, I cannot make my exit until I burn that moment into my retina and etch it onto my soul.” 
The eyes below his bird-like hat became bloodshot as his music-voice turned louder. 
“If I don’t... I’ll never be able to complete my work!” 
He was a prime example of a person who truly desired something. Marie... Nagisa Ichimiya saw such a person in the mirror far too many times to count. 
“...Oh, I see,” she whispered as a certain realization hit her. “You’re much like me.” 
Both he and her had come to this world to gain something they didn’t have and to experience what they needed to continue their works. On that front, Marie and Veldorbell were the same. 
And yet, Nagisa Ichimiya AKA Marie didn’t hesitate. 
“But I’ll still have to ask you to leave, old man.” 
Veldorbell was in the way of her goal, and if she didn’t take care of him, yesterday’s memories with the little girl might become shrouded in sadness. Thus, she had no qualms about destroying this man, even though he was much like herself. 
“You can’t force me, you uncouth girl!” he said through his music before stopping it and using his real voice to shout a skill name. “Final Orchestra!” 
That was the King of Orchestras’s ultimate job skill. It was a desperate measure that sacrificed 90% of his health in exchange for making musical skills ten times more powerful. 
A moment later, the four members of Bremen connected yet again, ready to use the ultimate skill to take care of Marie once and for all. 
“‘Uncouth’?” she asked indignantly. “Do excuse me, but superficial politeness is part of my character, you see.” She spun her Embryo, the gun in her hand. 
Suddenly, the Embryo’s shape underwent a great change. No longer the six-shooter it had been before, Arc-en-Ciel had become a single-shot, high-caliber handgun. Marie loaded it with the large bullet she’d taken out of her crest and aimed it at Veldorbell. 
She wasn’t making use of her supersonic movement abilities. It was difficult to tell whether she was just being careful about the possibility of having it used against her or if she just wanted to give this man — who was much like her — a fair fight. 
The two combatants braced themselves. Though the distance between them was great, it didn’t matter at all, for the attacks they’d prepared were fatal regardless. The exchange that would soon follow would decide the victor and the loser. 

 

After a moment of silence, the two made their moves. 
“Phantasmal Raingun — Arc-en-Ciel, ‘Daisy Scarlet the Explosion Death’!” 
“Beast Orchestra — Bremen, ‘Wind’!” 
Two ultimate skills clashed, finally ending the battle. 
 
The ultimate skill of Beast Orchestra — Bremen came in four different forms. 
Strings’s magic slashes. 
Percussion’s wide-scale physical attack. 
Clavier’s stealth low-frequency wave attacks. 
And Wind’s hypnotic music. 
Veldorbell chose the only one of the four that didn’t do any damage. Most would question this choice, but he had a total of three perfectly valid reasons. 
The first was the possibility of Marie avoiding Percussion’s damage, just like she had before. 
Veldorbell didn’t know how Marie had survived the first Beast Orchestra, and thus believed that the same skill would be countered by the same skill. 
The second was the existence of defensive accessories. Veldorbell had survived Marie’s onslaught because of such items. If Marie also had some of these equipped, it was entirely possible that simple attack power wouldn’t be enough to end her. 
The same reasoning had applied to the first Beast Orchestra, but back then, he hadn’t had a choice, as picking any other of his Legion would have made him deactivate Percussion’s vibration field after using the ultimate skill. 
Wind’s hypnotic music, on the other hand, would cause the opponent to die regardless of any accessories. 
The third reason — and the most important one — was the very melody resounding when Veldorbell combined the King of Orchestras’s ultimate job skill with Bremen’s ultimate skill. 
The most perfect music he had at his disposal in such a state was the one played by Wind. Veldorbell was absolutely certain that it could move the listener’s heart, mind, and soul. The music played by Wind when it was supported by Bremen and the King of Orchestras was nothing short of divine. 
It was simply to die for. 
Far beyond being just “hypnotic,” the music played by Wind was of such excellence that listeners would actually give their lives for it. Some would call it the apotheosis of Charm. 
The sound ignored all resistances and had already made many veterans kill themselves. 
The power in the divine music had yet to fail him, so Veldorbell had limitless confidence in its effects. 
He disliked the motif behind his Embryo. But at the same time, he adored their music more than anyone else in existence. 
Veldorbell, a man who hated Bremen’s form, but was thoroughly enchanted by its sound, believed in the power of Wind’s Beast Orchestra more than anything else in the world. He was absolutely certain that no one could remain alive before this music. 
And yet, Wind’s melody, that had already defeated countless enemies, failed to fell the woman before him. 
“W... Why...?” Veldorbell sputtered, as the life drained from his face. He was surrounded by Bremen — all shattered into little pieces. 
The only reason why Veldorbell had survived Marie’s ultimate skill even after having sacrificed 90% of his life was the fact that his Legion had jumped in to protect him. However, though he was still alive, his defeat was imminent. 
His imminent defeat was the very reason why he’d asked that question. 
“Looks like it’s my win.” 
Veldorbell looked up to see two people before him. 
One of them was, of course, the Death Shadow, Marie Adler. The other was a red girl — the same one that was drawn on the cartridge Marie had loaded into her gun. 
A certain group of people would find her appearance and the fangy, ferocious smile to be familiar, for she was a character from Nagisa Ichimiya’s manga, Into the Shadow. She was called “Daisy Scarlet the Explosion Death.” 
Arc-en-Ciel’s ultimate skill, Phantasmal Raingun, used the same “paint” cartridges that Marie used to create the bullet creatures and focused them on bullets that Marie herself had drawn. The abilities of the creatures depended on the paint used when drawing, and Marie combined the characteristics of her paints to recreate the characters from her manga to the best of her ability. 
Daisy Scarlet was the result of combining red and black paint. She was a vampire that could become explosions. Even as she was merely standing there, small bursts were happening in the area around her. Bremen’s and Veldorbell’s defeat was caused mainly by Daisy’s first explosion, which covered everything in a 100 metel radius. 
“Why... Why are you alive after hearing Wind’s music? It’s supposed to make you throw your life away.” 
Veldorbell didn’t find it strange that he was on the verge of dying. Being in such a state after a clash of ultimate skills wasn’t uncommon. However, he couldn’t understand why Marie and Daisy were still alive. 
Veldorbell already knew that Arc-en-Ciel created bullet creatures. Thus, no matter what kind of creatures Marie created, he would have expected any of them to kill themselves upon hearing Wind’s melody. Be they monsters or mechanical dolls, the music was great enough to make them end themselves. Veldorbell couldn’t believe that it seemed to have no effect. 
“...Oh, sorry,” said Marie. “Neither me nor this girl heard the melody.” 
“You... You didn’t hear it?” he replied with pure shock in his voice. 
“Yes. After all...” Marie replied as she pointed towards Daisy, “...her explosions blow away the surrounding atmosphere. Sound can’t travel when that happens.” 
An extremely simple reason. 
Sounds were vibrations. As such, they could only passed on through things that could vibrate, like air or water. That was why Marie had Daisy blow away the surrounding air to create a wall of vacuum that no sound could pass through. 
Simple explosive bullets wouldn’t have the power for such a feat, but Daisy, being the result of an ultimate skill, could do it with little trouble. 
If Veldorbell had used Strings’s magic attack or Percussion’s wide-scale attack, this battle might’ve ended in a draw because they could’ve broken the vacuum barrier with sheer sonic force. Wind’s melody, however, wasn’t offensive in nature and was thus useless unless it could reach the opponent. 
“A melody to die for...” muttered Marie. “That’s something I’d love to hear, but now is not the time for it.” 
“...Ha,” chuckled Veldorbell. “Not lending an ear to good music... you really are uncouth.” 
With his gaze full of disappointment, rather than frustration, he closed his eyes. 
Marie aimed the muzzle towards him... 
“Goodbye, King of Orchestras.” 
...and shot his forehead. 
Thus ended one of the night’s grand battles, and the board no longer had a club on it. 
 
“...Oh, am I tired,” Marie heaved a sigh as she fell to her knees. She then reached into her wristband-shaped inventory, took out a high-quality SP restoration item, and slowly began gulping it down. 
Thanks to her using Art of Vanishing and Phantasmal Raingun, her SP was almost completely drained. Though she had items to restore it, the SP loss was too great to cover with those alone. 
Also, though restorative items that had a weak effect acted quickly, the powerful ones used by Superior Jobs such as herself had a significantly weaker effect when used consecutively. 
She’d need some time until she had enough SP to participate in battle again. Not to mention that she was still damaged from the low-frequency wave attacks. 
And last, but definitely not least... 
“With this, I can’t use red or black anymore,” she sighed. 
Phantasmal Raingun had two major cons to it. 
The first was the necessity to draw the characters on the bullet and the fact that she could only keep a maximum of six of them. The Daisy bullet she’d just used was the only one she had, so Marie was now rendered incapable of using Daisy until she drew her again. 
The second con was the fact that the paints used to make bullets used by the ultimate skill were rendered inaccessible for the next 24 hours. 
The ones used in Daisy were Red Burst and Black Homing. The former was for explosions, while the latter was for homing shots. Now that Marie had used her, she could no longer use her lethal explosive bullets or the ultra-accurate homing bullets for a whole day. This also extended to other Phantasmal Raingun characters that used Red Burst of Black Homing. 
The skill was powerful and versatile, indeed, but its demerits were just as great. Marie’s Embryo’s ultimate skill drew upon her characters in exchange for draining her reserves. 
“It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to kill Franklin now,” she sighed again. “But...” 
Just like Veldorbell, Franklin had a weak, non-battle job that surpassed the average battle job due to synergy with his Embryo. Scary as that was, that could be interpreted another way, and... 
“They might actually have a chance.” 
While running away with Elizabeth and during her battle with Veldorbell, Marie had caught glimpses of Ray and Rook heading towards the western gate. 
Their opponent was a Superior. Marie had just barely won against Veldorbell, and Franklin was an entity above the musician. In any normal scenario, two newbies’ chances of victory were lower than negligible. 
Even so... 
“They might just do it.” 
Ray already had a history of defeating creatures stronger than himself, while Rook had been able to cut Marie’s arm off despite being a non-battle job. Considering those facts let Marie have hope that they could win and save Elizabeth. 
“Heh heh... Still, I can’t leave everything to them,” she said as she threw away the empty restoration item and stood up. “I guess I’ll just do what I do best.” 
With that, Marie Adler began running through Gideon’s streets as she melted into their shadows.