This One’s Mission

 

The Silhouette seated at the center of the gargantuan room stirred slightly.

It seemed to have stood up.

「Can you speak?」

Observing this movement, Kou called out.

「Outis. Do you wish for dialogue?」

A response came from the entity. Hearing a voice from a being without a head should be unsettling, but Kou was not surprised—he had anticipated that this being would recognize his presence.

「Yes. I believe I was called to this place.」

「Thy arrival in this land was inevitable.」

The speech was archaic, yet devoid of hostility.

「Are you a Teras?」

「Nay. And yet, like the Mythology Weapons, this one hath been granted will.」

「Like the Mythology Weapons, huh…」

At that moment, Kou’s suspicions turned into certainty.

The fact that the being before him knew about the existence of Mythology Weapons meant that they had come into existence after their proliferation.

「This one’s mission is your defeat. This one’s request a duel.」

「So the dialogue you seek is through battle?」

「Indeed. Thee should fight this one like when you fought the Teras Mythology Weapons, no restraint is needed.」

Kou felt his heart stir with excitement. He wished they could have met under different circumstances.

「Now, show me thy prowess that hath felled countless foes—Knight of Asia. Let this be a battle most honorable」

Even Mythology Weapons recognize me as the Knight of Asia?

That realization sent a shiver down Kou’s spine, but he quickly steadied himself.

He judged that this battle would be decided in an instant.

「Agreed. Let it be an honorable battle.」

Unit 5 lowered its stance, hand resting on the hilt of its weapon. A shifting, menacing aura emanated from Yōnātl Tepatztl.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Unit 5’s outer armor erupted. At that moment, an explosion occurred at the exact center where Unit 5 and Yōnātl Tepatztl faced each other.

Auroral light flared, a kaleidoscope of radiance dancing wildly. It was nothing like the flames produced by explosives.

「It blocked a positron cannon…!?」

Arima gasped, muttering in disbelief.

Unit 5 had already entered acceleration mode, dashing through the dazzling plasma.

「You should be more surprised that the opponent has a positron cannon in the first place, Arima. How did you notice that attack came from a positron cannon?」

Kou teased, an unusual tone for him.

「…!」

Arima fell silent, looking troubled. Kou was clearly suspicious of how he had identified a weapon impossible to recreate with the current technology.

「The countermeasures we prepared against positron cannons worked. Now, it all depends on my skill.」

From within the glimmering explosion, Unit 5 shot forward, closing the distance in an instant.

Yōnātl Tepatztl stood ready. It swung its massive axe, but Unit 5 evaded with only the slightest shift of its body.

「Too close!」

Arima shouted instinctively.

Unit 5 had stepped into Yōnātl Tepatztl’s bosom, too close to the opponent to have room to draw its blade properly.

Yet—it did.

The draw was executed not by unsheathing the blade, but by launching the hilt forward.

The sword was not fully drawn.

Yōnātl Tepatztl couldn’t absorb the impact and bent at the waist.

「Your weak point is…」

Kou’s gaze fixed on Yōnātl Tepatztl’s right leg—rather, the serpentine limb replacing it.

「There.」

That part was not armored with the plating of the original Another Level Silhouette. It was a reconstructed section made from miasma.

The impact from the hilt strike caused knockback, disrupting Yōnātl Tepatztl’s stance. In that instant, Kou slashed through its thigh, severing the limb.

Losing its balance, Yōnātl Tepatztl toppled over, ceasing movement.

「Even if the armor is impenetrable, it can’t fully nullify the impact. And if you can cut through the armor, you just need to target the reconstructed sections… Clever.」

Arima analyzed the situation calmly.

「Axes lack maneuverability. In that regard, swords have the advantage, but in terms of raw destructive power, that axe is far superior.」

「Getting hit even once would be instant death!」

「I guess so. However, a Mythology Weapon without a pilot has slightly diminished performance. Its reactions are slower. On top of that, using an axe in a duel with a swordfighter is a poor choice. An axe sacrifices too much mobility.」

Aural and Arthur were very powerful Mythology Weapons but still sought contractors. The Teras absorbed humans. As long as their systems were an extension of the  MCS system’s design—the Fennel OS—humans would be necessary for them to reach their full potential.

「…Did you factor in the properties of the MCS and the Mythology Weapons to such an extent during the fight? Against an enemy with so much vantage against you in performance?」

「Of course. You’re well aware of this too, aren’t you?」

The MCS and its system—the Fennel OS—enhanced human abilities. The pilot’s five senses, even the sixth were greatly enhanced. Kou had previously described the MCS as the ultimate extension of human augmentation engineering.

Mythology Weapons had been created as autonomous weapons based on the core system of the MCS so they followed the same principles. Without a human to work in sync with the system, they could not exhibit their full potential.

「Yes. That is how Silhouettes are designed. Mythology Weapons likely follow the same logic.」

「Tired of the act yet? Why not drop the pretense and reveal your true self?」

Asia playfully prodded Arima.

「I don’t know what you’re talking about.」

The boy tilted his head in response. A bit too theatrically, Kou thought to himself.

Unit 5 pointed its blade at Yōnātl Tepatztl.

「Impressive, Outis.」

The fallen Yōnātl Tepatztl made no effort to resist, acknowledging its defeat.

「This one intended to end the bout in a single strike. But once thee blocked this one’s attack, this one’s victory was out of the question. Thee surely hath fought an Another Level Silhouette before.」

「I haven’t. But I have repaired a couple of them.」

Arthur and Bastet—the results of his encounters with these two Mythology Weapons had decided the fight.

The armor of Another Level Silhouettes was thinner than modern Silhouettes but much denser.

「Indeed. It was the optimal counterattack.」

Yōnātl Tepatztl spoke with sincere admiration.

「The current super AI cannot generate the ultra-dense materials used on your armor due to the technology restrictions. I’ve heard that even during the Interplanetary War era, the armor Another Level Silhouettes used was nearly impossible to penetrate. A prolonged battle would have been my instant loss.」

「This one’s axe was completely ineffective against thee. Without a contractor, this one’s mobility is no better than that of a modern work-use Silhouette.」

「You can still fight, can’t you?」

「No need. This one’s purpose has been fulfilled.」

With that final statement, Yōnātl Tepatztl came to a complete halt. It had accepted both its defeat and Kou’s victory as if they were part of an inevitable, predetermined outcome.

TN: I searched for the Aztec mythological being called Yōnātl Tepatztl, but I was unable to find anything with this name or something similar. If you know about they, and they have a different name, please contact me so I can fix it. Yōnātl Tepatztl means ‘Blooded Stone Blade’ in Nahuatl, the Aztecan language, which doesn’t really fit with the explanation Asia gave in the last chapter, but that explanation itself was a little iffy because Aztecs didn’t know how to smelt metal so it’s weird they had a god with a name based in a weapon made of metal that they didn’t have in the first place.