Interlude / 04 : 30 / Outbreaker

“...A cyborg?” It took Marie a bit of time before she realized that she was looking at a human. It wasn’t really that his mechanical body had deceived her. It was simply that the object before her eyes hadn’t retained the shape of the human form.

He was missing parts all over the place. Limbs had been torn off and there was a large hole where his abdomen should be. By Marie’s estimate, nearly half of the man was completely gone. The only things that still retained their original shape were his head and torso, along with his right arm.

Naoto widened his eyes as his jaw dropped with AnchoR still in his arms. “What’s up with this old man who seems like he’s gonna die any second now. Actually, how is he even still alive?”

“Well, a sixth generation artificial body would probably be able to endure this much damage, but...”

Marie squatted down next to the cyborg man lying on the floor. She removed the parts that had been crushed and inspected the surviving mechanisms.

“Hmm... judging by the characteristic Royal Oak he has, I think his body was made by the Audemars, but... from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem like he’s a commercial model that would be sold on the market. His body was probably something that was made to order using trade secrets.”

“Ah~ like old man Halter?”

“I guess, yeah. Halter’s an eighth generation model of the Breguets though. Seeing just how tattered this guy is, I imagine that he probably fought with AnchoR while she was still wearing the mask...”

Marie cast a sidelong glance at the girl in a red and white dress who was clinging to Naoto. It really doesn’t seem like she’s in a state where we can get information out of her right now. Still, judging from the circumstances, “...He was probably disassembled through spatial manipulation and stored inside her cube up to now.”

Marie began to offhandedly repair him through muscle memory as she gathered her thoughts. Omit all extraneous functions and connect the surviving gears with a basic interface to his brain circuits which are asleep right now.

While watching Marie’s hands flow like water, Naoto asked, “Can you really fix him? He’s pretty beat up.”

“Just from the neck and up. What I’m doing couldn’t even be called first aid. Well, he should be able to talk at least.” Marie turned up the rotational speed of the gear connected to the man’s brain circuits.

The man’s artificial body jumped up, spasming.

“—Gheeh—Kah.”

The man awakened, opening his eyes. His creaking voice wasn’t out of suffering but due to the damage to his artificial vocal cords. The spasms of his body quickly came to an end as the parts of him from his neck on up began to operate smoothly.

Marie waited for about ten seconds for the man to compose himself, then called out, “Hi, are you awake now?”

“gh, ah—What’s this about...” The cyborg man grimaced, seemingly nauseous.

Marie extended her hand and snapped her fingers twice before the man’s eyes. “Can you hear me? Who are you? Try stating your name and affiliation.”

“...” The man didn’t reply. Instead, he turned his neck slightly to see Marie’s face with his artificial eyes. Recognizing her, his eyes widened in slight surprise. “—Marie Bell Breguet?”

“You’re awake I see,” Marie nodded.

“Hah—so that means that this place is hell, right?”

“Nah, neither you nor I have died. This is reality.”

“So, like I said, hell.” The man surfaced a cynical smile. “I’m Vermouth. Nice to meet you, princess.”

Marie asked with a suspicious gaze, “Is that your real name? Or your code name?”

“My code name, of course. Forgive me, but after all, wouldn’t a real name be too luxurious for scum like me?”

“...So you’re a spy I see. Do you belong to the Audemars?”

“Good question, do I?” Vermouth played dumb, continuing, “Well, I’ve probably been fired for a while now, so there’s no point in hiding my affiliation. But hey, even scum have their pride, so I’ll beg your pardon.”

“...Fine, I suppose. It’s not a big deal anyway.”

“Can I ask a question as well? Where is this, what’s today’s date?”

“This is Akihabara Grid in Japan. It’s February eighth just before daybreak.”

Vermouth furrowed his brows, seemingly taken aback, “Hmm... February eighth, in Tokyo? I can’t figure out how I’m still alive for the life of me... but in the end, I guess everything worked out somehow.”

Marie tilted her head, “...? What do you mean?”

“You’re here because you received a transmission addressed to a ghost, no?”

In an instant, Marie’s face twisted into that of a raging horned demoness. “—Ahhhh, in other words, it was you, yeah? The audacious dummy who sent that shitty prank message to the great Marie Bell Breguet.”

“Precisely. To chase me all the way to hell from a provocation like that, as expected of the mad princess of the Breguets. You’re just as the rumors say. Man, I’m relieved to see that you did a better job than expected.”

“Ah ha ha— You’ve got guts. I assume that you’re prepared for what’s to follow?”

“Of course. But man, just how pent up are you—my age is catching up to me, you know? If you want me to give it to you then, for starters, try shaking your cute little ass and begging for it.”

“———” Marie sprang to her feet. With a pure and innocent, even angelic smile on her face, she raised one foot up—and stomped down forcefully. While digging the heel of her shoe into Vermouth’s face she said, “Oy, mongrel—talk down to me and I’ll decapitate you and flush you down a toilet.”

Seeing things unfold with cold eyes, Naoto opened his mouth. “Miss Marie, that old man is hypothetically on the verge of death, so don’t go too far, alright? Also, this is bad for AnchoR’s upbringing, so do it elsewhere would you?”

“With his artificial body, it’s possible for him to survive with just his brain circuits. There’s no problem at all. Also, what upbringing would an automaton that’s been operating for a thousand years need at this point?”

Underneath Marie’s foot, Vermouth flippantly laughed, “For starters, princess, isn’t your underwear a bit too childish? Either wear some that’re a little sexier or just don’t wear any at all.

“I’ll really beat you to death you know?!” Marie shouted as she stamped down on his head again and again.

The low, hoarse voice of a man sounded from outside the room, “Oy oy, princess? What the heck is going on? Why are you howling?” Halter opened the door to the room and stuck his head inside, peering in.

Seeing him, Vermouth exclaimed from beneath Marie’s foot, “—You, aren’t you Vainney Halter?”

“Huh...? Oy princess, who’s this greenhorn that’s about to croak?”

“How cold of you. I’m your humble fan. The Scarborough Fair Incident is still talked about among those in our line of work, even now, you know?”

“The Scarborough Fair Incident?” Naoto tilted his head, looking puzzled.

Halter waved one hand irritably. “You don’t need to know about it. It’s an old story from another time.”

Vermouth thinly smirked. “I was half-disappointed, half-relieved when I heard that you took the job of babysitting the princess of the Breguets.”

Halter asked, seeming perplexed, “Relieved?”

“Encountering a monster like you during a mission would surely end with me in pieces—that’s what I had thought. To think of all ways that I could’ve ended up meeting you, for it to be like this though, guess you never know what’s gonna happen in life.”

“A greenhorn who can mouth off with just his neck I see. Nice guts. If you want my autograph then keep your mouth shut.”

“I won’t ask for your autograph, so could you maybe save me? I feel like this princess is gonna kill me.”

“That sounds good to me. Just die as you are under her foot, thanks,” Halter spewed out curtly, then turned towards Marie. “Really now, where did this youthful eyesore come from?”

“It seems that he was stored inside AnchoR’s cube through spatial manipulation. Apparently, he’s also the one who sent that shitty prank message. I’m in the middle of thanking him extensively for that right now.”

Bonk. Marie struck Vermouth’s head with her heel.

“Ahh,” Halter nodded. “AnchoR should have just killed him. Actually, why didn’t he die?”

“Oh—AnchoR-chan was restricted from killing humans, so I think that’s probably why,” Naoto interjected, still holding the sobbing AnchoR in his arms.

Vermouth’s eyes widened in fear. “Oy, don’t tell me that that girl’s the Initial-Y Series who crushed me?”

“She is. What about it? —I’m saying this now, I ain’t givin’ her to you.”

“I wouldn’t take her even if you asked me to, brat.” Vermouth looked completely baffled as he stared at Naoto who was asserting ownership over AnchoR while hugging her. Vermouth grimaced. “In the first place, I let you guys talk for a moment and you tell me that she can’t kill humans? My entire team was eradicated by her. So you’re saying she doesn’t consider us full-body cyborgs as human?”

“—Hmm? I’m curious about that as well.” Halter looked at AnchoR while scratching his chin, “When we first met, I was considered one of your targets, right? In addition, this annoying greenhorn’s comrades were done in, but here he is alive... Just what criteria are you going by for determining your targets?”

It would make sense for Vermouth to have died as well, as he didn’t have a human body. However, in reality, AnchoR had stored Vermouth, a full-body cyborg, inside her cube, sparing him. —In that case, what was the primary factor in AnchoR determining whether she was allowed to use lethal force?

Upon Halter’s question, Naoto looked up and let his gaze wander, “Probably—from how human they were acting, I guess.”

“...Whah?” Halter stared at Naoto incredulously.

Naoto continued, “I mean, at the time, you were only thinking about letting Marie escape, right? Forsaking me and RyuZU was a given, and you didn’t care whether you died yourself.”

“......” Halter stayed silent. Without replying, he thought to himself, That’s true... At the time, I had abandoned my humanity upon encountering AnchoR. I had switched my ego from that of a human to that of a soldier who’s ready to fight—to the machine that I am.

Adjusting one’s mindset, it was an exceedingly basic skill that Halter had learned to help him survive. Nothing was forbidden on the battlefield. All options were justifiable. One had to base their decisions upon rational criteria—emotion would only get in the way.

Halter’s duty was to protect Marie Bell Breguet. If it was for the sake of bringing her back safely, he could easily decide to let Naoto and RyuZU die as decoys. It wouldn’t even faze him to do so. Naturally, if it was for that sake—his own life meant nothing to him either.

—Because of that, AnchoR hadn’t recognized Halter as human.

“———” Halter lowered his gaze to the floor where Vermouth was.

This guy—considering that he sent such a message to Marie, he must have turned back from a soldier into a human at the end. After all, I can’t find any logic or rationality in that action. Why would a spy send a transmission to the Breguet princess who should be dead?

To do such an inexplicable thing—I see, so he must be human.

“Oh—old man, in case you misunderstood me, I’m not blaming you. I understand that that’s your job. If anything, I’m impressed by how firm your resolve is.”

“...Ahh, you’re embarrassing me. Geez,” Halter laughed bitterly. There was a mountain of things he wanted to say.

To begin with, does this mean that he read the kind of mental state I was in at the time? Even if he could hear the operating sound of my cyborg body, my brain itself is human...

—For goodness’ sake, just what does this little punk who plays the fool really hear with those ears?

Shrugging his shoulders, Halter let out a deep sigh, “...Was I deemed lacking in humanity by an automaton of all things? Oy, that hurts you know,” Halter grumbled to himself while stroking his bald head.

●

5:38 AM, around the daybreak of the eastern sky.

Marie turned her head as she surveyed the workshop. “Now then, with the relay broadcasting equipment taken care of, we’ve gotten rid of all the evidence as of now, right?”

Halter nodded. “Yeah, Dr. Konrad and the other Meisters have already left. We’re the only ones left.”

“Right, and as for the alibis of everyone who was involved in the incident this time—”

“I’ve taken care of that, of course—aside from Naoto’s.”

“Good good.” Marie nodded before turning around with a smile. “Your name will go down in history, Naoto. Isn’t that lovely?”

Wincing a bit as he saw that smile of hers, Naoto replied, “...Well, I guess anything’s fine since RyuZU and AnchoR-chan are safe. Though, all things considered, isn’t making me out to be the sole instigator of this large-scale terrorist act pushing it a little?”

Beside him, RyuZU said somewhat triumphantly, “Perhaps you should think about it this way instead, Master. You will finally shed your lowly reputation at that ridiculous microcosm of society called a school and obtain worldwide recognition instead.”

“Yeah, but as the villain of the century—”

“What worth is there in the subjective morality of fleas? What is clear is that you are a phenomenal individual, Master Naoto.”

“Father, you’re amazing!” AnchoR hugged Naoto’s arm tightly with a carefree smile.

Naoto instantly broke into a grin. “Crap... I might achieve enlightenment from how happy I feel right now gehehehehe—”

“Stop fooling around. We’re getting out of here,” Marie chided coldly.

At that, Halter knocked the ball he was carrying under his armpit somewhat discontentedly. “Can’t we just throw this guy away, princess?”

“Oy oy, isn’t that a bit cold? Appearances aside, I’m a man with a strong sense of duty, you know? If you give me a new body, I’ll work hard to return the favor.” The ball—actually Vermouth who was just a head—laughed flippantly. Despite being reduced to a state that would make any child who saw him cry, his attitude was truly brazen.

Marie snorted, “Hmph. I’ll work you to the bone, alright? So prepare yourself.”

“Thank you for your benevolence, dear princess —Ahh, by the way, got a cig?” he asked wantingly.

Everyone ignored his frivolous request.

—Just then.

“Oy, wait a second,” Naoto, who had been grinning the whole time, suddenly said in a sharp voice.

Marie turned around looking perplexed, her eyebrows furrowed. “What, did you forget something?”

“That’s not it! ...Oy, seriously, what’s with this sound—it’s coming from underground?!” Naoto cried out.

Immediately after, a thunderous roar pierced through the floor as the vibrations from an intense collision shook the city. The force was such that everything in their field of visual was jolting up and down.

Unable to remain standing, Marie fell on her butt. Naoto tumbled down as well while covering his ears and screaming; RyuZU and AnchoR rushed to his side.

“—What’s happening?!” Marie yelled.

No one answered her.

It wasn’t an earthquake. The vibrations and the deafening noise didn’t gradually die down; just the opposite, they became stronger and stronger. Even Marie, who didn’t have Naoto’s super hearing, could tell that something was crawling up from underground from the sensations assaulting her body.

“—This can’t be real!” Naoto yelled out, gasping. “That thing—that enormous weapon is rising to the surface while tearing through the earth!!”

“You’re kidding me!” Marie cried out.

Naoto screamed back, “Like I would say this as a joke idiot!!”

“The hell is Tokyo’s military doing?! Don’t tell me they were annihilated?! There’s no way!” Marie yelled as she ground her teeth.

—It’s true that the weapon was of the superdreadnought class. It was equipped with countless guns and armor that even RyuZU’s scythes couldn’t tear through.

However, it was nothing but a sitting duck due to its size. In a battle of attrition against overwhelming numbers, it stood no chance. If Tokyo’s army had clashed with the enormous weapon at the base of the city where they could fight without having to worry about collateral damage—at least, up to a certain extent—then maybe not without zero loss, but they should have been able to take it down.

That was how it was supposed to go according to the plan Marie had drawn up, but—

At that moment, Vermouth shouted warily, “Oy, don’t tell me you had Tokyo’s military clash with that weapon...?!”

“Shut up, there wasn’t any other way!” Marie retorted with a click of her tongue against his reproach.

However, Vermouth knit his brows as if he had a headache. “Give me a break, ghost princess. So you overlooked the most important part? You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“—What are you talking about?!”

“Why do you think I went through the trouble of sending you a transmission through EM waves? The research conducted in Shiga that violated the international treaty and led to the purge of the city—was on electromagnetic technology. That monster is the culmination of that technology you know?!”

Electromagnetic technology.

Technology that had been used abundantly in ancient times but had since fallen out of favor. The reason it went out of fashion was because electromagnetic waves could derail the particle-sized gears that were used in nearly all precision instruments—

—Wait. Feeling a chill run down her spine, Marie gasped. The countless events that she had experienced in the past week flashed before her eyes. She could easily excuse herself by saying she had had far more pressing concerns on her mind back then, but—

Illegal research on electromagnetic technology had been conducted in Shiga Grid.

The city was purged because the truth had been at risk of being exposed.

Mie’s clocksmiths survived that unjust purge.

At the same time, Marie remembered those nauseating words that Mie’s governor had said: —The federal government doesn’t realize that what Shiga’s Technical Force created was not just an empty threat.

“Why...! Why didn’t I realize it!!”

The true ability—

Of that enormous weapon—

Is—

“That which governs an electromagnetic field—are you telling me that it’s an enormous electromagnet?!”

That moment, Naoto covered his ears and let out a stifled cry, “——ah?!” As if masking his scream—all of the city mechanisms along with—Halter, RyuZU, AnchoR, Vermouth... in other words, anything and everything that employed gear technology—

—Ceased functioning.

●

5:47 AM on the eighth of February in the 1016th year of The Wheel.

The ground began to rumble like an earthquake. Just as the phenomenon steadily increased in intensity, the giant crowd of people who had evacuated to Akihabara Grid witnessed something—a gigantic pillar of blue light pierced straight through the dawning sky as the day broke.

Immediately after, a profoundly deafening roar rang out, upon which all the mechanisms of Akihabara Grid began to screech. As ripples expanded outward from the pillar of light, everything made of clockwork in their path ceased functioning one after the other.

After only a few minutes which themselves felt like hours to the witnesses at ground zero—an enormous steel spider tore through the ground while making a sound like a howling animal.

●

Inside a dimly-lit narrow room was a monitor covering an entire wall. It was refreshing constantly with data on the external environment as well as the status of the unit itself.

“We’ve reached the surface of the city. No targets in sight. Continuing to search for enemies.”

“The main cannon’s battery is 14% cooled and 3% charged.”

“Recalculating the time until recharging is complete.”

Receiving the reports in rapid succession, he nodded with poise. His adjutant standing next to him asked to confirm, “If it is as Your Excellency says, then there should be two Initial-Y Series here, but...”

The person being asked—an old man of ashen white hair and beard answered with a tired voice, “...They may be ‘Y’’s legacy, but even they should be powerless in this stilled world.” The glittering, moss-green eyes of his wrinkled face were glaring sharply at the monitor before him.

His adjutant—a bespectacled young man—unconsciously straightened his posture. “Your Excellency, may I ask you something?”

“I don’t mind. Go on.”

“Right— Your Excellency retired from active duty three years ago and had since then secluded yourself underground, right?”

“Are you dissatisfied that an old hermit is butting in?”

“Absolutely not. It is my honor to serve under Your Excellency. This is merely the curiosity of a petty officer—I believe you had been leaning against carrying out this operation, so I’m wondering why you chose to return to active duty.”

“...Because I’ve discovered a question that I must ask.”

“Eh?”

Paying no mind to the adjutant’s confusion, the old man’s eyes darkened as they narrowed. He recalled the boy he had met underground that day.

—I have no proof. No, such a thing isn’t necessary to begin with. But I understood. When I saw that boy and his automaton that day I was convinced...

—That is “Y.”

A reincarnation? A successor? It doesn’t matter. Frankly, I don’t care to know.

However—that gaze of his that rejected everything in the world, that asserted the truth of his own subjective view without a trace of doubt, was precisely in the spirit of the culprit behind the creation of the present world.

That was awfully—yes, extremely distasteful.

I once had hope for the future, but I was disappointed by history and thrown into despair by the world. That’s why I thought that it would be fine if I lived out the rest of my life in resignation.

—However, indignation and enmity, the old man whispered in a low, hoarse voice, “Like I could let things end like this after seeing that. I’ll teach you what us run of the mill men can do if we put our mind to it—you wretched monster.”