3 - From the Sky Shall Come Terror
3 - From the Sky Shall Come Terror
Akuto landed in the jungle. He was holding Keena, and groaning in pain.
“I did my best to do what she said...”
“Haha! You were pretty good at falling on those leaves,” Nonimora laughed at him.
She’d managed to land on the ground without any problems at all, by landing on one large leaf after another, letting the branches lessen the impact of her fall. Akuto had tried his best to copy her, but he was carrying Keena, and their combined weight had broken through the branches and sent them almost straight to the ground. If he hadn’t only just run out of mana after landing, they might’ve been badly hurt.
“You okay, Ackie?” Keena asked. Akuto took a moment to move all his limbs around before he answered.
“Looks like I’m fine. But I can tell that you can’t use mana here. It’s being absorbed by these trees.”
“Then we can’t get out, can we?” she said uneasily, “And I only have the right I brought with me.” But then, Korone came down from above. She’d arrived slower than the others, because she was using a parachute. She landed a short distance away, and then began to walk towards them through the trees, bundling the parachute up as she went.
“It seems we can’t use mana here. I’m running off my internal battery, but combat will be impossible for me. I also can’t use my tools. Like all of you, I can convert food into energy, but I won’t last two weeks.”
“That’s rough. Especially since we need to walk out of here.”
Akuto put his hand to his chin. The situation may have been more serious than he thought. But Nonimora’s voice was happy.
“Don’t worry. You can cross the whole island in a few days. And these trees were modified in the distant past,” Nonimora ran over to and climbed up a nearby tree, and then came down holding what looked like a large ball.
“This fruit is edible. It grows everywhere, so you’ll never run out. And when night comes some of the trees glow in the dark, and also give off water.”
She tossed the ball-shaped fruit to Akuto. It had a hard skin, but there was a thin line like the stitching on a soccer ball running along its almost perfectly spherical form. He lightly tugged on it, and the skin came off easily, revealing white fruit inside. He looked at Nonimora, and her face seemed to indicate that he was supposed to eat it. He ripped off a chunk. It wasn’t particularly juicy, and felt like ripping a sponge. When he tried it, it had a taste and texture somewhere between bread and yam.
“I see. It’s pure carbohydrates.”
Nonimora nodded, satisfied.
“Yup. The blessings of nature.”
“But with all the modifications you’ve done, I don’t think you can call it nature...”
Nonimora pouted, as if she was upset.
“You know what’s unnatural? The idea that what humans do isn’t nature. Buildings, Liradans, anything that’s created is natural as long as it’s working in a way that’s true to itself.” Nonimora gestured toward Korone.
“What’s unnatural is to not be true to yourself. Forcing yourself to do things. Going too far. Those are the only things that are unnatural. Taking more than you need to eat. Working when you’re tired. Hurting people who’ve surrendered, or surrendering and going on to get revenge. All those are unnatural. If you’re not living naturally you lose sight of the blessings of nature.”
“Acting natural is my specialty,” Korone said casually.
Akuto sighed, but nodded. He could accept this. And not only that, he wanted to know more. A lot more.
“Does that apply to even something like a theme park?” Nonimora nodded.
“It was made to be a fun place, and it is. So its nature means enjoying living there. A lot of people say we’re believing a lie, but what is truth? It’s instinctual to want to know what the truth is, but if you take that too far, that becomes unnatural too. Truth is just the things we can learn from science. Whenever you try to think about the truth of anything else, it causes problem somewhere.”
Akuto felt like he was being criticized. But Nonimora’s words made sense to him. She was probably saying that you needed to be a little flexible in your thinking.
“But a lot of people do believe lies,” Akuto said, and Nonimora nodded.
“But even so, if they’re living in harmony with nature, people can talk and understand each other. It’s unnatural to spend more than a day alone. Whenever there’s a problem between people on this island, it’s because they spend all their time alone, or force themselves to meet other people.”
“You’re right,” Akuto nodded. Then he heard an upset voice.
“Hey, Ackie, we need to get moving.”
It was a bit odd hearing it from Keena, but she was right. He waved a quick hand at Nonimora in apology.
“Sorry to interrupt. But we need to start moving.”
“Hmm... No matter where we are, we can just head west. Once we see a big tower, that’s the village. We can’t get lost.”
“Ackie, carry our stuff.”
Keena was standing next to a big travel bag that she’d thrown out of the plane when it was crashing. She was calling Akuto’s attention to it.
“Alright. By the way, do you have the Jeweled Branch with you?” Akuto asked. Keena took the box holding it out of her own bag, which was slung on her shoulder.
“See? It’s fine.” But as she put it back in her bag, she let out a small scream.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. A bug just flew past me.”
“A bug, huh? Hey, are there bugs here?” It seemed strange to Akuto for insects to be in an artificial jungle.
“It’s artificial, but these are living things. Of course, some insects are here to pollinate them. None attack humans though, so don’t worry.”
“I see.”
Keena picked up the bag and wrapped her arm around Akuto’s.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Akuto nodded, and Keena started to walk forward with him. But since Akuto didn’t move, Keena almost tripped forward.
“Hey, Ackie! You need to come with me!” Keena pouted.
“No, Keena, I think that way is east.”
“Huh?”
“That’s right. The direction with lots of branches growing towards it is east,” Nonimora laughed.
“Don’t worry. I have an internal compass,” Korone said, and pointed in the actual direction of west.
“Hmph. Okay, one more time...” Keena started to walk again
At times like this, Keena was always the one who was most relaxed. Even in a situation like this, she’d sing a song as she went... normally. If she was the normal Keena, that is.
“What’s wrong?” Akuto kept asking.
“Nothing,” Keena would say. But she kept clinging to his arm. Since she wasn’t flying like she usually was, it was hard to walk.
“Shouldn’t you get a little further away?” Akuto said. He wasn’t annoyed or blushing. It was just really hard to walk. Keena, however, didn’t think so.
“Hey, I don’t like it when you talk like that,” Keena said, and looked up at him like she was about to cry.
“What’s gotten into you? Jeez,” Akuto said, but didn’t comment further as they continued walking west. Eventually, they reached a point where they could see a clearly artificial tower beyond the trees. The only tall objects on the island were trees, so the large object made the perfect landmark.
“That’s the tower, right?”
“Yup. It holds the ship that goes to the stars.”
“So that’s where it is, huh? How tall is it?”
“A little under a thousand meters.”
The tower was a cylinder rising straight upwards. The whole thing glowed. It was too far to make out the details, but there was something like a shining jewel on the top.
“So even if we can see it from here, we’re still a long way away. What’s that thing on the top? The one that’s shining.”
“That’s a sign. It changes whenever the Faceless Power is used. The Faceless Power can only use its good power if used by a Good Heart. Otherwise, the Faceless Power will someday destroy the whole species. It lets us know if a good power used it.” Nonimora began climbing up a nearby tree.
“It’ll take 2 days at a slow pace to reach it from here. It’s getting late, so let’s find a tree to sleep in. Something to eat and drink too.”
Given the height of the tower, Nonimora was probably right.
“Alright,” Akuto said, and then asked, “A tree to sleep in?”
“A tree with a shining trunk. And a tree with big leaves. Bring those here,” she said, tossing a few fruits at him. They were all of different sizes, from little to big, and when he’d caught the last one, Nonimora jumped at him too, and landed right on his shoulders.
“I’m amazed you caught everything.”
“Did you think I couldn’t when you threw them? That’s a problem,” Akuto laughed.
“What kind of fruit is this?” Keena asked as she looked over her shoulder at them.
“The little ones are food. The big ones are for you to drink,” Nonimora said, and then started to run a ways off, before turning to look back at them.
“There’s a tree here with a shining trunk. Let’s rest here.”
Akuto followed her and saw a strange tree with a shining trunk. The trunk was straight like a coconut tree, and because it was glowing it looked like a flourescent light stuck into the ground.
“So these are put here so people won’t have problems if they get lost? It feels a little too convenient, honestly.”
“But it means that if too many people live here, it’ll disappear.”
“Does that mean there’s limits on how many kids you can give birth to in your village?” Akuto asked, curious, but Keena pulled his arm to cut the conversation off.
“Forget that. Let’s eat.”
Keena looked surprisingly upset, so Akuto dropped his bag to give her a place to sit, and pulled the skin off a piece of fruit for her.
“Sorry. Were you hungry?”
“That’s not it...”
Keena said, oddly upset. Akuto was starting to worry.
“If something’s bothering you, then tell me.”
“Hmph.” She frowned. And then all she said was, “It doesn’t matter.”
Akuto didn’t know how to react to that.
“...Alright, but if something comes up, tell me,” he said, as nicely as he could. Then he took the large leaves that Nonimora had rolled up and brought them over. They were the size of a futon, and he laid them out to sleep on.
“The sun’s setting. All that’s left today is to eat and go to sleep.”
Nonimora called Keena and Korone over and sat them down.
“You’re probably not used to this, so I’m sure it’s painful, but it’s just one more day. Tonight’s the last night you’ll have to do this. Don’t worry,” Nonimora said.
“I’m fine. Worry about Keena, not me. But you know, if you lived here too long you might not get enough electrolytes. We can’t stay here that long. No, I guess in Keena’s case she’s run out of rice,” Akuto said, and he looked at her. But she was eating with an unreadable expression. When they were done, Nonimora lay down.
“It’s not cold, but if you want, you can use a leaf as a blanket. I’d like to do some Hem-Hem, but we need to conserve our energy,” she said, and then began to snore immediately.
“...That’s amazing. Should we get some sleep too?” Akuto asked, and Keena nodded wordlessly.
“Give me a second,” she said softly, before getting up and leaving. He nodded, assuming she needed to go to the bathroom. Nonimora had told them how to recognize the trees for that.
“By the way,” Korone, who had been almost entirely and eerily silent, suddenly put her face right in front of Akuto’s.
“Uwah. What is it?”
“I can say this now that she’s gone. The Empress seems upset by something.”
“That’s right. If you know what it is, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me.”
“I do know what it is. It’s you.”
“Is that right?” Akuto was shocked.
“You’re giving Nonimora too much attention,” Korone said.
“Sure, I’m talking to her more right now, but that doesn’t mean...”
“I know you don’t mean anything by it. But please remember that the throne is a heavy burden for the Empress. Right now you’re acting not as a person, but as the Demon King. Of course, that can’t be helped, since that’s closer to your true nature.”
“That’s... fair. But yeah, maybe I’m thinking too ambitiously. Normal people don’t talk about the fate of nations,” Akuto said. He wasn’t sure about it at first, but he’d made his decision.
“That’s right. But for a while, the Empress will have to think about the wider world for a while too. But that wider world may be wider than just one country.”
“The Faceless Power, huh?”
“The empress feels that the power has something to do with her. Of course, she’s worried. She doesn’t gain confidence from having a great power, like you do.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Akuto felt ashamed of himself. It was true that Nonimora had her own philosophy, and a similar, though twisted version of it, lived in Akuto as well. What was more, there was something in the way she thought that he could sympathize with. Something that made him think a revolution was possible in the Empire.
But he realized that he wanted Keena away from all that, too. The girls around Akuto were extraordinary in every way. Keena was no exception, in some ways she was the worst of them all, but she wanted to live as a normal girl.
“...I need to apologize then.”
“Apologizing won’t change anything,” Korone said.
“Then what do I do?”
“It’s simple. Make love to her. Or ‘hem-hem,’ if you prefer the local vernacular.”
“Listen, jokes like that are...’ He cut off and waited for her to respond. But she didn’t answer.
“You’re not joking?”
“I’m serious. Fairly serious.”
“Fairly serious?”
“Well, 90% serious. The remaining 10% is sexual harassment.”
“Listen...”
“But well, what she wants is to have less to worry about. I’m not telling you to stick it in, or anything. She wouldn’t want that anyway.”
“Stick it in...?”
“That choice of words was 90% sexual harassment,” Korone said. “But I do think you should love her. Just hold her in your arms.”
“Hmm... Well, maybe you’re right.” Akuto was genuinely unsure.
“Now, I’m going into energy-saver mode, or what you call ‘sleep.’ Have fun.”
She knelt in front of the sleeping Nonimora and closed her eyes.. She seemed to have shut off some of her functions.
Then Keena returned.
“The toilet tree was pretty amazing,” she said, clearly entertained. It was like the old Keena had come back.
“I don’t need the details,” he responded like would have before, and then laid down. Keena laid down next to him.
For a while they said nothing. The sun had already completely set, and the light of the glowing tree was illuminating her face. The leaves of the trees blocked out the sky, and the lights of the distant glowing trees seemed like lampposts in the darkness.
“A lot’s happened,” Akuto began.
“Huh?” Keena seemed confused.
“I wanted to apologize, I guess,” he said, but the answer wasn’t what he expected.
“You haven’t done anything to apologize for, have you?”
“But...” His tone had turned serious without him realizing it.
“...It feels like I haven’t been giving you much attention lately.”
“Heheh...” She smiled and pressed herself up against him. “If you finally understand, that’s all that matters.”
“It’s hard, isn’t it? To me, it’s just normal now, though,” Akuto whispered, and Keena’s answered was whispered back.
“It’s not hard... It’s scary.”
“Scary?”
“There’s a me who’s me but isn’t me.”
“Yeah. I guess I know who you’re talking about.”
“And I think that me can do more amazing things than I can. It can really do the things that I can’t really do.”
“I know that, too.” Akuto felt like he knew what it was that was scaring her.
“So it feels like since you’re doing all this amazing stuff, you’re gonna need her, not me...” Her voice grew quieter.
“It seemed like you were getting along with the you who wasn’t you, though.”
“That’s why it’s scary. I don’t know how much of me is me anymore. But there really is a normal me, who can only do normal things...” She was speaking quickly, as if to hide the quavering in her voice. When Akuto realized this and glanced over at her, she turned away. But he could see a small trace of tears in her eyes.
“Keena,” he said, but she didn’t turn around.
“That’s why I thought, Ackie, that you liked me for the things that the me who wasn’t me could do, so I started thinking what the me that wasn’t me could do for you that the me who wasn’t me couldn’t, and I thought that maybe the answer was hem-hem...”
Keena was clearly starting to lose it.
“The me who isn’t me is kind of like me but sometimes I realize that the me who isn’t me is doing things that I wouldn’t do and sometimes the me who isn’t me talks like she’s me so it’s starting to feel like maybe I’m the me who’s not me...”
As she babbled, she started to sob, until Akuto grabbed her tight.
“Hyah!” She let out a short scream.
“Um... I’m not sure how to say this, but...”
He buried his face in her hair and put his lips up to her ear.
“Um... okay...”
Keena had completely frozen.
“You’re very dear to me. I don’t need you because you’re useful to me. What’s important to me is that you eat a lot of rice, or fall asleep next to me. Things like that. So even if there is no reason, I need you by my side. To me, not having a reason is my reason,” he whispered as he held her tighter.
Keena let out a short breath and shivered.
“I’m sorry... Did that hurt?”
“No... No that’s not it. It just made me happy.” Keena fidgeted nervously and turned around to face Akuto.
“Hey... You’re making me blush.”
Akuto’s cheeks turned red as he stared into her eyes. Keena’s did too.
“But I’d rather face this way,” Keena said, and buried her face in his chest.
“Okay.” Akuto nodded, and lifted the hand he’d had wrapped around her body to run his fingers through her hair. He held her head to his chest and gently stroked her.
“That tickles...” Keena leaned forward and then looked up, her eyes pointing upward. Her eyes met Akuto’s. Both of them couldn’t look away from the other. The only sound was their breathing and heartbeats, which were pounding out a complicated rhythm. There was a tension between them that threatened to shatter with even a single word from either one of them.
“...Are we going to do it?” Keena asked.
Akuto didn’t know what to say. Time passed as they just stared at one another. The finger he’d put in her hair suddenly moved, running down the back of her head and to her neck. Keena gasped a little. And then...
“Don’t do hem-hem in secret!”
The two of them jumped apart. But when they turned around to look at Nonimora, she was completely asleep, with drool coming out of her mouth.
“She’s talking in her sleep...”
“That’s a weird thing to say in your sleep...”
The two of them whispered to each other covertly. And then both of them started to laugh.
“I’m going to sleep, too,” Keena said, and this time she innocently jumped into Akuto’s arms.
“Yeah, let’s get some rest,” he said as he put his arm around her neck. Keena used it as a pillow as she lay down next to him.
“But I’m sure, from now on, something will...”
“Huh?” Akuto asked.
But there was no answer. Keena was already asleep.
○
“Young mistress, that’s going to be difficult,” One of the young Hattori ninjas said.
“But all the machines are ready, right?”
Yuko was in the comms room of a military command center, less than an hour away by train from the imperial capital. Four operators were sitting in front of a wall of equipment, and Yuko was talking to their leader, telling him to broadcast the video they were recording to the whole country. Now that she’d sent Hiroshi off, she wanted to do what she could to help in her own way.
“That’s not the issue. The cabinet’s in charge of this stuff. C-MID8 probably put them up to it. Technically, we can do what you’re asking, but nobody will take responsibility for it.”
The ninja was wearing a soldier’s outfit, and so was Yuko. He was trying his best to argue with her.
“Dad’ll take responsibility. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t be crazy. Listen, do you understand what’s going on here? The Hattori specialize in spycraft. Of course, we don’t want C-MID8 to have the upper hand here. But it’s not just an issue of authority. They’re watching the whole network.”
“Really?” Yuko asked, surprised.
“That’s right. Anybody can do guerilla uploads of videos to the network now. But, and I have no idea how they did this, the Cabinet government has forbidden uploading video to the network at all. It’s not even that the cabinet’s censoring the news. They’re the only source of it. And what they’re saying is different than the information we’re getting.”
The ninja was trying his best to persuade her, but Yuko wasn’t about to back down.
“Brave is on his way. If we show them that they’ll all realize the truth.”
“Maybe you’re right. How can we give the people proof that C-MID8 wants war with the Republic? Until we can do that, we’re stuck.”
“And we can get that proof by showing them the scene of the crime!”
“We can’t sacrifice the Hattori clan for something so uncertain. Young mistress, please understand. Even if there is a war, we’ll win. The rest is only minor obstacles.”
“That’s not acceptable. Nobody knows what the Republic is, which is why they think it’s not a problem to start a war with them.”
Yuko sighed and turned around. Yoshie and Keisu were there. She’d gotten Junko to ask them for help.
“Unfortunately, your operator friend is right,” Yoshie said, her arms crossed in thought. When she’d gone to save Hiroshi from Rubbers, she’d heard most of what was going on, as well as the fact that it was probably a plot by The One.
“Nobody will believe us without proof. If it weren’t for our relationship with C-MID8, even we’d laugh at the idea of a talking dog named ‘The One.’”
“Then what are we supposed to do? Brave is already on his way.”
Yuko pointed to one of the mana screens that Yoshie had called up and projected near her side. It showed the video coming in from Hiroshi. Right now, it showed nothing but endless blue seas. This video was only shared between Hiroshi and Yoshie, and wasn’t being uploaded to the network.
“If what the operator said is true, and it’s impossible to upload this to the network, then some expert in cyberwarfare is behind it. Some kind of superman, too. I’m sure his codename is probably the Electronic Fairy or something.” Yoshie nodded to herself.
“No one cares.”
“Really? Anyway, there’s two ways to do this. One is to defeat the Electronic Fairy. That’d a little tough. I hate to say it, because I’ve got my own pride as a hacker, but right now we just don’t have enough information.”
“And our other option?” Yuko sounded hopeful, but Yoshie chuckled.
“This one’s simple, but difficult. We convince the prime minister.”
“Huh?”
“The head of the cabinet is the prime minister, and the prime minister runs the whole army, too. Right now they’re just doing what C-MID8, that is, what USD, tells them to.”
“Oh, right. But we can’t do that!” Yuko pouted. But then Yoshie grinned.
“We’ve got a better shot at this one, though. If we put something provocative onto the network, USD will hear it, right? And if he was betrayed, then he can’t be happy about what The One is up to. If nothing else, we can show him something. The rest is up to C-MID8 themselves.”
“We have to bet on something so uncertain?” Yuko complained, but Yoshie just smiled.
“You were trying to bet your whole family on something that you had no idea would work. I’m a big fan of going all in, but you know, the show’s only just getting started, right?”
“About that show...” The ninja spoke up.
“Whassup?” Yoshie asked.
“It’s begun, for real,” The ninja said, his voice tense.
“It ended up starting for real, huh?”
Yoshie looked at the video C-MID8 was showing online and compared it to what was coming in from Hiroshi. She rewound Hiroshi’s video a bit, until she saw a beam of mana light fall from the sky.
“Oh dear... So it was this “Codename Esper” or whatever who struck first?”
C-MID8’s video cut off a few seconds after that, just when the Republic submarines launched their missiles.
“If only the video from Brave was a little clearer.”
“Brave’s a surprisingly slow flyer, isn’t he?”
“Esper probably saw Brave coming and decided to take the initiative. Which means Brave may not make it in time,” Yoshie whispered.
“Did C-MID8 plan all this?”
“Probably. When we lost contact with the Empress’s ship, that was probably their doing,” Yoshie said. The Ninja nodded.
“The Republic seems to be trying to avoid conflict. They’re ignoring his other attacks and the King is repeatedly trying to make contact on official channels. But the Prime Minister is strongly rebuffing him. Of course, legally the prime minister is the one who should talk to him, but this wouldn’t have happened if he could have contacted the Empress. The King’s been trying, after all.”
Yuko frowned and stormed over to the ninja.
“If you knew all this, why couldn’t you stop the war?”
“Because...” The Ninja frowned and shook his head. “The higher-ups want a war. We can’t stop them. And even we didn’t expect it to turn out this way. Think about it. The Empire hasn’t been in an external war for over a thousand years. No, there barely is anything outside the empire anymore. So this is the first time we’re realizing that it’s actually possible to start a war if you want one.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Everybody was scared of the Demon King who caused so much damage to our country. We’ve focused for so long on not creating another Demon King. But when you look outside, you realize that it’s possible for our country to be the aggressor. No, I guess we already are.”
Yoshie pointed at the mana screen. Kei was sinking the Republic’s submarines one after another.
○
“I’m not going to make it in time?” Maybe it really was all planned from the start, he wondered to himself. He was flying over endless open ocean. Since there was nothing to block his view, he could see the gunfire in the distance. It was irritating him.
—So after everything I said, I still can’t do anything?
He wasn’t completely sure what was going on between Kei and the submarines, but it looked like Kei was trying to provoke them by attacking them. The only other information he had was coming from the news broadcast that Yuko’s group was sending him. Of course, there was a time lag in the video. It took time to alter the footage. They were making the video follow the story they’d prepared. In other words: negotiations had broken down because of the Republic’s actions, and then the Republic had fired first.
Videos of the sinking submarines were already reaching Hiroshi. He was almost there, but by the time he arrived would there be any left?
He heard a huge explosion, and a pillar of water rose high into the air. By the time he finally got there, the battle was basically over. He’d arrived just in time to see the last sub sink. There was foam everywhere, caused by the bubbles formed from the sinking subs. He could see a film of oil and tiny pieces of metal.
Above it all was an opponent he’d fought before.
From the events that had occurred so far, he must’ve been there for days without resupply, but his beauty hadn’t decreased at all.
Kei was still alluring and elegant, and cruelly charming. And what he was doing was perfectly true to his cruel appearance. Some people Hiroshi didn’t recognize had been lifted out of the water by Kei’s magic. The color of their skin was slightly different than that of an imperial. But the biggest difference was the fins on their arms. They were clearly creatures that lived underwater, but they had the silhouettes of humans.
These humans were hanging in the air, expressions of pain on their faces. There were around 30 of them in all. From their numbers, they were probably the crew of several of the submarines. Seeing all of them there, frozen in place by the Demon King, made terror well up in Hiroshi’s heart. And an even uglier and more terrible scene, one Hiroshi couldn’t look away from, came only a moment later.
Kei used his telekinesis to tear off their heads. The blood spurted up about a dozen meters, and began to rain down like a shower. Kei used his powers to freeze even the blood as well. There were drops of crimson of all different sizes, floating in the sky like water droplets in zero gravity. For someone who could guess what kind of magic that would require, it was a shocking sight. But what would surprise someone even who had no idea of the power this would require was how clearly Kei was enjoying it.
The survivors’ faces twisted in fear as they realized they would be next. But as if to betray their expectations, Kei suddenly ripped all their torsos in half. Even after the loss of your torso, your consciousness remains for several seconds. Hiroshi was able to see the expressions of disbelief form on their faces. He could tell from the joy on Kei’s face that he’d done it just to see that look.
Hiroshi could see it all clearly. He was using his suit’s zoom function, which could see the expressions on the faces of the Republic soldiers, as well as Kei’s, clearly. Brutality. Cruelty. Fear. Rage. All those words came to him a moment later. He felt something hard pressing down on his heart, and his whole body felt like it was on fire. His ears couldn’t hear a thing, but something from within was exploding as it headed toward his mouth.
He was probably screaming.
For the first time, Kei turned towards him. Kei had probably known he was there the whole time, though. Maybe he’d killed them sooner than he’d planned to for just that reason. Kei’s expression was the opposite of Hiroshi’s: cool and collected.
“Has anyone ever been shown cruelty as beautifully as you? Or are you my only audience? Unfortunately, the King wasn’t here.” Kei turned to Hiroshi and softly smiled.
It had the effect of bringing Hiroshi down from his angry high. A huge sphere appeared in the air. It was formed from all the crimson droplets. The ball glistened in the sunlight, and the wind formed tiny waves across its surface. In the center of it was Kei, holding out both his hands. It was like a beautiful picture, whose painter was the demon king. It was a work of art made by a man who knew his own beauty and power, and used others lives to paint it.
“I don’t care what’s going on! Don’t move!” Hiroshi charged.
He activated his suit’s mana canceler and set all weapons except his plasma ball to standby.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. The real beauty is just about to appear,” Kei said, and waved a hand.
The droplets all began to fall, like gravity had suddenly returned. A rain of blood poured down. A rainbow appeared in the falling blood, one the same color as any other rainbow, but which felt strangely different.
“Defeating you will be easy!” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow. But Kei flew backwards and refused to fight him.
“I know. That’s why I’m going to run. Your suit was given to you by someone else, but as long as you have their permission, it’s yours. But I don’t know when they’re going to take that permission from you.”
“I don’t care! I’m going to do what I can! Get back here!” Hiroshi yelled, but Kei just ignored him and dodged.
“I refuse. If he doesn’t turn off your suit, it means he wants you to kill me. I’ve achieved my goal. I’m going to run.”
Kei flew through the air, forming a teleportation circle with his own hands, and then he vanished into it.
“Wait, damn it! What are you going to do now...!”
Hiroshi yelled, but his words just echoed in the sea as the bloody rain fell.
(Calm down. I have the video. Even if we can’t publicize it, we may be able to get it to USD.)
Yuko’s voice brought Hiroshi back to his senses. He didn’t realize it, but he might’ve been screaming for a long time.
“The equipment you gave me helped a lot. Thanks,” he said, as he touched the camera attached to the side of his helmet.
“I’ll take some footage of the sea surface and then head home,” he said, as he started to approach the scene of the tragedy and record. The blood had already vanished into the sea’s blue, but sharks were gathering around the corpses.
“This is awful...”
He heard Yuko’s voice, but didn’t know what else to say. He thought of attacking the sharks to relieve his frustration, but there wasn’t any point. But then he saw something that wasn’t a corpse floating among the sharks.
It was a dolphin lying on its side that was probably caught up in the attack. Its belly was exposed and its fin had been nibbled off. There was a shark beneath it that would poke at it occasionally.
—If it died in the fight, I feel bad for it...
“Huh?” Hiroshi gasped.
Something was pushing the dolphin’s belly upwards from within. A blade suddenly poked out from it, and began to saw it apart from within.
“Someone’s coming out...”
Hiroshi readied for a fight. The dolphin’s belly split open and a human arm came out. He could tell immediately that it was someone from the Republic.
—He’d said he missed the king, didn’t he?
What he’d heard before was that the king of the Republic was supposed to be on board one of the submarines. Hiroshi saw a powerful looking young man appear from within the dolphin covered in blood. He was covered in blood, but he looked at Hiroshi with a fierce glint in his eyes.
“If nothing else, I’m your enemy’s enemy,” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow. The young man moved away from the dolphin’s belly and into the sea.
Several of the sharks approached him, drawn by the smell of blood. The young man’s knife flashed, slightly injuring one of the shark’s noses. That was enough to keep the rest of them away.
The young man buried his face in the water, returned the knife to a case at his side, and washed his face with seawater. He pushed back his hair with both hands, revealing a face that was handsome and imposing.
“I watched helplessly at what happened outside. I don’t know who you are, but I thank you for screaming on behalf of my friends.”
The young man spoke in a loud, clear voice. There was a calm and honest air about his words.
“It’s a shameful thing to have survived alone, but one of my men sacrificed this innocent dolphin’s life to save me. Now I must work to repay the sacrifice they made. When this is over, you may ask me for any boon you wish. I am the King of the Republic, Marine.”
“Brave.” Hiroshi gave his name.
Marine nodded and moved to dive back in the sea, but Hiroshi felt a sudden stirring in his head. The next thing he knew he was calling out to Marine.
“Wait!”
“What is it?” Marine looked up at him. Hiroshi offered Marine a hand.
“Let me work for you.”
Marine seemed suspicious.
“There’s no reason for you to do that. Think about whether that desire springs from more than a moment’s emotion.”
Hiroshi paused. But then he reached out a hand.
“Then let me work for you until you meet the Empress, at least.”
“The Empress?”
“I know what’s going on here. If you really do want a peaceful solution, and that solution involves the next heir to the throne and dealing with all these problems, you and I want the same thing,” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow.
Marine thought for a second before taking Hiroshi’s hand.
“I thank you, Hero.”
○
Meanwhile, Fujiko was away from the others, sneaking into an apartment near the academy. Normally, a girl like Fujiko sneaking into your apartment would be a cause for celebration, but this time, there was no hint of any fun in the air. She was more like a thief.
“Answer the question.”
Inside, she’d strung a rope from the ceiling and hung it around the neck of a man who was sitting there. The room’s table was flipped over, and a bowl of ramen had been knocked over, spilling its noodles and soup onto the floor.
“A-Answer what question?”
The rope was loose around his neck, so he couldn’t resist as he flailed his limbs about. His hair was a mess and he wore strange glasses. It was Issei Suzuki, the former leader of the black mages. He was the “former” leader now because Fujiko had stolen the black mages’ secret, and after the priests had captured him, he’d decided to retire. But right after he’d started his new life, Fujiko had broken in and strangled him. Not a good start.
“There was something I didn’t understand from the documents. No, you could say that because of those documents, there’s something I came to understand.”
Fujiko already had all the information about the black mages she’d stolen from Issei. It was all technical information, though, with little information about their network or its origins. That was what she wanted to know. Issei had been around long enough that he probably knew how the black mages came about through his connections.
“Is there some relationship between the republic and the black mages?”
“Oh... is that it? Well... I guess that wasn’t in the database whose password I gave you,” he said, painfully. He gestured at his neck.
Fujiko loosened the rope and repeated her question.
“So there is some relationship, right?”
“I don’t have any proof myself, but I realized when I heard the news about the Republic’s origins. When the Empire was founded, believers in pure freedom left the country. They probably founded the Republic.”
“Kazuko said they all died, didn’t she?”
“You saw the database, right? It says they died, so what I’m telling you now is just a guess.”
”Maybe they still have the records. Also, I don’t know what it is you want so badly, but if it’s perfect freedom, the ideal of the black mages, you should just join the Republic.”
When she heard this Fujiko yanked tight on the rope again.
“Wait, so in the end, do you not know anything?”
“Uwah... Wait, wait! This is what happened.”
Issei coughed to clear his throat so that he could begin.
“You’d better not be making something up just to save your own skin.”
“No, I’m being serious...” he said. “The Demon King system was originally intended as an internal thing. In other words, once we created the social system we have now, with the gods, it would only be natural that everybody would be able to use its resources. So the Empire created rules that stopped everyone from killing each other. And the Demon King is something that’s free from those rules.”
“I’ve heard that story before.”
“Yes. But when I heard about the existence of the Republic I realized that only applied within the Empire.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that even if we did change the system, and the black mages’ ideal world came to pass, it probably wouldn’t destroy humanity. It would probably destroy the Empire, though.”
Fujiko already understood that much.
“I see... You’re right.”
“Yeah. So even if the Demon King starts a war, it’s not clear whether it would destroy humanity.’
“I can accept that as well,” Fujiko nodded.
“So don’t you think it’s strange? If the Demon king is a weapon like Kazuko said, he’s too strong. And if he’s what the Gods insist he is, something that will destroy humanity, he’s too weak.”
“If the Demon King can really only use resources from within the Empire, then he can’t be something that threatens all humanity...” Fujiko whispered.
No matter how much a heretic she was within the Empire, she was still an Imperial. But once she was freed from that perspective, it was the logical conclusion.
“...But Kazuko said the Law of Identity didn’t exist, even though she should have known better...”
“She was lying. Or maybe she didn’t know the truth. That’s possible. Even if the Gods and the Demon King are working together, neither the Empire nor the Demon King has the power to destroy all humanity. If anything does, it has to come from the outside. In other words... an Outer God. A real God, in the true sense.”
What Issei said made sense. And it matched the few things that Boichiro Yamato had said that she’d managed to catch.
“So you’re telling me... a real god exists?” Fujiko said, with terror in her voice.
“I don’t even want to think about it myself, but first we had the problems with Empress Kazuko and now the Republic. It’s the only thing that makes sense. You had the same thought, which is why you came to me, right?”
Issei took the robe, which was now slack, off his neck and looked up. Fujiko was already gone.
—Everything points to the existence of a real god...
Who could deal with such terror? Fujiko was struck with an indescribable fear.