Snow White’s Slumber

by Reki Kawahara

  And Fuko herself, rather than squeezing Utai with all her might and squealing “Uiuiiii!” like she usually did, now simply stroked the girl’s back silently. Perhaps the brief contact restored her mental energy; Utai quietly sat up and said thank you once more before dropping down to the floor.

  She staggered for the briefest instant but then immediately stood up straight and offered calmly, “Now, let us hurry. C and the others are waiting.”

  “Mmm. Let’s go.” Nodding forcefully, Kuroyukihime turned around.

  The portal was right there, so if they returned to the real world momentarily and then accelerated again, the damage they’d received would have been completely recovered. But then they would have to start again from the Umesato student council office in distant Suginami, and they didn’t have the time for that. They had to join up with Silver Crow and the others as soon as possible, muster whatever power was left in them, and fight this giant “something” that had been born in the Accelerated World.

  As she advanced in an unstable hovering motion, Kuroyukihime glanced one last time at the area around the shining portal on the southern edge of the floor. There was essentially no trace anymore of the duel avatar that had been called the ISS kit main body, nor any sign of Red Rider, who had been forcibly called back from the distant past and made to produce the kit terminals. She didn’t know if Rider’s memories, which she assumed had been copied from the real first Red King and stored somewhere in the Brain Burst central server, had been completely erased in the battle that day. As long as the necromancer who brought Rider back to pseudo life was still alive, there was the possibility of the same thing happening again.

  However, she could not allow it a second time. She would confront them and that necromancer hiding somewhere in the Accelerated World, once this current fight was over. All the lingering mysteries of the ISS kit main body would be resolved at that time.

  She took her eyes off the portal and advanced another dozen or so meters to stand in the southeast corner of the floor. There was a small, sooty scar in the marble before her eyes. This was where the red beam had shot out into the world. She waited for Utai, Akira, and Fuko in her wheelchair to come to a stop behind her before brandishing her swords above her head. The damage to the blades was severe, but they were still sharp enough to cut through the wall of a building in the Twilight stage.

  She brought them diagonally downward and then followed this up with a horizontal slice with her right foot to complete the outline of an equilateral triangle in the wall. Finally, she pushed lightly with the tip of her sword, and the block of marble dropped outward, leaving a large hole.

  The southern part of the Minato Area they could see from the forty-fifth floor of Midtown Tower was, at first glance, enveloped in a peaceful quiet.

  Before them stood the Roppongi Hills Tower on the other side of the overpass for national highway No. 3. On its western side, the dense cluster of the embassies of Azabu. But somewhere in this scene, at that very moment, Silver Crow and the others were facing the final battle.

  Kuroyukihime started to turn around to ask Fuko if she could fly them there when, from the distance of Hills Tower, a phenomenon that could be called nothing other than “black light” swelled up soundlessly. The chalky-white town illuminated in the setting sun was swallowed up by a jet-black half sphere tinged with blood-red sparks. An instant later, a thunderous roar reached Midtown Tower and shook the entire enormous building.

  A Dark Shot explosion. And on a scale even larger than that launched by the ISS kit main body.

  “Haruyuki!!” Kuroyukihime screamed.

  Haruyuki frantically tried to pull his focus back from the massive gun barrels aimed at him. He’d falter in his midair evasion if he only looked at them; he needed to look at everything—at the whole of the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II’s massive bulk, and the unfathomable hunger it radiated. Even if his opponent was a heartless monster, as long as it had a hostile will, Haruyuki would be able to sense any increase in it.

  “Deeeel…” The giant let out a low moan, almost as if it was mocking Haruyuki’s tension.

  A high-density energy began to swirl a reddish-black within the guns. A nihilistic attack, but Haruyuki didn’t sense the inorganic nature of the Dark Shot of ISS kit users. It was more alive, full of the desire to destroy, crush, and eliminate everything. Mark II itself was basically a soulless iron robot, while the Dark Shot alone that it launched contained a tangible will. But whose will was it, exactly?

  It wasn’t that of the incorporated Wolfram Cerberus. Nor was it that of Cerberus II who had parasitized him, or Cerberus III, the already eliminated Dusk Taker. Most likely, it was the will of the red light itself that had shot down from the sky to take over the armor.

  When that beam of light had arrived, the Acceleration Research Society’s Argon Array had shouted, as though stunned, “It’s too soon. Like, this is too much! It can’t be…That lot, they went an’ did it in?”

  He couldn’t say for sure what “it” was, but he could hazard a guess. Most likely, the thing hidden away in Midtown Tower…

  One part of his mind followed the trail of these thoughts, while the rest of it concentrated. But as if Mark II refused to allow his brain to consider these questions any further, its hostility grew several orders of magnitude larger. The tips of the two guns housed an inky cross of light. Haruyuki had no sooner seen this than he was releasing the energy stored in the wings on his back.

  “Whoa…Ohhh!!”

  Not right or left, not forward or back, but down. He turned the weight of the four people he was carrying in his arms into the momentum for a sharp dive. Of course, if he kept up like that, they would take a direct hit from a beam of the greatest destructive force in the Accelerated World and disappear without a trace. The instant the great lances shot forth from the barrels in spiraling arms of black and red, however, he flapped his wings with everything he had and slid their falling trajectory inward.

  The twin beams passed Haruyuki and his comrades at a mere meter away and fell into the distant evening sky of his inverted field of view. There was no damage, but they felt a wave of energy so strong as to shake even the sky, and he lost his balance.

  Rather than go against the vibration, Haruyuki whirled his body around and put on the brakes for just a moment as he shouted, “Everyone! I’m letting go!”

  “Okay!” Niko had no sooner shouted on behalf of the entire crew than he was opening up the arms that were wrapped around Pard and Takumu. Those two avatars released Chiyuri and Niko at the same time, and the five Burst Linkers went into a free fall.

  “Aaaaah!” The first to roar out a battle cry was Takumu as he readied the pile driver of his right hand. “Cyan Lightning Spike!!”

  His level-four special attack and its immense piercing power: The iron pile transformed into a pale plasma and shot out toward the lens of the single eye, the only unarmored part of Mark II’s massive body.

  Next, Niko drew the weapon equipped on her left hip for the first time in this fight, took a wide stance, and readied the somehow adorable gun in both hands.

  “Scarlet Exploder!!” She shouted the name of what was probably an Incarnate technique and pulled the trigger. A brilliant bullet of red light whistled through the air.

  Pard, now in Beast Mode, tucked her arms and legs under her in midair and shouted the name of a technique Haruyuki didn’t know. “Bloodshed Cannon!!” A semitransparent tube materialized to enclose her, and a terrific explosion boomed at the tail end of it. Instantly, Pard shot straight down like an enormous bullet.

  Of course, Haruyuki wasn’t simply sitting there watching everyone attack. The instant he felt the slight shiver of urging vibration from the Metatron Wings on his back, he crossed his clenched fists before him and shouted as loudly as he could, “Ekteniaaaaa!!”

  Maybe the technique name wasn’t necessary, but in response to Haruyuki’s will, the two white wings stretched upward. He raised his crossed arms, and as he brought them d
own before him, the wings became a lance of pure white and charged toward Mark II’s head.

  There wasn’t so much as a second of delay between the four attacks. Takumu’s plasma lance struck the dark-red eye squarely in the center, sending dazzling sparks scattering. Niko’s Incarnate bullet then made a direct hit in the same place, and a single crack raced across the lens. Pard, transformed into a bullet herself, slammed into the single eye of the giant, triggering a massive explosion—well beyond the domain of a body slam—and the crack in the lens fissured into a spiderweb.

  Haruyuki’s Ektenia slipped by Pard as she somersaulted in midair and moved away from the line of sight so that both hit the mark simultaneously. He heard a loud sound like the ringing of a church bell, and then countless cracks blanketed the lens, and it clouded over a milky white.

  “Ruu…Dee…ruuu…” Mark II groaned in agony as it reeled backward. But even with the concentrated might of all four of their strongest attacks, the single lens did not reach the breaking point; they had not brought down the giant.

  “Nngh!” Haruyuki sucked a sharp breath in through clenched teeth.

  His comrades’ attacks were all powerful, but his Ektenia was strong enough to have destroyed in a single blow the crown object that tamed the knight Enemy in the basement of the Acceleration Research Society’s hideout. If the single lens, which he assumed was Mark II’s lone weak point, had this kind of strength, then the armored part of the giant was essentially indestructible. He thought about making one more push, but once they hit on the ground, they wouldn’t be able to get the right angle to hit the eye.

  Takumu, Niko, and Pard had already dropped into landing positions, so Haruyuki was the only one still able to do a follow-up attack. But he couldn’t move until his extended wings returned to his back. Hurry! he called fervently in his heart.

  “Aah…Hngaaaaaah!!”

  Suddenly, a ferocious battle cry rang out across the crater. It was Chiyuri, who he’d assumed was taking cover to the rear. Using his right shoulder as a stepping stone, she brandished the large bell of her left hand, Choir Chime, high in the air. Head thrown back as far as it would go, the small avatar used the massive recoil and yanked the bell down in one swoop.

  Ringoooooong!! The impact was solemnly sonorous as Bell slammed her weapon into the center of Mark II’s lens.

  After an instant of silence, the massive eyeball turned into an infinite shower of rubies and scattered through the air.

  “Graaaaaoooooh!!” Howling in anguish, the giant staggered backward until it finally collapsed, shaking the earth as it fell.

  “Nice, Chiyu!” Haruyuki shouted as he flapped the white wings that had finally returned to his back and grabbed his falling friend’s arm. He put on the bare minimum of brakes and came down to stand next to their comrades on the ground.

  “Twenty seconds!” Pard cried out sharply. This was, of course, the elapsed time since Mark II had fired its main armaments at Haruyuki and the others in the air. They’d already confirmed that the guns took sixty seconds to recharge, so they had another forty seconds to go.

  The problem was whether Mark II’s immobile state would continue that long. The single lens had been smashed, and the giant had been seriously damaged, but the almost unearthly aura radiating from it hadn’t weakened in the slightest.

  If it comes to that, we’ll make it stop moving!

  Thus resolved, Haruyuki gave instructions in rapid succession. “Niko, Takumu! If that thing looks like it’s gonna start moving, stop it with long-distance attacks! Pard, refuel your special-attack gauge!”

  In lieu of a reply, the large blue avatar and the small red avatar readied their weapons, while the leopard-faced avatar wordlessly dashed out of the crater, still in Beast Mode. Haruyuki took a deep breath and turned toward the fourth member of his team.

  “Chiyu…I’m counting on you!!”

  “I got this!!” Chiyuri replied firmly, taking a step forward. She raised her Choir Chime—the assault weapon of a moment ago—into the air again. As she whirled it counterclockwise in a large circle, a clear ringing filled the crater. Once, twice, three times…four times.

  “Citron…” A vivid lime-green glittering spilled from the large bell that enveloped her left arm. As she brought it down, her sights set on Mark II still on its back, sluggishly moving its limbs. “…Caaaaaaall!!”

  Her voice was full of fight as she shouted the name of the technique, and a torrent of light shot out from the bell opening. The beam flew straight forward, and once it hit Mark II’s left leg, it instantly wrapped around his entire body. The chiming of choir bells rained down from the distant twilight sky.

  Citron Call Mode II, a special attack of Lime Bell—aka the Watch Witch—had the incredible power of rewinding permanent status changes of the target to four stages back from the present. Which meant she could get back all four of the Enhanced Armaments Cerberus III had stolen from the Red King. But as was always the case with an ability of this kind of astounding power, there were also serious restrictions. Citron Call used up a fully charged special-attack gauge, and there was a waiting period before the rewind was activated. The beam of light also had no homing function, so it could be easily interrupted if the target moved or hid behind something. When the real Dusk Taker had stolen Haruyuki’s flight ability, Chiyuri had gone so far as to pretend to be Nomi’s ally without telling Haruyuki or Takumu anything in order to make Taker accept the light of Citron Call.

  If the copy of Nomi had still lived in the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II, then this time, for sure, he would have tried to evade Citron Call. But the copy had been annihilated, and the red light that shone down from the sky was in control of Mark II now. Something that wasn’t even a Burst Linker would have no knowledge of Lime Bell’s power. It likely had the instinct to evade an enemy’s attack, but the light of Citron Call itself had no power to cause damage, so if Mark II just judged it to be a harmless light and let it wash over its giant form…

  Haruyuki’s brain was on fast-forward, while time slowed to a glacial pace. Seven seconds left until the status rewind effect activated…Six…

  Kashank! Abruptly, he heard an earsplitting metallic sound. Still flat on its back, Mark II lined up its legs and fused them into one. Then its torso lurched upward with the force of a spring released and flopped forward onto its legs—its armor fusing with a squealing creak. Both arms folded up onto the sides of the body and became one with it.

  Haruyuki and his comrades were not simply staring slack-jawed while this was happening. The moment the enemy started to move, Takumu and Niko were aiming their respective weapons. Haruyuki also clenched his hands and got into position to activate Ektenia.

  Because Mark II’s torso was folded forward, the eye on the head appeared in front of Haruyuki and his comrades as a ready target. Lens still smashed, the inside of the sixty-centimeter hole was filled with a dense darkness.

  He had absolutely no idea what the giant was attempting by folding itself in half and fusing all its armor together. It wouldn’t be able to move if it was a limbless lump. Citron Call wasn’t a technique that did damage, so it could shore up its defenses all it wanted, but it was meaningless. But one thing, at least, was clear: It was trying to do something. In which case, this was not the time to be twiddling their thumbs.

  “I’m firing!”

  At Takumu’s signal, Haruyuki and his comrades joined together to attack the lone weak point, the large hole on the head. Takumu’s Cyan Lightning Pile, Niko’s handgun, and Haruyuki’s Ektenia were on the verge of piercing the inky darkness when six brown armor plates folded inward like the shutter leaves on an old camera to shut the three attacks out. At the same time, smoke erupted from Mark II’s lower half.

  Still another four seconds until the activation of Citron Call’s effect…Three…

  “No way! This guy!” Niko shouted.

  “Deeeellluurrrrru-ru-ru-ru!!” It roared like an old combustion engine that had no muffler. Transformed into a five-mete
r-long rod of metal, bent forward with all four limbs fused, Mark II—perhaps due to some propulsive force—charged them.

  “Chiyu!” Reflexively, Haruyuki reached and wrapped his arms around Chiyuri, who was still holding her bell before her, light pouring from it, and jumped with all his might. The sharp protrusions stretching out from Mark II’s back grazed the tips of his toes, but fortunately, he succeeded in evading the attack. Niko and Takumu also leapt to the sides, unharmed.

  But Citron Call, having lost its target with only two seconds left, immediately weakened and disappeared. To activate it again, Chiyuri would have to charge her special-attack gauge to full once more.

  But at the moment, there was something more important than that. Hovering in midair, Haruyuki turned and caught the departing lump of metal in his sight.

  Human-shaped until mere seconds earlier, the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II, had transformed into something entirely different. Three rotating bodies covered in tapered metal—wheels—had at some point been generated on each end of the lower half of the armor with its organically curving lines, and these spun against the ground. Black flames jetted from the thrusters to the rear, giving the massive body even more acceleration power.

  “What is this form?” Haruyuki groaned.

  “That bastard!” Niko responded from the ground, her voice filled with rage. “Transforming into Dreadnought!!”

  The dignified human form with two arms and four legs was peculiar to the Invincible, the Red King, Scarlet Rain’s Enhanced Armament. As was befitting its nickname, Immobile Fortress, it overwhelmed enemies with its immense firepower, but on the flip side of that coin, it had low mobility. After a great deal of work to compensate for this weak point, Niko had developed a transformation from human form to a tank shape—Dreadnought mode. This had played a big part in their mission, charging into the nest of the God Suzaku with Haruyuki and the others riding on top or carrying them all from Umesato to the former Tokyo Tower. He hadn’t even imagined that Mark II would also be furnished with this transformation ability, though. At five meters in length, it was about half the size of the real Dreadnought, but its speed was that much faster.