Flight Toward a Blue Sky

by Reki Kawahara

  Yanked by his own tentacle in Haruyuki’s hand, Nomi abruptly lost his balance and fell into a half tailspin. Using that force, Haruyuki whirled around with all his might and severed the tentacle in one stroke of his light sword. Centrifugal force was added to his propulsive force, and Dusk Taker shot through the sky horizontally.

  “Tcch!” A cry of anger slipping from between his lips, Nomi frantically flapped his wings to regain balance. But control did not return so easily.

  Haruyuki turned his body in Nomi’s direction, took a deep breath, and yelled, “Flyyyyy!!”

  The Gale Thruster responded with the throaty sound of flames.

  Haruyuki charged through the dark night, a blue shooting star. The light of the ground and the stars in the sky all melted away in circles around him; his eyes saw only the clear form of Dusk Taker. He drew his right hand in. Lined up his fingers. There was no longer any need to shout the attack name. The pure thought pierce turned into light and moved into his hand, quavering violently.

  “Aaaaaah!!”

  Riding this howl, Haruyuki released a platinum luminescence into the center of the radial light.

  “Sheeeaaah!!” Recovered, Nomi met him with the talons of his right hand and a battle yell.

  An explosive shock wave roared through the world, piercing with its resonance.

  The tip of the light sword was held fast deep within the five talons of nothingness, effectively stopping it. But right hands extended, the point where the two avatars met grew powerfully hot, clashing vibrations singeing their masks.

  “Ugh, ah, yaah!!” Haruyuki throttled the energy of the gauge jetting out from the boosters, attempting to break Nomi’s defense. The thunder on his back grew infinitely louder. The flames reached out endlessly, dyeing the sky blue.

  A little more. I can reach him if I just push a little harder. My sword will reach the ultimate enemy. A little more…Just a little…!!

  Even with his accelerated senses, he could see the energy gauge in the top left of his field of view dropping rapidly. Once the gauge was exhausted, Nomi would no doubt slice him up with those claws and not allow him the window he needed to Incarnate-charge. He had to break through before that!

  “Ah…Aaah!!”

  His overheated brain burned his vision into whiteness. But he had already wrung his imagination dry and nearly pierced the wall before him.

  Skrrk. Skrrk. The silver light pushed into the nothingness. His gauge emptied mercilessly.

  Perhaps because he had been so focused on the extremely concentrated attack, the field itself rippled and shuddered. The light sword pushed into the center of this ripple, bit by small bit.

  It hit him. The tip of his sword finally touched the palm of Nomi’s actual hand.

  And the final pixel glittering in the energy gauge disappeared.

  The thunder of combustion wavered, and the jet of flames flickered.

  A wild smile rose up on the lips beneath Dusk Taker’s visor.

  And then—

  “Now, Corvus. A little more.”

  He heard a voice, and a pale hand came to support his right arm.

  “Come on, fight. Just a little more.”

  Another voice rang in his ears, and someone pushed on his shoulder.

  “Ungh…Ah…Aaaaaah!!” Haruyuki howled, focusing his remaining power on the single point of his right hand. Although it was for a mere moment, an enormous flame jetted from the boosters, despite the empty gauge.

  This final propulsive force shot him forward and the sword of light finally broke through the wall of nothingness. The five talons scattered into purple phosphorescence and evaporated.

  “What—” As if to drown Nomi’s gasp:

  Kreeeeeeen!!

  The superextended sword of light cut Dusk Taker’s right arm perfectly in two, and the pieces fell apart into countless fragments.

  “Ngaaah!!”

  Haruyuki’s consciousness was exhausted, to the point where it was a mystery that he could still move. Even in this half-autopilot state, however, with an overarm stroke, he plunged his left hand into the chest of his enemy as hard as he could, before he could drop from the heights of the sky.

  The light of his Incarnate was so weak it was barely visible, but he felt a powerful resistance nonetheless as his arm pierced the darkness avatar, the tip coming out through its back.

  “Hng!…Nnnngh!” Scattering reddish-purple sparks, Nomi groaned and his upper body reeled.

  One more hit!!

  If he hit Dusk Taker with one more serious blow, his HP gauge would be finished.

  But Haruyuki would almost certainly die with him. He didn’t have enough power left to control his descent, much less charge the Gale Thruster one more time. He had just the barest amount of HP left; if he crashed into the ground from this height, he would vanish in short order.

  But even if I do, that’s okay.

  As long as we both go down and all of our points are given to Cyan Pile, as long as Takumu takes up this dream of mine, my fighting won’t have been in vain.

  Whipping up his awareness, which threatened to disappear, Haruyuki raised his right hand high above him. Setting his aim on the black visor of his enemy, who had also nearly lost consciousness, he readied the final blow—

  But the instant he went to strike, he heard a voice.

  “Citron Call!!”

  A voice he had heard so much and so often, maybe more than his own mother’s, the voice he had been listening to the longest. They laughed together, played, sometimes fought, quickly made up. That voice—

  Mesmerized, Haruyuki looked at the ground. A pillar of beautiful emerald-green light soared up from the avatar the color of fresh leaves standing quietly in the schoolyard and enveloped Dusk Taker.

  The ringing of infinite bells spread out through the night sky.

  As if it were the blessing of an angel, the light restored the dusk-colored avatar. The cracked and scorched armor regained its sheen. Lost arms were regenerated.

  An instantaneous and painfully deep despair blanketed Haruyuki.

  In the depths of the black spherical mask, reddish-purple eyes blinked and shone brightly once again.

  “Heh-heh, ha-ha-ha-ha!” The shrill laugh. “Ha-ha-ha! A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

  The regenerated arms opened wide, wider, and Dusk Taker screamed, “See? Isn’t that loyalty absolutely worthy of praise?! So…this is power! This is ruling!! Friendship?! Bonds?! As if I need those!! Rule through pillage!! That alone is absolute power!! Ha-ha-ha-ha…Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” The twisted, loud laughter became an aura and scattered purple electricity racing through the sky.

  “Now…it’s time…to settle thiiiiis!!” The Nihilistic Fluctuation reached out from ten sinisterly tapered fingers. On the verge of splitting apart Haruyuki’s body—

  Something happened.

  The pop of an intense glimmer.

  The devil wings sprouting from Dusk Taker’s back, spread out to both sides, were shining. Cracks raced through them as though they had been transformed into ultrathin glass. They began to crumble noisily.

  And then disappeared.

  “Wha—” Nomi gasped, eyelids flying all the way up. “Wh-wh-why are my wings dis—”

  Before he could finish, the two avatars shuddered heavily. The flying power that had been keeping them in midair had disappeared, and they began to fall, still entangled.

  But Haruyuki soon felt something trying to pull him back. It was hot. A modest, living heat sitting at the tips of his shoulder blades. The speed of Silver Crow’s descent alone eased, and his left hand, still piercing Dusk Taker, was pulled free.

  The twilight avatar, hands still spread out in mute amazement, fell backward toward the earth.

  In contrast, Haruyuki slowed even more, until he finally felt a sense of buoyancy and came to a stop.

  It wasn’t Gale Thruster. That gauge was completely empty, and the Enhanced Armament remained silent.

  Right. This feeling. A yearning that
made him want to cry, an exaltation.

  “Ah. Ah…” As the sound slipped out of him, tears welled up in both eyes.

  The heat in his shoulder blades gradually became hotter. The energy grew and swirled, seeking an outlet. Almost as if his bones were waking up the memory of the organ formerly attached there.

  Guided by something, Haruyuki raised his hands and crossed them in front of his body. He clenched his fists. He put his power into it.

  “Welcome home. Thank you,” he murmured and threw his arms out to the sides.

  Claaaang!!

  A sound more beautiful than any other filled the night sky.

  Even without being able to see directly, Haruyuki knew. Ten metal fins had been deployed on his back on both sides of the booster, shining silver in the reflected moonlight. Platinum wings. The power to reach the heavens, the reason for Silver Crow’s existence.

  He was finally back. To his original form. To being the sole flying duel avatar in the Accelerated World, a power nurtured and created by his own mental scars.

  This conviction and emotion overflowed in his heart—and then something else happened.

  The Gale Thruster fused with the wings and the gauge glittered as if linked to them, automatically refilling. He felt like it was telling him to fly.

  Haruyuki nodded, and, drawing his right hand into his chest, he turned his body straight down.

  In the center of the endlessly unfolding white field, he could see the tiny shadow of Dusk Taker yet falling. He might have lost his wings, but his HP would have been recovered with the power of Citron Call. He might have been able to endure a crash from extremely high up.

  But I’m ending this.

  Haruyuki spread his silver wings. The fins began to vibrate lightly. A familiar propulsive force enveloped his body. At the same time, the Gale Thruster ignited. Blue flames were reflected by the silver wings, glittering gorgeously. He held his breath at the awe-inspiring surge of energy.

  “Goooooooo!!” Haruyuki shouted

  A platinum aura radiated from his wings. The blue jet of flames gushed out farther. At once, Haruyuki broke through the wall of air and flew.

  He was likely moving faster than any avatar had ever moved since the beginnings of the Accelerated World. With the propulsive force of the wings and the booster, plus the pull of the virtual gravity, Haruyuki charged ahead, a single bolt of lightning.

  Even accelerated as he was, the rest happened in an instant.

  With the Incarnate sword in his right hand as the tip, Silver Crow transformed into an arrow of light and closed in on the falling Dusk Taker, touched him, and then plunged through him.

  Pop! The dusky avatar flew apart in pieces, spinning from the center of his body. Pushing past where their weapons had crossed without touching these polygon fragments, Haruyuki straightened out his wings and pointed his booster straight down.

  The propulsion counterbalanced the ferocity of his descent, and he decelerated before coming to a stop. The soles of his feet grasped the surface of the earth. Crumbling to his knees, Haruyuki heard a heavy crash a moment later. He fought the sudden exhaustion that washed over him and lifted his head.

  Looking out at the Umesato Junior High schoolyard near where he had landed revealed a black lump tumbling along.

  Dusk Taker. But all that was left of him was his head, chest, and the short tentacles that had started to regenerate from his left shoulder. The eyes beneath his visor were very dim and flickered irregularly. If he had anything left in his HP gauge, it had to be less than 10 percent.

  Haruyuki dragged himself to his feet. After he had taken one, two steps, he heard a voice.

  “Wh…y…Why…My wings. Disappeared…,” Nomi moaned, as if this were an even bigger shock than having his body blown away.

  It wasn’t Haruyuki who answered.

  “That’s…because my power isn’t healing.”

  He jerked his head up, and there was Chiyuri—Lime Bell. She was holding her side and the deep holes that had been gouged out of it with her severed right arm.

  And standing beside her was Cyan Pile, missing both arms. He could also see Black Lotus and Black Vise facing each other, both on guard, holding themselves in ready positions, but they seemed to have stopped their Incarnate attacks.

  “Wh…what?” Nomi muttered hoarsely. “If it’s not…a healing ability, then what are you saying it is?”

  “Ever since I became a Burst Linker, I thought it was weird,” Chiyuri replied quietly after a brief silence. “Like, why would I be given this healing power? But, well…after I healed you for the first time in fifth period on Tuesday, I was talking with Haru and Taku, and I figured it out. Haru said it wasn’t just your wounds and HP that were healed; even the machine in your right arm came back. I thought that was pretty strange. That’s not healing; it’s more like repair. And then…I understood.”

  Taking a deep breath, the fresh green avatar announced crisply, “My power’s not healing. It’s turning back time. Time for the avatar it hits goes backward. Which is why…I thought, if I used this power, I could for sure get Haru’s wings back. I could rewind time to before Dusk Taker stole Silver Crow’s ability and make it like the whole thing never happened.”

  So that’s it. Haruyuki felt a keen pain throb deep in his heart. Tears blurred his vision once again. And I doubted her. I couldn’t trust my old friend when she was trying so hard for me. I’m an idiot. A super, total idiot.

  Hanging his head low, Haruyuki heard a deeply resentful voice rise up from the ground below.

  “What…You betrayed me? You betrayed me, Lime Bell?” Having lost his body and being near death, Nomi shouted as though his anger gave him power. “After I let you win, after I gave you vast oceans of points, you betray me?!”

  “No, I didn’t. I didn’t betray you at all,” Chiyuri responded, sounding like she had gotten back just a little of her usual contrary spirit. “The first time I healed you was because you threatened me with the video. And I obeyed you after that to level up and extend the amount of time I could go back…and also for this one chance today. I’ve never once been your friend!”

  A brief silence fell once again.

  The dusk-colored avatar shook the ruins of his body and abruptly laughed quietly. “Heh. Heh-heh-heh. Honestly…this one, that one, idiots all of you. I’m sick of looking at your faces; I’m leaving. I’ll spread all of your real identities and let someone else finish you off. I’m going to transfer schools and build my own kingdom. Now then, what are you doing, Vise? Hurry up and get me out of here.”

  Haruyuki jerked his face up and looked over at the layered avatar facing off with Black Lotus in the distance.

  “Well, this puts me in a bit of a spot,” the jet-black avatar said gently, slowly cocking his head to one side. “Given the situation, that is a very difficult request to respond to, Taker.”

  “Well then, make the effort. If I’m gone and I’m the main force, then the Research Society itself is in a bit of a spot, isn’t it? The BIC information might even be leaked.”

  “Oh no, I don’t think that’s a concern. Our BICs have been customized to automatically inactivate the instant they detect when we lose Brain Burst. The chip ends up dissolving into the cerebrospinal fluid and disappears, so tracing us is impossible. And, well…Taker, you of all people should know that former acceleration users are no longer able to interfere in this world in any way.”

  Haruyuki couldn’t even begin to understand the meaning of what Black Vise was saying.

  But Nomi raised his head with a start and glared at the moon directly above. “Dammit! Dammit!! Daaaaaammiiiiiit!!” he howled for a while, before snarling at them again. “I won’t accept that! I will not allow this to happen! Anyone! Anyone’s fine! Come here! Help me! If you do, I’ll give you points!!”

  That’s enough.

  The moment Haruyuki had this thought, Takumu looked at him and said, “Should we end this, Haru?”

  “Yeah.” Nodding, Haruyuki starte
d to walk. To put an end to it all.

  As soon as Dusk Taker saw Silver Crow approaching, he began to scream, “S-stop! Okay! From now on, I’ll pay tribute in points to you! That’s not a bad deal, right?! And I’ll even join your Legion for you!!”

  As he walked, Haruyuki raised his right hand. A white luminescence grew out of his readied fingers.

  “Stop! No! I don’t want to lose it! My power! My acceleration!! No, no…Noooooooooo!!” His torso recoiling as he twisted himself inside out, Dusk Taker tried to gain some distance by scrabbling at the earth with his short tentacles.

  With a frozen heart, Haruyuki brandished the sword of light high. It flashed down without hesitation.

  The air shook and a thin line of light raced along the decorative tiles, stretching out to swallow up Dusk Taker, who was crawling along in front of it. The twilight avatar was soundlessly split in two, straight down the center.

  Immediately, an enormous pillar of reddish-purple flame shot up. From inside the flames, countless ribbons of light were released into the sky, only to melt into the air and disappear. The ribbons were woven from detailed digital code; it was a phenomenon that accompanied the final annihilation of a Burst Linker, something he had seen only once before.

  In that moment, the marauder who had reigned over Umesato Junior High and held Haruyuki and his friends under his overwhelmingly heavy boot was gone forever from the Accelerated World.

  As he stood there stock-still, the system font announcing the conclusion of the sudden-death duel shone redly in Haruyuki’s vision. A large quantity of burst points was added to his stock, followed by a message to the effect that he could now advance to level five.

  However, he felt no exultation in the victory or even a sense of achievement, just the recognition that it was all over. He dragged his battered body a few steps toward Chiyuri and Takumu.

  “Now then.”

  He heard a resolute voice: Kuroyukihime, who had until that point held the mysterious Burst Linker Black Vise in complete check with an Incarnate battle.

  “I have a great many things to ask you, but you don’t look like you have any intention of talking. In which case, let’s finish this already.”