I say.
"Isn't it better if we go out now? If they are massacring their own comrades ---"
Shiro says.
"If we save those subordinates who were deceived by Mitsutomo Group, then they might become our allies?"
"Yeah."
"That's a good point. But, that's provided that the Mitsutomom Group is massacring their comrades. If it's not......"
But, at that moment, Himi says.
"I have finished scanning the surrounding map! This is not a massacre!"
"Then what is it?"
Kimi replies to my query.
"In front, the labyrinth guardians --- more than 200 monsters are closing in! Only 8 humans are left! They are running away towards here!"
"Wha."
I look at the faces of my comrades.
Yousuke says.
"If we go out, we'll be killed. Leave the Kansai team......"
But Shiro cuts him off.
"What if Kiri is among the 8 people?"
"Then should we all die together!? Our comrades' lives are at stake. Evaluate this calmly, Shiro."
"Kuh."
Shiro looks at me and Gunjou.
It's a difficult call. Kiri might not be outside at all.
If we stay here, we might get through this alive.
But, the answer appears right away.
Himi says.
"The enemy has noticed us!"
"Damn!"
Shiro extends his right hand backwards,
"Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch!"
He throws his spear at the wall behind us, in the opposite direction from where the enemy is closing in. A hole opens.
I bellow at that.
"We're getting out! Those who are alive link up, and escape to the upper level!"
I dash out of the room that's inside the gigantic tree.
Once I get out, the scenery outside enters my vision.
The sky is blue and clear, like that of good weather.
The sun rays shine down on us.
The grass plains are so empty that it feels refreshing with only the horizon in sight.
Those grass plains are stained bright with red.
It is stained with bright red blood of people.
The enemies that are closing in are soldiers with torsos in the form of playing cards, as expected of what you would find in "Alice in Wonderland".
All of them have heart marks. There are none with spades, clubs, or diamonds. Since my little sister Saki loves heart marks.
And as expected, they swing their spears with heart-shaped tips, tearing apart people.
By the time I come out, there are only three people left.
And I know the faces of all of them.
The members of Valor team named Mitsutomo Kujaku, Makoto, and Zakki.
Kiri is not among them.
I look at my armband.
On doing that,
"........."
A star mark has disappeared without me being the wiser.
My little sister probably killed her.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn!"
I groan. I glare at the labyrinths guards sent out by my little sister.
Several card soldiers raise their spears.
Kujaku stops in her tracks. Her uniform covered in blood. Navy blue long hair. Clear cold eyes.
Even in this situation, she remains calm and retains her beauty of high class, noble birth.
She calmly turns around, and straightens her back,
"...... haah...... I'm tired of running away. Makoto, Yamazaki, I'll hold them off here. Please escape."
She says.
Makoto turns around with a surprised face,
"N-No way, don't push yourself Kujaku-sama!"
"Let's escape together! If we just get away a little further, we might be able to use our Escape switch......"
But Kujaku ignores them. She just extends her left hand out. She adopts a pose as if she's pulling the drawstring of a bow,
"Wailing Summer Rain switch."
She says.
Then, in the sky, several gigantic arrows of light appear. They number around thirty. The scale looks so grand that if all of them rain down, it looks like they can take down about a hundred of the card soldiers.
It's an amazing magic.
Just like Shiro's magic, it is specialized offensive magic that probably needs time to activate, and because of its give-and-take nature, it probably requires her to sacrifice something and fulfill some difficult conditions before she can activate it.
But the card soldiers look up. And they all raise their spears at once. And throws them up at the sky.
At the same time, Kujaku hollers.
"Rain down!"
Instantly, the gigantic arrows fall like rain.
However, the spears clash with the arrows.
Explode.
Explode.
Explode.
The spears number two hundred.
But there are only thirty arrows.
Then, the sky clears up, and sadly, it seems like nothing came down.
The card soldiers look at Kujaku again.
Kujaku stands rooted, tiredly.
She has given up.
"...... it, didn't work...... it's my loss huh. We shouldn't have laid our hands on Apocalypse Alice yet."
About ten of the card soldiers ready their spears.
Kujaku does not resist.
Spears are thrown.
"...... Acceleration switch."
I murmur.
Instantly, my body accelerates from the magic.
In an instant, for a second, my speed is faster than even that of God. And I was before Kujaku in an instant.
"Wha......"
Kujaku exclaims in surprise.
I swing my Demon Sword switch. I have already seen the weak points of the spears. I brandish my sword at the points where I can ward off the spears.
I swing, swing, swing, swing my sword.
The spears got deflected before me, and explosions occur left and right. While the wind of the blasts reached me, the blast impact didn't.
On top of that, Shiro jumps out. He raises his right hand.
"Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch!"
A gigantic rotating spear with a drill tip appears.
"Impale theeeeeeeeeeeeeemmm!"
And he throws it.
The card soldiers react and throw their heart spears at it, but the drill spins the spear as it pierces forward.
Doh-doh-doh-doh-doh-dohn, one by one, the spears clash with Shiro's spear and explode, but Shiro's spear does not disappear.
Shiro's magic is a type that unleashes great power in one shot.
The card soldiers are unable to render it inoperative.
The soldiers get bored by the drill. The drill explodes. Several card soldiers got annihilated.
But, that's about all. They are two hundred strong.
I turn around and say.
"All right, let's get out of here!"
Kujaku looks at me with a surprised face, and then says,
"Why are you......"
"It's not like I'm saving you. Curse you for abandoning Kiri...... but, we were also discovered. So......"
At that moment, Gunjou grabs the hair of Kujaku and says.
"Leave that for later, let's get out of here now!"
Kujaku's face then turns into even greater surprise.
"Gunjou, why are you still......"
But, we can no afford the leisure to talk.
This Valor team with Kujaku, Makoto and Zakki should be pretty strong. Then, if we join hands, and properly work together in guarding one another, there is a high possibility that we can get out of here.
Thus,
"Let's go!"
We are just about to dash off in a breath.
"............"
However, at that moment.
From behind me.
From among the card soldiers, the voice of a girl rings ou
t suddenly.
"Ah, ah, you aren't allowed to escape."
On hearing that voice, I can no longer move. Because I know it. Because I know that voice. No, maybe the owner of that voice is using some kind of magic that is stopping my movements. To the extent that my body no longer listens to me.
My brain is brimming with adrenaline and my ears are ringing. My heart races madly. I can't remain calm.
"............"
I turn around.
The card soldiers make way as if someone's pushing her way through, and a girl appears from among them.
As if she came out from the illustrations in 'Alice in Wonderland', it is a girl who's wearing a cute dress.
I call out the name of that girl.
"...... Saki."
She has grown up. Her appearance looks like that of a eleven, twelve year old now. However, there's no doubt about it. She is Saki. My little sister.
Dragged along in the tight grip of the right hand of that little sister of mine, is the neck of Kiri. The star mark has disappeared, but Kiri is alive. She looks at us. Her face becomes teary as she looks at me. Get out of here, her lips move.
That would probably be the better choice. In this situation, there's no way I can save my little sister. I can't save Kiri as well. The place is too bad. Furthermore, my little sister is protected by large numbers of card soldiers.
Despite all this, my Holy Sword switch that I can use for the purpose of saving my little sister, has hardly any range. On top of that, I can't activate my Acceleration switch along with it; in the capacity of a weapon, there's no magic worse than this.
"............"
However, even so, I cancel the cursed song of Acceleration switch that's playing in my head, and change to a different song slot.
The song of Holy Sword switch starts playing in my head.
【Deceiving the night ♪
Beguiling the world ♪
The darkness that saves the girl of the endless night ♪】
It's the magic to sever a labyrinth diseased girl from the labyrinth.
I will save my little sister here.
I will save my little sister here.
Thus,
"...... sorry everyone. Please get out of here. I'll remain here."
I say.
Shiro then says behind me.
"What the heck are you talking......"
"My little sister's here! I...... I'll save, my little sister here......"
But, Gunjou comes standing beside me.
"Then, hurry up and do it!"
Shiro then goes on to say,
"For real? At this timing...... aah, but we might have a better chance at it than running away."
Yousuke too stands beside,
"Crap, damn you, if we survive this, I'll make sure you treat me lunch a hundred times!"
Then, the card soldiers raise their spears all at once. Facing us.
Kiri hollers.
"No! Get out of here! You can't win!"
We should really be fleeing.
There's absolutely no chance of winning. If the card soldiers' can be held with just these few people, Kujaku's team would have already done it I guess.
But, they were almost completely annihilated.
But they couldn't hold them off. In other words, our current action is the same as suicide.
But yet, my Hero team comrades surround me.
I say in exasperated voice.
"You guys are really morons."
Shiro then says.
"Not as moronic as you."
Gunjou says.
"For real."
Yousuke then says,
"Let's save that for later, hurry up and get going. Go finish it off!"
I then nod,
"Holy Sword switch."
While murmuring that, I start running.
A silver sword appears in my right hand. A shining sword shrouded by light. A sword of hypocrisy that resembles a sword that a hero carries.
The card soldiers turn to me and throw their spears at me.
But I didn't look at them. Since I can't do anything with the Holy Sword activated.
I am useless. I am defenseless. I am powerless.
But my comrades are with me now.
Shiro, Yousuke, and Gunjou protect me from the spears.
My little sister did not move.
She merely grins with a gentle looking face, and did not move.
I start swinging my sword at my little sister.
However, the card soldier that's just beside my little sister starts throwing his spear at me.
But,
"Nine-Fold switch."
Kiri says. A Japanese sword appears in her hands and blocks the spear of the card soldier. The spear explodes, but Kiri's sword absorbs all of the blast impact.
With that, I reach my little sister.
After spending ten years, I finally reach her.
Shiro yells.
"Do it!"
Gunjou yells.
"Please do it!"
Yousuke yells.
"Just do it idiot!"
Himi yells.
"Please!"
Kiri says with a completely limp, exhausted face.
"...... Shi-Shinnosuke-kun."
In order to answer their calls, I swing my 'Holy Sword down at my little sister ---
♦
♦
♦
In the next instant.
With the power of the Holy Sword, I enter the heart of Saki.
The inside of my little sister is pitch dark.
Deep inside the darkness, Saki sits alone.
She sits hugging her legs to her chest.
The same as Gunjou and Asahi Momoka.
I call out to Saki.
"Saki."
She then looks up.
"Ah ~, you finally came. Onii-chan. I've been waiting."
She says familiarly, as if she's waking me up from my morning snooze.
I shrug my shoulders.
"Sorry."
"I've been waiting for ten years."
"Yeah."
"Even though I can't sleep in a dark room by myself, this place never has any lights, and it's always dark you know!"
"Then you never even sleep a wink?"
"No. I do sleep when I get tired though."
"You do sleep huh."
"But because you weren't here Onii-chan, I got really sleep-deprived."
She says with an angry face.
Like before, she has a naive, innocent, cheery face. No but, she really has grown up a little. She's also taller.
"Sorry. I'm late."
I say again.
Saki then smiles and shakes her head.
"But since I'm kindhearted, I'll forgive you. Onii-chan, you really did come after all."
"...... well, even though I really gave it my all to reach here, you know?"
"I saw. Onii-chan, you've been shedding tears, hollering, and wanted to give up many times, but still, you work hard and made it here; I've been watching all this while."
I cock my head on hearing that.
"Y-You can see all that?"
Saki then smiles.
"I can. After all, my disease infected you that time."
"Eh?"
"And, didn't we make put together our plan time and time again in your dream?"
"Plan......? What, are you talking......"
"About how to turn the whole world into a labyrinth. About how to turn everything into Apocalypse Alice. About how we can encroach the whole world with the sickness of us Arisu siblings. We talked about those stuff."
"Wait, you......"
My little sister stands up, and approaches me.
I take a step backward.
"And, with the blueprint I gave you, you managed to complete the Holy Sword switch right?"
"What on earth are you say......"
"Onii-chan, you don't need to worry about anything else, so just quickly cut me. Then, I'll be set f
ree. Away from this labyrinth, to the outside world. A labyrinth diseased girl will be able to roam freely outside. The human world will then end. Since I will encroach the outside world and turn all of it into a labyrinth."
My little sister grabs my arm.
"Let me go."
But, my little sister didn't let go. She merely smiles innocently,
"I'm the stronger one here, so you can't go against me, Onii-chan."
My right hand that is holding the Holy Sword is grabbed. Slowly, Saki brings the sword closer and closer to her neck.
"Stop."
I say but she says in return.
"Don't you want to save me?"
"I want to save you."
"Then cut me."
"But, you aren't Saki."
"Fuh-fuh-fuh, I am Saki."
"Who are you?"
Then, my little sister replies.
"Alice. Apocalypse Alice --- isn't that the name you humans gave me? That's why I made the labyrinth that way. And the world will become like it too. So that everyone can stay in the world of the fairy tale country......"
"Release my little sister!"
I bellow.
But Saki just smiles. Smirkingly. That face may bear a little resemblance to mine.
Then she says,
"But with this, Onii-chan, your role has ended."
She then wrenches the Holy Sword switch towards her.
And cuts the skin of her neck.
My little sister then smiles sadly and following that ---
"See you, Onii-chan. I love you."
That was all she said and she disappeared.
With that, it ended.
Everything ended.
I can only murmur,
"What in the world happened......"
But no answer came.
My little sister had told me that the Holy Sword switch is a magic made under the direction of the labyrinth disease that had infected me.
Then, I couldn't save Saki?
My little sister disappeared, and in concert with that, the darkness in my surroundings also starts to vanish.
But, right now, I did not know what I had done.
Did I save my little sister?
Or, did I end up doing something that cannot be undone?
With those questions still in my mind, I was driven out of Saki's heart ---
♦
♦
♦
"............"
I return to consciousness.
As I open my eyes wide, the scenery before me is not that of the inside of the labyrinth.
It's reality.
Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 03 Page 12
