Sentimental Voice
Page 10
Savaris never knew whether that was Gahard's wish......Gahard's wish when he was in a vegetative state.
He didn't need to know.
"Military Artists who can't fight against filth monsters are worse than trash. Shouldn't you thank your senior for kindly preparing this last glorious mission for you?"
Gahard howled. Savaris didn't know whether it was Gahard's outrage or the filth monster's howling. He ran on the thin steel thread to close in on Gahard, smiling as he did so.
"Let me confront you a little bit seriously......Restoration."
Light shot forth from his limbs to cover his entire body. The card Dites expanded into their original weight and form. An exquisite design gathered around the armor above his elbows and on his legs, giving off bright white light that melted into the air of the night.
Savaris's Heaven's Blade had been restored to its original form.
He lifted his arm and with the sound of the air being torn apart, his arm received Gahard's fist.
"Not a bad sudden attack," he said, relaxed, as if he was just taking off his jacket.
Gahard kicked out at him. He backed off a step. Gahard's next kick followed, he was performing consecutive kicks on the steel thread.
"Hahaha. Not bad!"
The air around Gahard spun. On occasions, blades of air assaulted Savaris from a direction different to Gahard's kick. As the number of kicks increased, so did the number of air blades, but Savaris avoided them all with ease.
"Hm, I'm happy. Who would have thought you could execute this move so perfectly? I really want my brother to take a look at this."
His smile remained.
"I wanted to fight seriously with someone from the same school. That was why I chose you. It's great that you haven't failed my expectations."
Gahard continued his attacks in the same pattern as Savaris leaped around. The Heaven's Blade successor received a kick on the armor plate on his arm, which sent him flying. Gahard increased the speed of his next kick. Wrapped in the wind of his spin, it was a decisive attack that simultaneously released Kei along with Gahard's kick.
Blades of air shot towards Savaris like rain. Facing the invisible attacks as he kept his flying pose, Savaris breathed in deeply.
"AH HA!"
And blew out his Kei that completely eliminated the air blades, leaving behind the wind of Gahard's spins.
"This is one way of using Roar Kei," Savaris smiled as he landed on a steel thread. "And also, even if you don't execute the entire move, as long as you can bounce back the Kei, then......"
The lower part of Savaris' body blurred.
Gahard crossed his arms before him reflexively.
A sound that felt low and heavy. Then Gahard's body floated.
"Don't you know the "Fierce Wind Kei" style? It doesn't matter if we don't use the wind when our basics are grounded in the Luckens' style of Kei. Our moves are powerful as long as we move with the flow. The "Quick Wind" move is made with its flow along with the effect of additional Kei training, and that levels up the power of the move into "Fierce Wind Kei". You didn't do a bad job with it, but I already knew what it'd be like. As expected, it's not as satisfying to fight with a guy from the same school."
About to deliver a kick, Savaris lowered his leg.
The expression on Gahard's face made Savaris think "How could this be?"
A human face emerged from the threatened beast that was Gahard.
"Why such despair? Can Gahard's human consciousness still remain? Have you realized the distance between you and a Heaven's Blade successor......On that day, you failed to obtain the Heaven's Blade title even though you got hold of Layfon's weakness. Have you finally understood that?"
"I, I was......I was......" Gahard's lips trembled to weave the words.
"Oh? you can still talk normally."
"I just......couldn't allow it. That brat......a Heaven's Blade successor on par with the young Master......Became a Heaven's Blade successor at an age younger than the young Master......I couldn't tolerate it."
A light of humanity shone in his eyes.
Had he escaped from the filth monster's control?
"I decided......to defeat him. For that brat to become a Heaven's Blade successor......It must have been chance. I couldn't stand him......and......his dirty hands......"
"Enough self-defense. How unsightly."
Savaris cared nothing for the dying words of a man controlled by a filth monster.
"Either way, the fact that you threatened Layfon won't change. You're also responsible for it. As a senior, shouldn't you have participated in the match calmly and pulled him down from his position rather than threatening him before the match?" Savaris' body swayed lightly, and in that second, internal Kei spilled out from his body, making the air vibrate.
"You're only at a passing level in terms of keeping the principles of a Military Artist. At least die and leave a good memory for my little brother. No more of your unsightly protests."
"Ugh, Ah, Ooh......"
Pain showed through Gahard's icy words. The human existence disappeared again in his eyes. The pupils that showed control before changed back to a filth monster's. As if to match that alteration, Gahard's body changed.
"Finally realizing that you can't win as a human, huh? But......"
Gahard's body expanded. The tattered clothes tore apart, exposing the muscles in bunches. A black body. The expansion stopped after the body was three times its human size. Huge wings appeared on its back and thick scales covered it from head to toe. Fingers were replaced by three long claws. Long and sharp teeth showed through the mouth.
A roar rent apart the night sky.
Savaris watched coldly as the filth monster declared its presence in Grendan.
"You guys lost to us outside the air purification system. What can you do inside then?"
The lazy smile had been wiped off Savaris' face. A sharp expression like that of a blade emerged to stare at the filth monster.
The three claws swiped at Savaris.
Savaris' body dispersed into the wind.
It was an illusion.
"Gahard Baren, this is my last mercy to you."
That voice sounded from all around the filth monster. Everywhere were Savaris' images. Like an army of Savarises, each Savaris faced the enemy with a different pose.
"Die to Luckens' most elegant move."
Combined Internal and External Kei Variant – Luckens' move – Thousand Man Rush.
Countless Savaris made their moves. They attacked at point-blank range. The filth monster had no way of resisting.
Batter, hit, kick, attack, slash, shoot, destroy, twist, crush.
Numerous attacks fell onto the filth monster without ceasing, pounding down that thick outer shell. The filth monster didn't have the time to think as it was assaulted in all directions. Its self-protection function worked automatically underneath the innumerable attacks to make changes to its body. Having lost its outer shell, the black body transformed.
In that split second, the rain of fists ceased.
It was Gahard's painful face. Voiceless, he looked at Savaris bitterly as if to convey something.
"Scum," Savaris said against his junior's pleading. His fist landed on Gahard's face and broke through the filth monster's body.
"If I had known you'd be scared of this, I wouldn't have used you," he said coldly as the remaining Savaris' assaulted the filth monster at the same time, completely tearing it into pieces.
"All done......" he laughed, watching fragments of flesh fall through the gaps of and onto the steel threads.
"Guess I gotta nail the coffin lid firmly. It'd be terrible if people see what's inside......But is a normal coffin big enough for it?"
He rested his chin on his palm and pondered.
"Never mind."
And gave up.
"I'll just let father handle this."
So that was what happened.
Lintence watched the dismemberment of the filth
monster's body.
"It's finished," he confirmed. Everything was fine now. He retrieved the steel threads as if he hadn't seen Savaris still standing on one of the threads.
Although Savaris seemed to be grumbling about something as he fell, Lintence didn't bother to listen. Savaris had no right to be a Heaven's Blade successor if he could die from that height.
Speaking of which......
What Lintence thought about wasn't the filth monster's corpse, but the fight just then. The move that Savaris used – Thousand Man Rush. Layfon stole that move from the Luckens and used it as his own. He didn't just remember parts of it. Even Lintence couldn't understand the structure of a move just by looking at it.
"No one is better at understanding the skills of Kei than he."
Besides Lintence's skill in steel threads, Layfon had turned almost all of the skills in the Dojos of Grendan into his own. He was able to digest those moves and use them just by observing them. The fact that Layfon could become familiar with those moves in a shockingly short period of time had overwhelmed even Lintence.
"Is that guy a seed to transport those skills to the outside of Grendan? ......Was he born with that mission?"
He gazed at the city as he thought of the only person whom he acknowledged as his apprentice.
Nothing reflected back in the darkness of the night.
Layfon headed deeper to the inside of the Mechanical Department illuminated with pale green light. He had spent an entire night at Zuellni's Mechanical Department, but the silence here gave off a bad feeling. It was even quieter than the buildings after school hours.
"Did anything happen?"
"Felli......What's wrong? Answer me."
Background noise entered Nina's voice. The same happened to Sharnid's voice, as if his voice was coming from a far distance......
Suddenly......
"Huh?"
His vision turned black, and the background noises ceased.
"Felli, What's happened? Felli!?"
Even though he shouted into the transmitter, his voice only vanished into the bitter darkness.
Layfon was left alone in the dark.
Chapter 6
Scarlet Pride
A bad feeling made him irritated and impatient.
"......Uh."
Someone was collapsed on the ground, underneath the trees by the entrance of the Mechanical Department. Gorneo went down to check on the person. She was the psychokinesist of the 17th platoon, named Felli, who had unashamedly drawn Layfon into the Military Arts course. He felt her forehead. She had only fainted.
"Looks like she hasn't gone overboard."
He was worried when he saw Shante and this girl arguing.
"Geez, she's not that little anymore!"
As if a beast was living temporarily in her, sometimes Shante acted in a way unfitting for a Military Artist. This had given Gorneo a headache.
Shante was an orphan, a point that made her similar to Layfon. Unfortunately, she had lived for a long time under the care of non-humans. Erupa, an enormous city-like forest, specialized in raising livestock. In its possession were many different kinds of animals, and Erupa sold information to other cities on the best breeds of animals it had. Among this colossal number of animals in the city, some of them had escaped the eyes of the management and lived in hiding in the deeper parts of the forest.
Although no one knew whether Shante's biological mother abandoned her in the forest, but when the Wild Animal Investigation Unit found Shante, the young girl was already hunting alongside her "other" mother, a beast. Her ability in Kei had allowed her to live together with these animals that hunted for food.
The Military Artists in the Investigation Unit took Shante away from the forest, gave her a name, and educated her together with other humans. Yet, for someone who had been living with wild animals, she was lacking some decisive factor that would allow her to naturally fit in the human world. In the end, she was delivered to Zuellni like someone unwanted.
Gorneo knew what the lacking factor was. Shante had been raised by wild animals. The concept of trading labor for food was nonexistent for her. In the five years since Gorneo had entered school, he had been looking after her. Only recently did he manage to turn her way of thinking back onto the right track, but that was only thanks to Shante's hunting instinct and her place in the platoon. Wild animals hunted in packs. A platoon was similar to a pack for her, keeping her entrenched in the way of animals.
"Damn. It was my mistake to tell her about Layfon."
He laid Felli down neatly and entered the Mechanical Department, jumping in through the hole in the floor of the lift. It wasn't easy to climb down the cable, but that was probably the same for Shante.
Because of Gorneo, Shante had marked Layfon as the enemy. Although Gorneo had explained to her about Layfon's past, she still had been waiting for a chance to hunt down the enemy. The narrow space inside the Mechanical Department, a place where movements were made difficult, was the best hunting ground for her. She thought she could definitely defeat Layfon here.
"Damn."
What a naive way of thinking.
Raised by wild animals, Shante's patterns of thought and action were different from other Military Artists, making her unpredictable. Gorneo taught her variations in Kei because it suited her, and she had proven her suitability, but......
"She can't defeat him at her level."
He knew the level of a Heaven's Blade successor. He understood it more than anyone else, because since birth, he had been around the person who later became a Heaven's Blade successor.
"Does she want to die?"
He prayed as he descended through the darkness.
Layfon couldn't see anything after taking off the helmet, but he couldn't have seen anything with it since Felli's reinforcement was gone.
"What's happened to Felli? I have to go back."
He could find his way back even without his vision. He had already memorized the route he took, and it wouldn't be a problem if he were to check his route with the steel threads. Still, there was no guarantee that he would return to where Felli was.
"Damn."
Exposed here was the weakness of a small platoon. If they had seven people, one or two could have stayed back to guard Felli...... Now he felt the importance of the phrase "Only because of too few brilliant students".
"Either way, I must hurry......"
No point in regretting the past. He let Kei run through his body to increase the pace of his movements. Darkness hindered him. He couldn't see anything at all. Nina and Sharnid probably couldn't even move to another location under these circumstances.
(If they're attacked by filth monsters......)
What would happen? Was Felli trying to say that she had discovered a filth monster? A chill crept up his spine. He could handle a filth monster in the darkness, somehow, but not Nina and Sharnid. Impatience sped him up, but who knew what would happen if he moved too fast in neglect? Fighting against impatience, he backtracked.
And he suddenly stopped.
(Murderous intent......)
A gaze sharp as a needle pricked him from his right. A murderous intent. As if it had marked its prey. A long time ago, a kid living near Layfon's orphanage brought along his nasty dog to scare the orphans. And now, an instinct that was crueler and more bestial than that dog had marked him.
(From yesterday? No......)
The goat from yesterday didn't have a murderous intention. Only its presence had strained Layfon.
"They aren't......the same?"
He turned the steel threads into the form of a sword. If he moved carelessly, he'd die.
(Can it see me?)
It probably could, given how its murderous intent had marked out Layfon with uncanny accuracy in total darkness.
(To be able to see in darkness, a psychokinesist? But......)
If that were the case, it wouldn't be strange for the air to vibrate in the wake of the flakes' light movements.
He failed to even see his sword. Layfon waited silently for the other party to make the first move. Anxiety could cause confusion, but that was just a waste of time. Right now, he was worried about Felli, but he had no choice but to eliminate the obstacle before him.
The other party was also waiting for him to move. Either way, he must not let the enemy find out how he would react.
His opponent had not moved an inch. Layfon could distract the enemy's concentration by releasing external Kei, but he would risk combusting the liquid-formed selenium in the corridors. This was pure selenium mined only once a year to provide for the entire city's electricity. If it exploded, the entire city might be blown apart. Layfon didn't think there was enough selenium here to achieve that level of destruction, but if an explosion occurred, the entire Mechanical Department would be plunged into a sea of flame. Layfon would die, and so would Nina and Sharnid.
(If he's targeted me and chosen this place especially for our battlefield, then he's done well.)
A calm analysis worked somewhere deep in his mind, as Layfon waited for the other party to move.
(Speaking of which......)
If it wasn't that goat......He tried to figure out his enemy's identity via the method of elimination. He found it surprising that there was another unknown existence here besides the goat.
It moved.
From where it remained hidden......No. It came from a tube Layfon couldn't see and using that tube as a foothold, it changed directions.
Layfon's sword reached out in the direction of the murderous intention.
The Sapphire Dite took an attack. Sparks flew off from contact.
Layfon confirmed the opponent's face in that split second.
"In here!!" he called out, as red hair disappeared along with the fading light.
"Gorneo's enemy is my enemy," Shante's voice echoed in the dark.
"It's against school rules to bring a problem from other cities into the Academy city."
"This is outside Zuellni! Stupid, stupid."