The Red Storm Princess

by Reki Kawahara

  The wings, spreading with a cold shuffling sound, soon began to emit a light vibrating noise. The virtual lift power generated brought the tips of his toes up off the floor. After ascending very slowly to a height of 1.5 meters, Haruyuki went into hover mode.

  “Climb on, Taku.”

  “Thanks, Haru.” Soon enough, Cyan Pile’s sturdy arms were wrapped tightly around his calves.

  “Okay, then…Here we go!” Haruyuki declared, oscillating his wings as hard as he could.

  Although a load of three people was definitely appreciable, he still reliably ascended into the sky. The steel terrace immediately receded, and the deserted, strangely shaped city sprawled in all directions beneath their eyes.

  “O-oh, wow!” Niko cried out from under his left arm. “We’re seriously flying! That’s Kannana Street…Is that the Chuo Line? Maybe I can see my school!”

  For Haruyuki, the view from the sky was a familiar sight. Even with the restricted movement of a Normal Duel Field, visually, the whole of the Kanto region, not just Tokyo, could be taken in.

  But no matter how many times he saw it, the deep emotion that pierced the depths of his heart showed no sign of abating. And this Unlimited Neutral Field, according to Kuroyukihime’s explanation, continued on without bounds to every nook and cranny the social camera net covered—in other words, the whole of Japan.

  This was not on the scale of a game map anymore. It was a world.

  “Right…so this…,” Haruyuki mumbled unthinkingly. “This right here is the Accelerated World. Always existing right next to the real world. Not momentarily, but a permanent world.”

  “Exactly.” It was Kuroyukihime, whose body was entrusted to his right arm, who replied briefly. Sharp, shining eyes were turned on Haruyuki, and her voice flowed both severe and gentle at the same time. “And this is the Burst Linkers’ true battlefield. If you are aiming for level nine, one day you will have to fight in this place and come out victorious. Although now is not yet that time.”

  Did that mean that his level wasn’t high enough yet, or that his own abilities weren’t enough?

  Aware of a faint impatience biting into his heart, Haruyuki nodded slightly. “Right…a-anyway…”

  “Hmm? What?”

  “If this is the permanent map, then that means that Burst Linkers other than us are diving at this moment, right?”

  “Totes.” It was Niko who responded.

  “B-but the ratio—It doesn’t feel like there’s anyone at all here,” he said querulously, turning his face.

  The strange city below him was replete with a cold silence; he couldn’t see a single thing moving. Haruyuki had thought there would definitely be duel avatars everywhere like in the usual duel field, so he couldn’t help but wonder at the quiet.

  A laugh came quickly from Takumu, who dangled from his legs. “Ha-ha! Of course, Haru. Given the fact that there’s a grand total of only a thousand or so Burst Linkers, the number diving in the Unlimited Neutral Field at any given time is supposedly just barely a hundred. Put simply, it’s totally natural that you wouldn’t see anyone in a place like Suginami, where there’s nothing at all.”

  “O-okay, then. So if we go more into the center of town?”

  “That’s how it works. Which is exactly why we, and Cherry Rook, are headed for the Bukes.” Niko hit Haruyuki’s helmeted head lightly as she spoke. “But you keep floating like this without moving, and your gauge’ll run out.”

  “Oh! R-right.” Haruyuki checked the blue special-attack gauge shining thinly below his HP gauge. Hovering didn’t use up much, but it was already down nearly 10 percent.

  “Okay, I’ll head out on a direct course,” he announced, increasing his wings’ oscillation again.

  They moved ahead, gliding directly below the twisting clouds. Soon enough, they crossed the deserted Kannana and entered Nakano Ward.

  Haruyuki caught sight of the Chuo Line Bridge, supported by pillars with a ridiculously tapered design, and casually followed it to the end where he saw something unexpected and muttered quietly, “Ah! Th-the train’s moving?!”

  Although it was a mere two-car configuration, a train-like, long, thin shadow was definitely moving in the direction of Shinjuku on the blackly lustrous rails, echoing solemnly.

  “You can get on as well. Although it costs you points,” Kuroyukihime explained, somewhat delightedly, and his eyes popped unconsciously beneath his silver armor.

  “What?! Wh-who’s driving it?!”

  “Heh-heh, you should check yourself, one day.”

  Even while they were having this conversation, the tracks quickly passed into the distance behind them, and the Yamanote Line appeared, as if to replace it. Once they got past that, they’d be in Mejiro, and Ikebukuro would soon follow.

  In the real world, Haruyuki often went to buy older-generation games and used paper-media books, but access from Suginami was surprisingly poor. He either had to go out to Shinjuku by train or get a bus from Koenji, but either way, he was moving at right angles, so it took a while.

  Carefree thoughts about how much easier it would be if he could fly there like this were spinning around in his head when Kuroyukihime, riding on his right arm, indicated the east side with the point of her sharp sword.

  “See, Haruyuki? Take a look at that.”

  Turning his gaze lazily in that general direction, Haruyuki was so shocked he nearly dropped the two Kings. He hurriedly strengthened his grip.

  “Whoa! Wh-wha—?!”

  An enormous shadow moved densely down Yamate Street—which was covered in a thick fog—a shadow that could only be described as strange. Its overall form was like a four-legged beast, but its torso was flat like a stingray, and from the place where its head should have been, countless feelers drooped down toward the ground. At the ends of its long, sturdy limbs, two sharp talons like those of an insect stretched out to the point of heinousness.

  And its size…it had to have been at least as big as a three-story building. It completely occupied the three lanes into the city and was moving leisurely toward the south.

  Feeling a heavy, low crunch shake the air each time its legs came into contact with the road, Haruyuki mumbled, dazed, “What…is that?”

  “An Enemy. The inhabitants of this world, created and moved by the system.”

  Picking up where Kuroyukihime left off, Niko whistled briefly, “You’re pretty lucky, you know, getting to see one that big right off the bat. But don’t get too close. We get targeted by that thing and even a group like this is gonna get slowed down.”

  “Targeted…You mean, attacked?!”

  “You do learn the meaning of the word ‘Enemy’ in junior high, right?”

  With nothing to spare to react to Niko’s spiteful style, Haruyuki hurriedly gained altitude. The strange, enormous beast seemed not to notice the spectators in the sky and continued lumbering along.

  “Wh-why would something so dangerous be part of the game?”

  “Why? Well, that is…” Kuroyukihime started to answer and faltered. Niko and Takumu also appeared similarly pressed for a response, and Haruyuki cocked his head to one side.

  “Oh!” Takumu, dangling from his legs, cried in a strained voice. “Look, it’s just starting. The hunt.”

  “H-hunt…?”

  The enormous beast suddenly roared as below their eyes it moved farther. Haruyuki abruptly flew up several meters.

  “Whoa?!”

  The beast stood on its hind legs and howled again, violently swinging its bundle of tentacles. But Haruyuki quickly realized that he and his companions had not incited this roaring.

  There were several small shadows farther south on Yamanote Street.

  At first, he thought they were other Enemies, but he soon gathered that this was not the case. The silhouettes were human shaped in various colors of armor—they were Burst Linkers.

  A large one standing in front lifted its right hand swiftly and swung it downward. Immediately, a firing line of several beams
and live ammunition surged from the roofs of the buildings lining both sides of the street and exploded against the monster’s skull.

  Instantly, the Enemy, massive bulk reeling, emitted a strange howl of a war cry and turned its head toward one of the buildings. Scratching the air with its forelimb, it started advancing with a subterranean rumbling.

  However, before its enormous bulk slammed into the building, the Burst Linkers who had taken up positions on the road launched a midrange attack. The beast, peppered by explosions, changed targets with an angry cry and plunged toward the Linkers exposed on the road.

  “Ah! Watch out!” Haruyuki shouted automatically.

  The beast brought its forelimb down from high in the air, smashing without the slightest resistance into the leader. Or at least that’s what it looked like, but the duel avatar, with its bluish-silver heavy armor, stopped the huge talons with crossed arms.

  The idea was apparently not to stop and fight head-on then and there. The Linkers gradually retreated, all the while guarding against the fierce attacks of the rampaging beast. When they had drawn it sufficiently far away from the two buildings, another simultaneous launch came from the rooftops, hitting the base of the creature’s tail. The monstrosity changed directions on heavy feet and plunged toward the building on the east side, and this time, the ground troops chased after it to initiate a close-range attack.

  “Fairly decent party. Good hate control. Who’s the leader?”

  Niko responded to Kuroyukihime’s admiring tone. “Pretty sure it’s a senior member of the Green Legion. Although the party looks mixed.”

  At this conversation, Haruyuki finally grasped the facts of the battle spreading out below his eyes. “I-Is that it…Those Burst Linkers aren’t being attacked by that huge monster. They’re targeting it and trying to bring it down, right?”

  “Yes. It’s a hunt.”

  “So then if they defeat it, they get experience poi—I mean, burst points?”

  “Mmm-hmm. That’s the idea.”

  Following the assenting Kuroyukihime’s lead, Niko patted Haruyuki on the head. “Even you should get it by now. The reason Enemies exist in the Unlimited Neutral Field is, ultimately, the reason the field exists at all. Burst Linkers can level up not just with regular duels, but by hunting and stuff here. But, you know—”

  “It’s remarkably inefficient compared with duels. Even if you’re willing to risk the annihilation of your points to hunt a large monster at that level, you might, if you’re lucky, get what you’d get for winning a duel at the same level. Ten points.” Having picked up the explanation, Kuroyukihime paused there for a moment and lightly shook the mask of her elegant form. “There’s no avoiding that. Hunting Enemies in this world is essentially an act of generating burst points from nothing. Which is to say, in Brain Burst, which is at best a one-on-one fighting game, hunting in the Unlimited Field is basically nothing more than a supplementary means of point supply. However, currently, it has essentially become the lone road to a higher level. The reason being—”

  “The mutual nonaggression pact, right?” Haruyuki murmured.

  “Even if high-level Burst Linkers want to fight, they can’t just go invading another Legion’s Territory. And given that, the weekend Territory Battles aren’t functioning because of the pact…”

  “But, Master,” Takumu said thoughtfully from Haruyuki’s feet as Silver Crow started to fly north again, moving them away from the fierce battle unfolding far beneath them, “if I’m correct, there’s just one more, isn’t there? A means of earning points to swiftly gain the higher levels with great efficiency, even given the current situation?”

  “What? Taku, what do you…?”

  “The thing is, in this world, there are things besides Enemies you can hunt. Prey with way, way more points.”

  After sinking into thought for a moment, Haruyuki inhaled sharply. “R-really? Not the huge creature back there, but the Linkers…?” Glancing back, he could see the ongoing battle fire making the heavy fog sparkle even now far to the south.

  Kuroyukihime’s quiet voice broke the slight silence. “That’s it. In this place, you can attack to your heart’s content those high-level Burst Linkers you can’t challenge otherwise. Even if you would like to challenge them to regular duels, it’s impossible due to the fact that they almost never leave their Legion Territories. And anything is possible here: ambushes, surprise attacks.”

  “And we’re about to do exactly that to Cherry Rook—I mean, Chrome Disaster,” Niko whispered while directing both eyes, covered by round, cute crimson lenses, abruptly forward.

  They had already passed Mejiro Street, aka Ring Road No. 7, and the center of Ikebukuro was dead ahead of them. So Haruyuki supposed that the palace surrounded by a group of strange steel spires piercing the sky from where the inky road was swallowed up was JR Ikebukuro Station. From there, an enormous skyway stretched out to the south and connected with a high-rise fortress a little distance off—Sunshine City. At the foot of the passageway was a jumble of tiny buildings, looking like multicolored lights twinkling.

  Are those just plain old light effects? Or is there actually a shopping district down there, just like the real Ikebukuro? Which reminds me, Takumu and Kuroyukihime didn’t say what that shop thing was all about before. Maybe down there—

  As he drifted on to other things, unconsciously forgetting about the current situation, Haruyuki’s head was yanked back to reality by Niko’s right hand.

  “Heyo, not stopping here. We should still have a fair bit of time before Cherry gets here, but let’s keep an eye out on the ground. Flying like this, we’re totes exposed.”

  “Well, that’s true, but Ikebukuro is quite large. Do you know where he’ll appear?”

  She sniffed at Kuroyukihime’s question. “Given his pattern ’til now, somewhere around Sunshine City. Just come from the south and land on the roof of whatever building there is.”

  Haruyuki prepared to do as he was told, angling his body toward the east. He could see the sky-impaling fortress diagonally to the left in front of him. To its right was something like a basin gaping open. That was probably South Ikebukuro Park in the real world, but with nothing treelike to speak of, it gave off an air of desolation like a crater where a giant meteorite had violently collided with the earth.

  “Okay, I’ll come down in front of the empty lot.” Haruyuki checked his special-attack gauge, which had only a little left in it, judged that he could just barely make it, and flapped his wings. Bearing the weight of four people, he began his slow advance—

  “Haru!!” Takumu, at his feet, cried.

  Snapping his head down, Haruyuki caught the dazzling orange of a firing line, stretching upward from a gap between the buildings on the ground.

  “Ngh!!” Without even the time to scream, Haruyuki instinctively put all his power into a forward dash, diagonally to the right.

  The air burned around him, and he felt an enormous amount of heat scraping very close to his back. It felt like the tips of his wings, which should not have had the sensation of pain, were splitting into tiny bits.

  Regardless, Haruyuki once again slid through the sky, this time tacking left. His eyes perceived a second launch from the ground—and the color was different from the first round.

  After he just barely dodged a blue-white beam of light, Kuroyukihime cried in a low voice, “Impossible. Chrome Disaster?!”

  “It can’t be,” Niko replied in a voice echoing with tense amazement. “It’s too soon. We should still have an entire day in this time before he shows! And this kind of technique, he doesn’t—”

  Haruyuki interrupted their conversation with a desperate cry. “We’re going down!!”

  This due to the fact that on one side of the buildings below, he could see the third volley—and multiple points of light blinking. Those weren’t linear laser attacks, but rather the lights of real projectiles firing, probably missiles equipped with a tracking function.

  Haruyuki stopped t
he lift force of his wings temporarily and went into a sudden descent equivalent to falling. However, if they fell straight down, they would be immediately captured by the mysterious foe coming to meet them. Spreading his wings out to their fullest and drifting along like a glider, he aimed for the enormous crater in front of him.

  “Here they come! Missiles!” Clucking her tongue and twisting her body in Haruyuki’s arm, Niko unholstered the gun at her hip.

  The staccato sound of repeated fire followed, and several small-scale explosions roared. However, she obviously couldn’t intercept every missile with a single gun, and a few of them pierced the flames and closed in.

  “Yah!” Kuroyukihime ripped through them in a single swipe of her left arm.

  A second passed before the explosion. Using the pressure of the blast, Haruyuki cut through the last few dozen meters and stepped hard on the brakes in the center of the round crater.

  First, Takumu separated from Haruyuki’s legs, digging into the ground as he impacted. The two Kings then leapt out from his arms to land delicately on the ground. After crashing clumsily in the middle, Haruyuki hurried back to his feet and saw, checking his HP bar with a glance, that fortunately it hadn’t dipped even 3 percent. Kuroyukihime and the others shouldn’t have taken any direct hits at all.

  In the center of the enormous hole, countless cracks radiating outward, Haruyuki and the others held their breath.

  The world returned to silence, almost as if the attacks of only a few seconds earlier had never happened. All that could be heard was the lightning flashing in the distant black clouds above them and the sound of the wind blowing past.

  Then…

  The quiet crunching of footsteps broke the silence, and a lone shadow appeared on the western edge of the crater. A Burst Linker. No doubt their assailant moments earlier. But it was nothing more than a silhouette, and Haruyuki couldn’t make out details like its color.

  “That’s…our attacker from before…?” Haruyuki muttered in a croak that didn’t quite constitute a voice.

  However, seconds later, a second shadow rose up soundlessly to the right of the first. And then a third and a fourth.