After the Storm, and Before the Storm (Premium)

by Sakon Kaidou

  However, Zhang’s five High Dragon Jiangshi were all upper-Pure-Dragons enhanced even further.

  There should’ve been no difference between each of them and AR-I-CA’s Blue Opera, and it was 5v1, at that.

  Even so, they were on equal footing.

  It should be equal... wait, no! Zhang realized.

  The Ace and the Great Soul Daoshi.

  Air Cluster and Dangai.

  Blue Opera and five High Dragon Jiangshi.

  Those factors alone made them seem equal, but there was one factor that couldn’t be ignored.

  While Zhang matched her on those fronts, he couldn’t forget that this was a battle between a Superior Master and a tian.

  “Gh...!” Zhang used all five of his dragons, enhanced himself with Fu, and launched a perfect surprise attack on AR-I-CA.

  Even so, she evaded it.

  He couldn’t believe that he had failed to even scratch it.

  Zhang knew full well that The Ace, AR-I-CA was the greatest pilot in the world, and that her Magingear was the only one that could move faster than the speed of sound.

  However, skill and speed alone couldn’t explain this result. There had to be something more to AR-I-CA.

  “It can’t be...” Zhang muttered as a thought came to mind.

  He quickly used one of the aces up his sleeve.

  Following Opera’s sound, he made the High Dragon Jiangshi closest to her prepare to fire its breath, saying, “Death Tornado.”

  That activated the Fu inside the dragon, making its stomach area release a powerful magic attack. It was a surprise attack that was coming from a place that normally wouldn’t be used for attacks.

  No one could expect it, and normally, it couldn’t miss.

  However...

  “Whoa!” The Ace evaded it with little effort, and just like the others, it ended up not even scratching her before it faded.

  Zhang didn’t say a word as the corpse dragon’s stomach burst and it fell to the ground, paying the price for its attack.

  One of his namesakes had just died a useless death, but Zhang couldn’t even care about that.

  All that was on his mind was the answer to the phenomenon that’d just happened: the reason behind her ability to dodge a complete surprise attack.

  The nature of AR-I-CA’s power was...

  “She can see the future?”

  ◇◆

  Some jobs had the skill called “Prophecy,” which let the user give vague predictions for the distant future.

  There were sense skills that could sharpen people’s senses for incoming dangers, such as Killing Intent Perception, which informed the user of nearby hostiles, and Danger Sense, which did the same for danger in general.

  However, there were no skills that gave you a detailed understanding of the future, and the same applied to Embryo skills.

  In fact, though they gave Masters access to powers far outside the norm, when you looked at it as an MMORPG, Infinite Dendrogram had some abilities that were thought to be impossible even for Embryos.

  One of them was time stopping. Since the world of Dendro hosted so many people at the same time, stopping time for all of them at once was considered too great of a feat for a single person. The closest you could get to time-stopping was raising your AGI so high that it looked like other people weren’t even moving.

  Besides that, there was Master mind control. While this didn’t apply to tians, players’ minds were immune to all kinds of control. It was possible to control their bodies, though, and it was thought that the mind immunity was due to the player protection system.

  Then there was future-sight. It was also considered impossible for one reason: Masters.

  A certain ludo Master once said, “When you look at Infinite Dendrogram as an MMORPG, everything can be predicted because everything acts based on programming. However, players aren’t programs. You don’t know what’s on their mind and how they’ll act, and that creates a map with countless possible futures. That’s why it’s impossible to see which one of them is right.”

  This Master wasn’t wrong about how the future could easily be changed by the will of the people. It wasn’t something that could be calculated.

  But there was an exception to this, and that was an Embryo that saw the future by looking into the hearts of people, Masters included.

  Whether it was to protect their privacy, or just a functional limitation, this Embryo wasn’t actually able to tell its Master what others were thinking.

  However, it calculated everything.

  It turned others’ thoughts into masked data and calculated every relevant factor, inside or out.

  Temperature, wind speed, geothermal heat, gravitational pull, all the artificial physical states... nothing wasn’t considered.

  Not even the thoughts of those nearby escaped it.

  It calculated everything and delivered it to its Master as “danger,” letting her see what would imperil her a few seconds ahead and evade it easily.

  That was The Ace, AR-I-CA’s Superior Embryo: Transcendental Calculator, Cassandra.

  It was currently the only Superior Embryo that could see the future.

  It took the shape of AR-I-CA’s artificial eye, and its unique skill, Calamity Princess’s Prophecy, was basically in the same vein as Killing Intent Perception and Danger Sense.

  However, it was on a whole ’nother level.

  Cassandra not only knew there was danger — it saw what it was.

  It saw the trajectories of all the attacks that could touch Opera’s frame, the air movements the attacks would make, the scattered rocks that would fly in their path when a stray shot hit the ground... Cassandra saw all the dangers several seconds before they happened.

  It could be a skill like La Porte de l’Enfer, which was sure to kill anyone who didn’t know about it, or a surprise attack that wasn’t telegraphed at all... nothing could escape its gaze.

  And Cassandra’s Master wielded this power well.

  Back when AR-I-CA was riding Geists or slow Marshall IIs, the machines couldn’t keep up with Cassandra’s predictions. But all of that changed once AR-I-CA got the supersonic unit that was Blue Opera.

  She saw all and dodged all — the power of absolute evasion.

  That was half of the reason why she was a renowned battle-focused Master.

  ◇◆

  “Prescience...” muttered Zhang. “I guess I should assume that you can read all my moves.”

  Zhang had lots of battle experience, but someone with such a power was new even to him.

  “But that’s it — I simply didn’t know something like this.”

  Not having experienced something before wasn’t enough for him to deny it when it was happening before his very eyes. That was the right thing to think.

  He also pondered, How far can she see?

  If AR-I-CA could see everything to the end of this battle, Zhang had no chance.

  But he knew that that wasn’t the case.

  If she could see that much, she could’ve handled this a lot better.

  For example, she could’ve captured the person who’d delivered the orb to Zhang before it reached him, or handled herself better at the gambling den.

  Because of that, he believed that she could only see a few seconds ahead. If she could see further ahead, this battle would be over already.

  He was right about that, too.

  That means I must lead her into a situation where she can’t evade my attack, even if she had a few seconds to do it, Zhang reflected. He had an ace up his sleeve that could do that.

  Not saying a word, Zhang looked at all his dragons — even the one that was lying on the ground.

  This is your final mission... Go.

  Following Zhang’s will, the three airborne corpse dragons created space between them and began flying about as though to surround Blue Opera.

  However, the space between them was so great that none of their breaths could reach her.

  “Hmm...
? Ohh, I get it,” AR-I-CA said, and suddenly, something changed.

  First, the corpse dragon that had fallen to the ground exploded, releasing countless Fu.

  The three surrounding AR-I-CA did exactly the same, multiplying the amount of Fu several times.

  The Fu began whirling, creating a cage around Blue Opera... or a hurricane with it as the eye.

  The spaces between the Fu were wide, but still too small for the Magingear to pass.

  The Fu gradually closed the distance, creating a giant, orb-shaped cage around Blue Opera.

  Each Fu had enough power to keep Blue Opera inside the cage, effectively making that cage into a coffin.

  It was the sign that the Great Soul Daoshi, Zhang Zangqi, was about to release his strongest magic.

  It was called...

  “Zhenwo Zhendao, Xuanlongba!”

  The skill translated to “True Vortex True Blade, Whirling Dragon Dominance,” and it punished its targets using all the powerful wind-blades inside.

  It cost all the Fu flying around, and it was equal in tier to the Baolongba that the famous Xunyu had used in The Clash of the Superiors.

  He had to sacrifice all four of the corpse dragons he had left.

  And Blue Opera was definitely within its range...

  ◇◆

  The battle’s outcome was decided the moment Blue Opera was caught in Xuanlongba.

  It was an immensely powerful skill which had more than enough power to quickly reduce the unit to scrap.

  Even if AR-I-CA currently had a Lifesaving Brooch, her Magingear wouldn’t survive the continuous onslaught.

  AR-I-CA’s defeat would be certain.

  The battle would soon end.

  The present painted an image of a future where Zhang won...

  “The Calamity Princess Closes Her Eyes — Cassandra!”

  ...only to take it away the very next moment.

  ◇◆

  Zhang didn’t understand.

  Experienced as he was, Zhang had been able to expose the nature of many of AR-I-CA’s abilities.

  However, he couldn’t even begin to understand what was happening before him right now.

  Blue Opera had left the deadly storm as if it was nothing, then fired off shells that easily broke through the lightning barrier and pierced the forehead and Fu of the corpse dragon Zhang was riding.

  The Fu was the thing supporting its fleeting life, and without it, it ceased all function and began falling to the ground.

  The shells then blew off Zhang’s right arm, which Blue Opera then reached for to retrieve the orb it was holding.

  The unit then showered the falling dragon in countless metal cans — Grenade Bombs.

  Flames soon engulfed both the half-dead Zhang and his last dragon.

  Unable to understand what had led to his defeat, Zhang fell to the sand below, concluding the battle in the desert.

  ◇◇◇

  High Pilot, Hugo Lesseps

  It was the day after the incident with Mirage.

  After logging out and taking a nap, I returned to Infinite Dendrogram.

  Normally, I would just sleep in here, but I couldn’t have done that after what’d happened yesterday.

  There might have been Mirage remnants who’d assassinate me or steal my inventory and unit, and that wouldn’t have been funny.

  Anyway, as strange as that seemed, Hermine looked exactly the same as it had yesterday.

  One of the underground organizations that had made a nest in the city was gone, but things were continuing on, as always.

  Perhaps events like yesterday’s aren’t uncommon here, I thought.

  As a result of the chaos, all members of Mirage’s Caldina branch had been arrested.

  Like my teach had said, they’d accumulated many sins to their name, but I wasn’t sure if they would really be punished, since I’d heard that Caldina would forgive anything as long as you had the money.

  But my teach had said that they couldn’t pay their sins off in this case.

  “Sure, money can bend the law in Caldina. That’s why people trade illegal goods all the time here. But listen here, Yu: the sin of endangering or taking the life of another person isn’t cheap. You can try to pay it off by working your ass off your whole life, but even that wouldn’t be enough.”

  That was her reason for thinking that Mirage would be properly punished.

  “Of course, two of the three worst people I know are dumbasses who go against that, too,” she’d added.

  Anyway, I was glad to find out that even this “money is everything” country had some level of morality.

  Also, Zhang, the head of Mirage’s Caldinian branch, was considered missing.

  My teach had said, “I’m totally sure I beat him, but I don’t know what’s become of him. I’d say that there’s a 70 percent chance that he’s alive.”

  I was guessing that, in my teach’s mind, the battle had ended the moment he was defeated and she’d taken the orb from him.

  Pushing yesterday’s events aside... I was now waiting to meet up with my teach. We’d agreed to rendezvous in the hotel’s lobby at nine in the morning.

  It was ten now.

  “She’s a whole hour late,” I mumbled.

  “She should have more respect for time,” Cyco commented.

  She tends to be late, and is generally carefree. Is that due to her being an Italian? I wondered. But now that I think about it, neither Francesca nor I act very... French. I guess stereotypes have nothing against the individual.

  “Ah. She’s here,” said Cyco.

  “Finally... Wait, ehhh?”

  My teach was showing up an hour and ten minutes past the time we’d agreed on.

  Not only was she awfully late, she was accompanied by a vaguely familiar woman.

  My teach had her hand around her waist, and she even kissed her as they parted.

  “Last night was amazing...” said the girl.

  “It really was. I’ll never forget it for as long as I live. Your cuteness will stay with me forever.”

  With that, the two split apart.

  I suddenly remembered that the woman was the lady my teach had been eyeing back in the gambling den. Apparently, she’d gone on to court her and do the you-know-what.

  I’m not sure I know “what,” I added silently. I’m only fifteen.

  “Kept ya waitin’, huh?” my teach said, coming over. “Nice morning we’re having. I’m still a bit sleepy, though.”

  “I’m not gonna say anything about your way of life, but can you at least come on time?” I asked.

  “Sorry ’bout that. I got a little carried away last night. Oh, I just remembered the innocence on her face... She was the best!”

  Really, now?

  “I hope you die,” Cyco and I said in unison.

  “You’re gonna be in sync for that?!”

  According to my teach, the orb had been given to a transporter before the end of yesterday.

  Since it was a barrier-like thing that couldn’t be placed in inventories, I’d wondered how they’d handle transportation, so I was glad to hear that.

  I also asked about something that had me curious.

  “We crushed Mirage’s Caldinian branch. Won’t that make us a target of the entire organization?”

  It was a famous underground entity, after all, and I didn’t want to have to worry about them all the time.

  Some people could easily handle being their targets, but we were Pilots, which meant that we were fragile without our Magingears.

  “I don’t think you’ve gotta worry about them,” my teach said.

  “Why not?”

  “You’ll know when you read today’s evening newspaper.”

  “Hm?”

  Had something article-worthy happened?

  Well, no matter what, we’d finished retrieving the orb here in Hermine. Even though I hadn’t even known my teach was doing something like this.

  I’d been thrown into an international problem
concerning a national treasure without any warning, and that was... draining, to put it lightly.

  Honestly, I wouldn’t want to take part in something like this even if I was fully-informed.

  “I’m glad we were able to get the orb without too much trouble,” I said.

  “Yep! Time to get back to training as we go for the next one!”

  Training... I wonder what she’ll make me do now, I thought. I’ve almost maxed out High Pilot, so it’s almost time to change... jobs... Hm?

  “Next one?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Didn’t I tell you?” she said as she raised seven fingers. “There’s a whole seven of these stolen Huang He orbs.”

  Seven, huh? I see. I see...

  “We’ll have to do this six more times?!” I shouted.

  “Yeah! Let’s do our best, Yu!”

  I could hear my body turn limp.

  ◇

  Hello, Francesca.

  I hope you are well.

  I went through some things that made me feel like I’m about to die inside.

  It looks like I won’t be making it to Tenchi for a long time.

  I’m broadening my horizons, but maybe not in ways I ever wanted.

  Why am I getting involved in Huang He and Caldina’s national problems right after leaving Dryfe? Was this how you felt when you were traveling across the Earth?

  I feel like I just heard you say, “No way, damn it!”

  It must’ve been my imagination.

  I’m pretty tired, so I’m leaving it at that for now.

  I’ll write again if something happens.

  Also, let’s talk a lot when I return to Dryfe someday.

  I hope my journey is one that gives me more good stories to tell than complaints.

  Until next time,

  Yuri Gautier

  ◆◆◆

  Huang He, a certain place in the draconic capital, underground

  The space was under a building of a company that was large even by the draconic capital’s standards.

  It was a place of proper business, too, but its — Mirage’s — true nature was in its underground.

  In the space, there was a U-shaped table, surrounded by eight men and women of various ages.

  “And everything is going as planned, I presume?” one woman asked.

  “Yes. Of course, milady.”

  One was the head of the Huang He branch.