Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 10===

In the zoo, Yukata Sekurtiti spoke with doubt in her pale blue eyes.

“By the way, Shiroyama Kyousuke. We’ve gone around making preparations, but what exactly are we going to do?”

“We need to finish checking around first. The zoo is a large facility with a hidden area they don’t show the guests, so we need to check there too.”

Just as Kyousuke said that, a female zookeeper made an announcement from the speakers installed along with lights on the branches of the trees lining the path.

“The 2 PM petting show with the popular Capybara Knights is beginning soon. This is the last time they will be fed today, so keep that in mind if you have purchased food pellets for them. All of the Capybara Knights will be making an appearance at…”

Children only as tall as Kyousuke’s waist rushed over. The show seemed to be happening nearby. Yukata Sekurtiti let go of his hand as the stream of children separated them, but she gently narrowed her pale blue eyes like she was seeing something heartwarming.

And then the summoner raised his leg without hesitation.

He coldheartedly kicked right toward one of the children.

“?”

The brown girl’s face was colored by an indescribable mixture of surprise and disgust, but the Tomb Priestess caught on a moment later. The right sleeve of her bright yellow yukata had been ripped apart. Not even bumping into someone and catching on their fingernails would do that.

A flash of silver light was mixed in with the sea of innocent children.

It was a knife. An unmistakably deadly weapon.

“Wha-? Eh?”

Sekurtiti held her torn sleeve and quickly took a step back, but the surrounding people had not even noticed anything was wrong. Most eyes were on the rodents released inside a short fence and Kyousuke alone stared coldly at the attacker.

His kick to the back of the elbow had caused the attacker to miss, but that attacker looked like a girl of only 8 or 9. Her long hair seemed more like ice than silver, she wore a long, sleeveless dress with a blue ribbon on the chest, and she wore a backpack that resembled a stuffed tanuki which seemed to be a character from something. At first glance, it looked like a summery dress with fabric so thin that her small silhouette showed through, but that was a false image. In truth, an optical effect was used to make it look like her silhouette showed through while she actually had a variety of weapons hidden inside.

Unlike Sekurtiti, there was no shock on Kyousuke’s face.

He only spoke with some annoyance in his voice.

“Those eyes. They remind me of my past.”

They both jumped back to put distance between them.

“The Capybara Knights love plants that grow near the water and plenty of those have been put in the pellets all of you have. When you pick them up, go like this and…”

The children cheered at the zookeeper’s explanation, but just a few meters behind them, an unrecorded fight to the death was beginning. Even though it was July, the assassin looked like a snow fairy and she reached for the backpack on her back. She pulled out what looked like a fishing reel, but it was much larger and more sinister.

(A windlass pike?)

The mass of steel was as solid as a vise and when the mine cart lever of a stopper was removed, something rapidly slid out. It was a weapon made by attaching a 250 cm special steel shaft on the back of a combat knife with a 20 cm blade. It had only fit in the backpack because the reel had been used to forcibly wrap the shaft around.

It was far too large a weapon for a girl with a height of only 120 cm.

But that impression was quickly overturned. Right or left. The girl stabbed the sharp point into the ground, held onto the special steel shaft, and swung around like a ballet dancer or figure skater, or like she was twisting a large man’s arm around. Each time her large skirt fluttered up around her and the entire dress created a false image in the backlight, the shaft bent, spun, and built up strength. Finally, the girl used her toes to kick the tip she had stabbed into the ground.

The cocoon exploded.

The special steel shaft demonstrated the beauty of a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon as it rotated around and released its incredible power like a spring. It became a deadly blade storm that blew toward Kyousuke. It flipped vertically, horizontally, up, and down. It probably looked like a mere afterimage to a normal person. Not even a martial arts expert could produce this much speed and numbers.

But Kyousuke did not back down.

He pulled a metal cylinder the size of a hair spray can from his hoodie’s pocket. Needless to say, it was an Incense Grenade, but he did not plan to pull the pin and throw it. Unlike his 180 cm Blood-Sign, he could use this blunt weapon while hiding it in his hand.

If his aim was even a few millimeters off or his timing was even 0.3 seconds off, this dangerous storm would take off all the fingers on his right hand. A few orange sparks scattered within it.

The ice fairy’s deadly blade did not stop. Before the storm could settle down, the tip stabbed back into the ground and she twisted her body complexly around to build up power in the spring and seamlessly begin the next attack as her skirt fluttered around her. Any normal reaction would have been worn down and killed with no chance for a counterattack. Yes, any “normal” reaction.

This was why Kyousuke had chosen the Incense Grenade over his Blood-Sign.

“Are you sure you want to make me go all out?”

“?”

Kyousuke spread his arms in front of the attacker and showed off the scratched metal can he held.

“If this goes off, an Artificial Sacred Ground will open. I have a vessel with me, but you’re alone. You might be an expert in that field, but you can’t wield the Summoning Ceremony right now. …Letting this detonate would be devastating for you. Wouldn’t it be awful to be crushed to death by the Cost 1 Original Red (b)?”

“!?”

The attacker’s movements tensed for just a moment, but Kyousuke used that moment to step forward.

He did not actually have to make that choice. Making her think he had was enough. It was devastating enough to simply drive a wedge into her seamless movement between attacks.

After stepping right up to her, Kyousuke raised the metal can like a hammer to gather her attention and prepared to attack with his feet from below. This was checkmate. This snow crystal of an attacker could not avoid his next attack.

Or so he thought.

A moment later, his entire vision rotated vertically.

He had no idea what had happened.

The dull pain in the side of his head told him he had been hit by something powerful enough to flip him around, but it had not come from the attacker’s windlass pike.

It had come from someone else. A third party.

(I couldn’t even sense their killer intent!?)

[[Image:BloodSign_v06_175.png|thumb]]

Too much about this had been odd, but he did not have time to lament the unfairness of the world. While flipped upside-down, he rapidly regained control of his body and thoughts, pressed one palm against the ground, and regained his balance. He moved away from the attacker he had failed to hit and returned to defenseless Sekurtiti to shield her.

A large man’s deep voice reached the boy’s ears.

“You’re known as the All-Around Armament or 3A, but I guess a Freedom 900 level was too much for you, little girl. Now, come crying to your dandy guardian. Kids have got to have that cute side to them. You’re not that White Queen, so no one expects you to be perfect at everything.”

When she heard that voice, the tiny assassin puffed out her cheeks while remaining expressionless.

“No. I have yet to be hit by even a single attack. I disagree that I am having any trouble here.”

“It’d all be over once that single attack hit you. How about you get that boy over there to explain it to you? The intellectual type loves explaining their plans.”

Who was it directing her toward Kyousuke?

When he tried to search through his memories, he started to feel faint. He briefly lost his balance. He very nearly fell to his knees like he had been hit by a hypnotic mental attack.

“Wh-…?”

The man gave off an entirely different impression from when Kyousuke had met him before.

His long blond hair was tied back and his right eye was covered by a black leather eyepatch. His fancy gold-embroidered coat looked unnaturally unsupported in the right sleeve. He was missing an arm.

But the man had an inner core that prevented that flashy appearance from gathering too much focus.

Kyousuke remembered him.

When all his bones had been broken and he had just barely escaped the Queen’s Miniature Garden alive, it was this man who had carried him to the transport helicopter. This summoner had given up on his own slim chance at survival and returned to that hellish battlefield to suppress the rampaging White Queen.

“Why are you here? How are you alive!?”

“The name’s Claude Magentarain. Come to think of it, did I even introduce myself back then?”

The wild man grinned and toyed with something in his one hand.

It was a dull silver key with a 30-carat diamond in it. Kyousuke clicked his tongue in annoyance, but it was too late. His hoodie pocket had been sharply split open. This man had approached and performed a roundhouse kick to the side of the head before Kyousuke had noticed anything at all, so it would have been easy for him to add in another trick or two.

That was why the tiny assassin had targeted Sekurtiti’s yukata sleeve. They were after the pockets before the vitals. That way they could take the key no matter who had it.

(Claude…Claude Magentarain?)

That family name reminded him of that curly, reddish-blond hair. And Azalea had attacked Kyousuke with mass-produced Repliglass weapons made to look just like her. He initially suspected this was a copy made based on Claude’s biological data, but he quickly realized that did not add up.

The lost eye and arm would be meaningless. It would confuse Kyousuke further to make him look identical to Kyousuke’s memories from the Queen’s Miniature Garden. And data on the Queen’s Miniature Garden was not easily acquired. The puzzle pieces simply did not fit for Azalea to have calculated it all out.

(Or has Bridesmaid absorbed someone connected to the Miniature Garden? No, that couldn’t be. Calm down. You’re reading too much into this.)

In that case, had that man really survived?

No, that was not what he needed to focus on now.

(This isn’t good. Does Azalea know about this!?)

“Is that girl your current vessel?”

“No, no. She’s to replace my missing right arm. Think of us like a three-legged race summoner. My vessel is here.”

Claude casually tossed the Diamond Master Key straight up.

Kyousuke suspected that was meant to draw his eyes up so the man could make a surprise attack, but he was wrong. A giant bird of prey cut across overhead and snatched the silver key from the air.

Its wingspan was more than 200 cm.

Kyousuke recalled that Azalea had referred to herself as a bird of prey.

“His name is Ricky and he’s probably smarter than me. He might’ve invited too many Materials inside and triggered a revolution in his mind. All hail the Queen, I guess.”

The man spoke of a definite benefit or blessing from the White Queen.

If their main unit learned Kyousuke had set things up at the zoo and that the Diamond Master Key had been stolen from him, he would be at a serious disadvantage. He had to assume his chances of getting Renge and Higan back safely were fast approaching zero. That left one thing to do. And it did not matter if this man was real or not for this.

Claude smiled as he watched the bird of prey fly in a gentle circle above.

“I’m guessing you’re not after the 30-carat diamond. Since you’re so obsessed with that old junk, are you perhaps after the Natural History’s missing entries?”

“!!”

(I have to defeat him before he returns to their main unit with the key or that information!!)

Just using the Incense Grenade clenched in his fist would not be enough. He reached for the Blood-Sign on his back. He did not want to cause too much of a scene, but he had to use the Summoning Ceremony to keep the battle out of the public eye even if only to take out the flying bird of prey and retrieve the key.

Kyousuke’s entire body seemed to exude an invisible miasma, but Claude did not seem to care.

Freedom Award 903 could not even maintain control of the conversation.

“I’ll praise the speed of your conviction, but you should really observe your surroundings better.”

He snapped his fingers.

“Okay, that ends the 2 PM Capybara Knights petting show. Are they all sleepy now that their stomachs are full? The Capybara Knights will be taking a nap now, so please go visit the other animals.”

It all drew back.

The many children seemed to be pulled by a powerful force and then they turned around and scattered in every direction.

“The Natural History’s missing entries and the Queen’s territory beyond that are too much for you to handle. Leave this to a ghost from the past. If I feel like it, I’ll give you some of the leftover scraps. …You see, I too have business with ''her''.”

As he was swallowed up by the ocean of short children, Claude turned his back with 3A who had hidden her weapon in her backpack.

“Wah! …What? There’s a pirate here.”

“Is he a bad one? A bad pirate would be scary.”

Unsurprisingly, his gaudy getup drew the children’s attention, but…

“That’s right. Haven’t you seen Mystery Pirates? I may not look like it, but this dandy gentleman is the legendary pirate who was swallowed up by the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.”

He followed the current and let the waves of people carry him away.

As they left, the girl known as 3A tried to pull out a small blade within the crowd of children, but Claude lightly kicked her to stop her. He understood that would have the opposite of the desired effect with Kyousuke.

There was nothing Kyousuke could do.

A Summoning Ceremony battle that threatened to destroy the entire zoo was one thing, but he could not think up a way to defeat enemies on that level without causing a scene. No matter what he did now, the surrounding children would be caught in the middle of it. Controlling a Material was like holding the reins of a rampaging horse and releasing it in the desired direction, so they were poorly suited for precision attacks.

“…Dammit!!”

“You did the right thing. There is nothing to be discouraged about.” Sekurtiti spoke kindly to him. “Even if Bridesmaid has the Diamond Master Key, the ancient map remains on my back. We can go through with the exchange.”

(That’s not the problem here…)

Kyousuke clenched his teeth and kept his thoughts to himself so as not to worry his partner any further. There were two major problems:

1. Bridesmaid would now learn that Kyousuke had set things up at the zoo. They lost any advantage that would give them.

2. The Offering Team made it clear that Bridesmaid knew that Shiroyama Kyousuke would not allow death no matter how much it hurt his position. And now the master key had been stolen, leaving him with only the ancient map. He could have threatened to destroy the key to negotiate, but he could not destroy the ancient map.

His only option now was to do what his opponent said.

The situation was about as bad as it could be.

And at that very moment, his smartphone rang.

“Aika, did something happen?”

“Bridesmaid has contacted a secret line to the president of one of Government’s official corporations. Namely, Quad Motors.”

“Curse those underhanded tomb raiders…”

Sekurtiti gnashed her teeth, but Kyousuke needed to focus on Aika. They were at a disadvantage, but refusing to speak would not improve their situation.

“The world’s largest defense contractor is doing everything it can, but the connection is somehow entirely untraceable. They’ve relayed it on to us. I can only guess, but this has to be Azalea Magentarain. Onii-chan, are you ready?”

The world seemed to grow dark, but he could not give in to that.

He immediately refocused his thoughts and put together the best performance he could muster. He focused on the noises around him and checked for any noticeable animal cries or zoo announcements.

“I’m ready at any time.”

The situation was a mess, but he began a negotiation with lives on the line. As part of the Tanabata Fair, the hold music was a nursery rhyme about the stars. Just when the song started to loop, it ended and he was connected to the other end.

“Hi, Azalea. Are you planning to visit home?”

“If the Quad Motors HQ in the States isn’t enough, you’ll have to get every other agency you can find to work at tracing this call. Still, I meant this as a show of good faith so you wouldn’t waste your time with a lot of pointless effort.”

He did not need to take any of that at face value.

Azalea had not directly called Aika or Kyousuke simply because she had not known their numbers, but that would not be the only reason she had used her old home of Quad Motors as a relay point. That choice may have been made for very personal reasons, but it was still important information for Kyousuke.

For one thing, he still did not know why her soul had been swallowed up by the White Queen during the previous incident. And what had happened after she was captured and sent to the Colorful Museum? The foundation of it all might be found at Quad Motors or the Magentarain family that ran it.

It was also possible that the dubious man named Claude Magentarain was deeply involved.

“What happened, Azalea?”

“I could ask you the very same question, but do you think you could easily sum up the full history of what made you who you are?” The worshiper girl giggled. “Let’s not even attempt the impossible here. For now, I’d like to tell you the time of our party.”

Kyousuke was not even allowed to breathe in the air that smelled of straw and animals.

The zoo was off the table now and the Diamond Master Key had been stolen. That only left the ancient map that could not be destroyed since it was on Sekurtiti’s back. And he would have to begin the negotiations at an irregular location with no time to prepare.

Or so he thought.

Except…

“Please visit the designated location at the designated time and make sure to bring the Diamond Master Key and the ancient map with you. The time will be 1 AM tomorrow morning and the place will be Toy Dream 35’s Z Block. I will contact you later with further instructions.”

“…?”

Confusion filled his mind.

She was falling for his trap. It was all going as planned. But it should have been diverging from the plan after something so out of the ordinary had occurred. Why did she not mention the loss of the master key? Why would she designate a location where he had been seen? She should have given up on the entire block and moved to another location. He briefly wondered if he was being tested or if he was speaking with a recording.

Had Azalea still not received a report from Claude?

…Or was Azalea entirely unaware of Claude’s actions – or presence – here?

“Are Renge and Higan still alive? Do you have a way of proving that?”

Various pieces of information and possibilities exploded in his mind, but he could not let Azalea notice. He kept his mouth moving and attempted to keep the conversation underway.

“And here I thought I was showing a sign of friendship by not asking you to prove you had not destroyed the master key or killed the ancient map girl.”

“I know it would be hard to get them to speak after losing in the Summoning Ceremony, so show me a video of them. I’ll be able to tell if it’s just a recording. And if you can’t earn my trust, the deal is off.”

“Hee hee. You would never do that. You want the Founder’s Gallery as much as we do.”

“At the very least, I have the ancient map. I can find another way to decode it. It might take a lengthy detour, though.”

“None of us would be going to all this trouble if we could do that. The key and chest would be meaningless.”

“To a normal person maybe. But do you really think I fall into that category?”

“Alice (with) Rabbit will not allow anyone to die.”

“Is that so? Then what kind of retribution would you like? If I wanted, I could give Sekurtiti general anesthesia and flay the ancient map from her. I won’t hesitate when it isn’t about an actual life. Don’t forget that.”

“…”

“…”

Sekurtiti’s pale blue eyes were giving him a look. She clearly wanted to know why he was provoking Azalea when things were going unexpectedly well. But that was not how to look at this. When things were going too smoothly, he had to be skeptical. He still did not have a full grasp of what it was, but something was not right here. And that could become a slight starting point that he could not afford to let Azalea know about.

The ominous animal smell grew stronger than the straw smell.

“Fine then,” said Azalea. “I hope you see this as a sign of my desire to complete this exchange peacefully. Please switch the call to visual mode.”

Kyousuke was not an idiot, so he only did so after crushing the smartphone’s lens with his finger. He could not let her know he was at the zoo. There was a chance she could analyze the background noise to determine his location, but this was better than nothing.

And then the view from Azalea’s device filled the smartphone screen.

Sekurtiti peered at it from the side.

He could not tell where it was. He saw some kind of black curtain and could hear machines running. And that background was mostly obscured by a close up of Azalea’s face. She was probably holding the smartphone in her hand. The distance was a little odd. She was holding it from a somewhat elevated angle, so he could see the bright skin at her yukata’s open chest.

“How cautious of you. But fine. I’ll view that as proof that you’re taking this seriously.”

The smartphone pointed away from Azalea.

“!?”

Sekurtiti covered her mouth with her hands. She seemed to be suppressing a scream.

The screen showed a large doll seated against the wall.

No, it was a black-haired girl in a shrine maiden outfit. The chest of her clothes was removed and the soft skin hidden below was opened wide. The skin, muscles, ribs, and everything inside were clearly manmade. The artificial organs looked like leather bags stitched into shape and they pulsed with the same accuracy as a human’s.

“Even I was shocked by this. I managed to retrieve the Joruri Texts of the former Meinokawa Shrine… I had heard they were originally trying to create a fully artificial vessel, but I never thought they would have created a summoner too. And this is more than just a theory; they’ve actually made one… Peh heh heh. They could create a truly unmanned and mass-produced unit like this!”

“Azalea…”

“Oh, don’t you worry. Everything that was removed for examination will be back inside her by the time of the exchange. Yes, with nothing missing.”

“Azalea!!”

The curly-haired girl giggled.

“I told you before that Repliglass is the remnants of a failed attempt to create a likeness of Her Majesty, didn’t I? This will allow me to make up for its deficiencies and then some. Of course, even this is incomplete, but if I incorporate the Joruri Texts into Repliglass, I might just be able to resurrect that lost dream. …Yes, I might just create a vessel with greater accuracy and strength than a human. Then Her Majesty can remain in this world indefinitely.”

The conversation turned in ''her'' direction.

No matter where he went, all calamity and mayhem seemed to fall toward that white evil as if there was a powerful pull in that direction.

“That said, the Founder’s Gallery is still necessary. Even if I fully absorb the Joruri Texts, that plan will be a long way from completion. Including the Natural History’s missing entries in the doll and fusing the new techniques with the old would be the best way of indefinitely fixing Her Majesty’s soul in this desolate world.”

“…”

“I mean, I lack the necessary parts as things are. Although that might change if you gave me permission to dig out the spine of a vessel as excellent as Meinokawa Higan.”

This was no longer just a cruel game.

If she was only toying with the twins’ lives to make Kyousuke suffer, there was still something he could do. Simply put, he only had to give her something else with which to torment him. But not even that would work anymore. Bridesmaid had found definite value in Renge and Higan.

They would never let go of those shrine maiden twins.

This was about more than just defeating Kyousuke. If the twins were now an offering to the Queen, he doubted Bridesmaid would let them slip away so easily. They would want to hold onto Renge’s artificial organs and Higan’s spine, just in case the Natural History’s missing entries were not found in the Founder’s Gallery or were a disappointment.

“You wanted proof they were alive, didn’t you? Satisfied?”

“Yes.” Kyousuke briefly forgot to keep up his act and responded in a deep and icy voice. “Now I have no reason to hold back. None whatsoever.”