Editing City Series:Volume8a Chapter9 (section)

===Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle===

'''<Aoe’s Over Reload>

When Aoe’s sight returned to him, he saw a knight kicking down the barricade.

On the landing, Excel fell back a step to the side of the knights who were readying their submachineguns.

They fired.

But Aoe reached his left hand back and grabbed the table there before they could complete their action.

“Kh.”

With his right hand, he grabbed the communicator from the table.

He forcibly swung the table around forward to use it as a shield.

He did not place the top of the table directly in the line of fire. He held it at a shallow angle, so even if there was a gap at his feet, he could deflect the bullets rather than try to stop them.

The gunfire began a moment later.

The 2-inch thick table top deflected the 9mm anti-personnel bullets into the wall behind him.

…''Keep it together!

The table gave him what he wanted. As the bullets ricocheted, the impacts caused the drawers to fall out of the table and onto the floor.

He took further action while all of this was going on.

He adjusted the table in his left hand, grabbing it by the leg.

'''“I am not dying here.”

A shattering glass sound came from his left hand as it gripped the square table leg.

Then he ran right, which meant east, across the room with the table held up. There was a window there. That small window led outside the castle.

He gathered all his strength in his legs.

The communicator fell into a drawer that had fallen from the table, so he kicked that to the west side of the room.

The drawer containing the communicator skittered across the stone floor in the opposite direction he was running.

While the bullets and sounds bounced around, the cord on the back of the communicator reached its full length while moving behind the collapsed tables. It could not be seen from the bullets’ line of fire there.

“Good.”

Aoe looked to his running feet. Monkey was clinging to the right hip of his shorts.

The circle displayed over Monkey’s head advanced from 99 to 100.

He now had authorization to fire, so he gave a whistle as he ran.

He snatched up his backpack from the floor and held its strap in his mouth. He shoved his right hand into the bag as it swayed from his running and he searched for what he needed for his escape.

The enemy’s submachineguns needed to switch magazines at just that moment.

What happened next came as a surprise to them all.

A barrier suddenly appeared in between the stairs and Excel on the landing.



'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The knights were split between the front group on the landing and the rear group on the stairs.

“!?” they exclaimed while they and Excel looked behind them.

But Aoe’s mouth twisted into a smile when he saw what happened.

<Was that Yuo!?>

There was no doubt in his mind. He knew it had to have been her.

His body obeyed that thought in its own way.

'''“Run!”

A shattering glass sound came from his legs and a black spear emblem briefly flashed there.

He felt new strength there. At the same time, he threw the table he held toward Excel’s group.

Excel’s cheeks twisted slightly behind the table.

'''“I will not let you escape.”

“He’s Loading!?”

Aoe looked back to see the airborne table torn to shreds by the bullets of the new magazines.

The pieces of the table scattered like a fine powder more than splinters.

The sawdust produced a brown smoke.

Excel spread his arms in preparation beyond that smoke.

A sound of striking stone came from his arms.

Red glowing emblems appeared not on the backs of his hands but below the palms. The symbol surrounded by a rectangular frame was a lotus flower.

He looked to Aoe.

Immediately, he produced his next Text. The Text of a Pseudo Grandload that surpassed a mere Pseudo Download.

'''“Only one person may surpass me.

'''“And that person is not you.”

'''<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Lotus: Preparing for Use>

Low sounds came from his palms. Sounds of cracking stone.

Several windows rapidly opened behind him.

'''<Activation authorized for 28M Lives within the virtual space>

<Pseudo Load Emblem: Activating: Run>

Character strings emerged from the emblems on his palms and moved behind him.

●Type-XX016 – Imperial-class - Lotus●

'''<Activating Pseudo Grandload of Excel’s program control abilities: Loading highest-level subprograms and releasing upper limit on program control ability>

The emblem’s lotus flower glowed red. As soon as that glow grew brighter, diskettes drew out a triangular formation behind Excel. The three circles rapidly rotated and launched light from their centers to link together.

“In Eastern thought, the lotus is viewed as an expanding seat of data.”

Excel’s words were punctuated by the knights on either side of him opening fire with their submachineguns.

They fired every bullet they had.

The gunfire produced sparks while the formation behind Excel moved. The triangle rotated once to the right as if loading a bullet.

'''<Target Dummy Data: Range Set>

Bluish-white light surrounded the bullets soaring through the air.

'''<Poly-Combine: Unification: Beginning Range Reassignment>

The four knights had fired a total of 124 bullets and Aoe saw them all combine into one.

The bullets were now the size of a large artillery shell as they flew his way.

“What!?”

“A butler is meant to assist others. My Load exists to enhance others’ powers.”

Excel bowed with the lotus emblem behind him.

“This is goodbye. You may have been born in the Plus World, but you will die in this Minus World.”

Aoe made a split second decision in response to those words of farewell.

As soon as he saw the artillery shell approaching, he jumped out the window.

'''<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>