Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

With the central square at the center, Toy Dream 35 was divided up like a pizza to create twenty-six blocks labeled from A to Z. Each block had a unique concept and was named after the first letter of an English word describing that concept. However, it was not widely known what those words were, so even the residents tended not to know about any of the blocks outside the one they lived in.

Meinokawa Higan was hiding behind a flower bed.

She was in the courtyard of a perfectly normal looking school.

A new rectangular building had been constructed above the older L-shaped building and the courtyard was located at the center of that three-sided square.

More specifically, this was a high school in Toy Dream 35’s R Block. It was artificial land built over the ocean and the three hundred meter square of land was supported by about forty pillars. Giant bridges could be seen both above and below it, but that was the standard multilevel structure of this city.

The one open side of the three-sided square led to the edge of the float and the salty wind blew in despite the cliff-like difference in height.

The amusement park city never slept, but there were exceptions in places. The cold stillness of a school or hospital at night was gradually eroding the air here despite the year-round festive atmosphere.

She had no idea where her sister Renge might be.

She had simply been planning to start her search around the harbor area where they had parted ways and then to gradually widen her area of search in hopes of finding her sister or some hint that would lead to her.

But…

(Wh-what are those?)

After leaving the block the Government middleman’s apartment had been in, she had entered the central square and then walked through R Block to reach the harbor area.

That was all she had wanted to do, but she had found herself unable to make it even halfway through R Block.

She had no interest in this school, but as she had continued making detours to avoid the strange attention she was receiving, she had found herself here. It was almost like she had been led to an open space where someone could go on a rampage.

(Are they summoners? Are they from Guard of Honor that’s after my sister? …No. Th-they seem different somehow. They’re different…but um, they’re still dangerous!!)

As soon as she heard quite a few mechanical sounds, something had dropped down to block her way forward.

They were human. Pitch black external armor covered their bodies and they had extra legs sweeping back behind their normal two. They dropped down as if it were nothing special. For humans equipped with grasshopper-like leg units, a difference of over ten meters may have been the same as climbing or descending a flight of stairs.

But that was not all.

Units that looked like a spider body added onto a human’s upper body were silently crawling along the school’s walls and the bottom of the giant bridge running overhead. Water strider units with four legs sticking out were skimming along the surface of the dark water flowing below the artificial schoolyard. Fifty or sixty of these bizarre humans were blocking her way.

They were Repliglass. In a divergence from older weapons, this armor had bones, muscle, and blood made from processed silicon cells. They were the invention of the century and they had twisted the current age itself to the point of creating a new division of the military beyond infantry or tanks: Pilot Soldiers.

But despite all that, they were not the stars of the show.

Surrounded by these bizarre shapes were the residents of a world Higan recognized: a summoner and a vessel. That equipment looked like it could win a war against aliens, but those soldiers were only the eyes and ears. They would find the target and the summoner and vessel would supply the finishing blow. That was the setup.

And there was more than the one pair.

From Meinokawa Higan’s position, she could see four such pairs hanging around waiting for a report to come in.

She doubted she had simply been caught in the middle of some other incident.

She did not know who they were, but she doubted they would help her in any way.

(If they’re blocking the way because they know I’ll pass through here, then, um, my sister must be up ahead.)

She clenched her teeth, calmed her racing pulse, and forced herself to think.

She could not fight.

She was a vessel, but without a summoner, she was only a girl.

Her death was assured the instant they found her.

(Then this is my chance. This is the way back to my sister. If I can get back to the harbor where we were separated, I can save her. So…!!)

So…

So…

So…

It took a full thirty seconds for her thoughts to continue on toward an actual course of action.

In fact, even after thirty seconds, she could not find an answer.

She was simply frozen in place.

And once she realized she had done nothing at all, it dawned on her: she was afraid.

Her skinny body was assaulted by uncontrollable shaking.

She could not move. Not even a single step. She could not move forward or even back.

She knew just how powerless she was at the moment.

If a summoner and vessel found her and attacked her with a Material, her flesh-and-blood body would be smashed to bits. Even if it was the weakest Material, no resident of this world could defeat a resident of the other world. That rule was absolute.

And even if the Repliglass soldiers were only acting as the eyes and the ears, her life was not guaranteed if they found her either. A vessel could do nothing on her own. If they attacked her with normal guns, she would be turned to Swiss cheese. If they kicked her or tackled her with their giant bodies, her bones would be crushed.

She was weak.

She was hopelessly weak.

But that was not why she was afraid.

These “excuses” kept coming to mind.

She was afraid of how her heart was giving in to all those indulgences in preparation to give up on her beloved sister.

(No…)

In a desperate attempt to bring back what little courage she had, she pictured the face of that family member who had risked her own life to protect her.

But every time she did, it was blotted out by even more excuses.

Renge’s smile, words, and scent were all lost in the blink of an eye.

(No!! I-I don’t want to lose her. I’m the only one that can save her. Even if it’s impossible, I’m the only one that can do it!! I know that. I know that, and yet…)

No matter how much she yelled in her heart, her physical body did not move a single step.

No words escaped her mouth.

She still could not move forward or back. She could only tremble in hiding in order to save herself.

It was hopelessly pathetic and hopelessly shameful, but she could not hide those thoughts.

She could not keep going.

She could not win.

She did not want to die.

She recalled the monsters she had seen at the harbor. They appeared vividly in her mind: Fafnir, Yamata-no-Orochi, and The Lady of “Purple Lightning” that Separates Good from Evil (iu – ao – eu – ei – kub – miq – a – ci – pl). As Divine and Unexplored classes, they had been special cases, but they were essentially the same. That was what happened when a human ran afoul of Materials. They could die even with the best of preparations, so it was obvious what would happen without those preparations.

Her true nature was showing itself now that she had been placed in this extreme situation, but even after seeing that, she could do nothing more than cower behind cover.

(White Queen, White Queen, White Queen! G-gr-grant me courage. Grant me the courage to save my sister even if it means sacrificing myself!!)

She prayed again and again to calm herself.

Each time, the exact opposite happened. Her mind was growing blank.

She could not stop trembling.

She could not stop it no matter what she did.

Just hiding here placed so much pressure on her that she thought she would pass out. She then realized that was because passing out would be a self-destructive yet easy way out for her.

Nothing could have been more shameful and nothing could have been more painful.

Her blank mind then recalled something pointless.

On that day, at the instant she had been separated from Renge, what had she asked for on that boat? When she had prayed to the White Queen in the same way and nothing had happened, what had her heart hoped for?

“…help…”

Something like a groan escaped her lips.

It was relying on others to the extreme. And even as she tried to escape the reality before her eyes, she could not let the Repliglass soldiers or the summoners hear her.

“''Someone help…''”

And as she gave her quiet plea, a human form slowly approached from behind.

“!?”

Sensing their presence, she turned around in surprise, but…

“Mgh!?”

As soon as she did, a hand covered her mouth and a great force pulled her once more behind the flower bed she had been hiding behind.

A familiar face appeared before her eyes.

It was Shiroyama Kyousuke who held a finger to his lips.

“Shh.”

“Pwah. Wh-wha-what? Um, wh-why are you-…ow!?”

She was cut off by a light chop to the head.

“What do you think ''you’re'' doing here?” he whispered. “That harbor is Guard of Honor’s stronghold and it’s guarded by a ton of summoners. Whether you’re searching the surrounding area on the assumption your sister is still on the run or you’re searching the inside on the assumption she’s been captured, that’s too much ground to cover. How many warehouses are there and how big are they? Aren’t there over a thousand containers piled up around there? If you searched randomly through there on your own, not even a week or two would be enough. And Guard of Honor isn’t exactly going to sit there and let you search. Right?”

“Th-then…”

“Even if you have to go there, you need to have a specific target in mind that you can rush in to reach. Without that, you won’t be saving anyone.”

Kyousuke glanced out from behind the flower bed to check on the several figures throughout the courtyard and to check on the shortest route to the exit.

“Now, our current problem is the allies of justice. I can see four pairs from here and it doesn’t look like Golden Luxury is here. Maybe she’s inside one of those Hornets flying around.”

“Eh? Eh? You mean that high-level Government Award holder? S-so this really isn’t Guard of Honor?”

“They’re our enemy either way. If they love human wave attacks that use quantity over quality and they’ve sent out units wearing Repliglass designed from silicon DNA, then it has to be Government. …Not that it matters now. I can leave the low-priority explanations until later.” Kyousuke was speaking rapidly. “This is an unnecessary detour. If we’re going to find your sister, we need to get out of here safely. If you’ve had enough of those idealist fantasies and that heroic pessimism and you actually want to realistically save your sister, then help me here. A summoner can’t do anything on his own.”

“You…” Higan sounded taken aback. “''You’ll help my sister?''”

“''That line is off limits. Don’t use it so carelessly.''”

His voice grew unpleasantly cold there.

He pulled a small razor blade from the pocket of his sports brand track suit.

“We need to create a new contract as summoner and vessel. This will overwrite your previous contract, so you’ll lose your connection to your sister. Are you fine with that?”

“Create a contract? You mean we’re going to fight them? B-but…”

“Are you afraid?”

His blunt question caused her heart to leap in her chest. She felt like he had seen right through her.

But even at such close range, she saw no hint of disappointment on his face.

He smiled a little and spoke.

“A vessel needs talent, but a summoner doesn’t. Every summoner begins with the Original series and has to work up to more and more powerful Materials. You don’t get a convenient seed position from your bloodline, an item you inherited, or special training. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

“…?”

“Even the greatest expert has to start at the beginning and even the lowest rookie has a chance of using the strongest Material. All of the fear you just felt can become a powerful weapon if you use it. …So I’m not telling you not to be afraid. Our style is to ''feel that fear and then smile because you now have a new method to add to your repertoire''.”

He was not just idealistically denying the existence of the darkness in her heart.

“Summoners have no limits on the Materials we can summon and those Materials can be swapped out any number of times, but that isn’t because we want so many weapons. We have a single path to our goal and all else – even the gods – are only stepping stones used to reach it. It’s both an all-purpose tool and the greatest blasphemy. In this cheating game of rock-paper-scissors, the optimum answer changes from person to person. Depending on the situation, the identity of the trump cards and the worthless cards can change entirely. So if you want to win, you have to find your own path. ''Even if that starts from fear.''”

He accepted and even approved of her weak and fearful heart.

As soon as she heard that, the trembling of her body came to a stop.

She had learned this ugliness was not hers alone.

She had learned the boy in front of her had once felt this same fear and overcome it.

She had learned there was a way to overcome it.

They were only words. They were only sound waves vibrating the air. They took on a completely different form from the White Queen that people worshiped as the concentrated ideal of all things. This was a human sort of salvation that differed from that extreme sanctity that did not allow a single drop of corruption.

“Let’s get started.”

Kyousuke used the razor blade to make a shallow cut on his right hand’s index finger. When a bead of blood appeared there, he held it out toward Higan…or more accurately, her lips.

“I bind this covenant of blood in the name of The Spirit of Fluttering ‘Yellow’ Gills that Rules the Heavens (s – a – so – voz – tix – ei – yw – za), one of the Three which manage and guide the summoning ceremony. You are of human flesh with a proper heart and soul, yet from this moment onward, you shall be a limited vessel that can hold all things.”

Higan stared blankly at the fingertip and red blood held out toward her mouth. Each word forced open her heart and exposed the invisible connector needed to bind this new contract.

“You shall be a lord of emptiness that uses the power filling you to at times bend the laws of this world.”

An ominous sharpness entered the air. They could no longer hide because Government’s summoners would have already detected the change.

But it did not matter as long as they could complete the contract.

“So I shall prepare this vessel. I am a summoner, unable to leave the world of man, yet a symbol of haughty intellect that uses power from beyond the world of man to guide the world of man to the next age!!”

Meinokawa Higan licked the bloody finger, placed it between her lips, and took it into her mouth.

She swallowed.

That was the beautiful and somewhat suggestive contract ceremony.

The single drop of blood used magical power to explosively rearrange her entire body. Her five senses were stirred up and her mind was briefly thrown into a psychedelically colorful world.

Shiroyama Kyousuke caught her slender body as she wobbled dizzily.

Her contract had been overwritten, so there was no need to hide any longer. He and his newly-acquired vessel girl stepped out below a bright streetlight.

He reached for his back and pulled something from behind his hoodie’s neck. It was a 180 cm rod made of Repliglass. It normally hid behind his back like a coiled snake, but it had returned to its normal shape and size.

It was a Blood-Sign, the symbol of a summoner.

As everyone’s focus turned his way, he spoke.

“Despite what I said, you don’t need to fear anything else tonight. You aren’t alone. And…”

She was not a pitiable girl who could only fearfully wait for death.

Nor was she a burden that had to be protected by some great strength.

This was how he saw her.

“Right now, you are the Alice with the Rabbit.”

That was Freedom Award 902.

In that moment, a fight began between the summoners who would leave behind countless legends.