Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume7 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 7===

Meinokawa Aoi guided them from the large cave and into more complex passageways. These had outdoor lights attached at irregular intervals, but the bedrock was supported by wooden pillars. Perhaps due to the moisture in the air, they seemed somehow swollen. It may have been a way of keeping people away from this holy ground, but…

(This is bad. A lot of this looked hand dug, but this area looks especially dangerous.)

“This area sure has changed,” commented Aoi.

“Really?”

“Given my origins, I used to use the caves as a playground, but I don’t remember it looking so rundown. This is what happens when you look away for a moment. The flow of time is so cruel.”

The silver-haired shrine maiden narrowed her eyes and sounded somewhat sorrowful.

The wooden framework must have reminded her of traditional scaffolding and the modern lights of traditional lamps because Meinokawa Aoi pouted her lips.

“I wonder what will happen with the festival. I never know when I will be able to come to the surface next and it isn’t often that coincides with such a festive opportunity. I had hoped I could go enjoy it with everyone.”

“…”

“Well, I know I’m hardly normal. They were all just little kids, but it won’t take long before they outgrow me both physically and mentally. And who knows how the festival will have changed form by the time I make another appearance. Honestly. Just honestly.”

At that point, Aoi slowly shook her head.

Instead of not creating stress, she immediately rid herself of the stress she did create.

That seemed to be her way of life, so she intentionally changed the subject.

“The Joruri Method is a technological system with a history stretching back five or six hundred years, but as its name suggests, it is something of a hodgepodge of different things.”

Both moisture and dust filled the air, but that had to be a harsh environment for a fully artificial being. She wiped moisture from her brow, which showed off the armpit hidden below her wide sleeve.

“Just as Joruri is a collection of various plays, songs, and dolls, the Joruri Method forming my body has gathered many technologies from both the East and the West. A lot of it came from the South Seas and the Western Continent, so you could maybe even say it is primarily a Western thing.”

“…What’s your point?”

“Prepare to be amazed when you see the St. Elmo at the summit. Golems, Homunculi, the Shakoki-Dogu, the Terracotta Army, images of the Virgin Mary, images of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, and even execution devices like the iron maiden and the wicker man. Oh, you will be all too aware of just how greedy and indiscriminate a people the Japanese are.”

“If you say so.”

“You! Will! Be! Amaaaaazed!!”

Aoi began childishly thrashing about (which made those surprisingly large things jiggle), but when she saw that exchange, Olivia pouted her lips while clinging to Kyousuke’s hips, which she had apparently decided was her designated spot.

“Boo. If you were always like this, you wouldn’t have to fight with the White Queen.”

Since Aoi was designed to look just like the Queen, this situation might indeed look something like that, but in reality it could not have been more different.

And then…

“!”

Kyousuke and Biondetta simultaneously grabbed Meinokawa Aoi’s shoulders as she took the lead once more.

This was a hand-dug tunnel, so it was not as straight as a school hallway. It meandered here and there and they had heard a quiet noise from further ahead.

The silver-haired shrine maiden gave them a puzzled look, so Kyousuke used a gesture that would be understood in most any country in the world: he pressed his index finger against her soft lips.

And on top of that…

“(The footsteps are too regular. They’re probably with Bridesmaid. Should we take them out here?)”

“(The bedrock is unstable. The pillars are rotted and half broken, so summoning a Material could easily get us buried alive.)”

“(Yes, and Bridesmaid would probably happily do it on purpose if it was for the Queen.)”

They could not reproduce any detailed nuance while communicating using their eyes and fingers instead of words, but that was the gist of the conversation.

They had to think up some way around this. The tunnel curved a lot, but it was still just the one path and there was no other path to take.

And a moment later…

“Wait!! Is someone there!?”

A booming voice struck Kyousuke in the back.

It came from Olivia Highland who had been clinging to him until now. She let go of his hips and walked on ahead. Thinking she was betraying them, the waitress demon prepared to snap at her, but Kyousuke stopped her with a hand. The situation was already underway. He could only reach for the Incense Grenade in his pocket while carefully watching the girl in a school swimsuit, decorative collar, ridiculously short skirt, and floral print pareo.

“That voice…?”

“You were safe, Miss Highland!?”

(Oh, I get it…)

Kyousuke thought to himself while listening to the voices from the blind spot down the tunnel.

(She had gone missing, but it was possible they still didn’t know Olivia was working with us.)

“There was some trouble with the bombing and everything else, so I got separated. You hadn’t heard?”

“We had. ''He'' was worried.”

“We can head there right away. We’ll get you some hot food and a blanket.”

“No, I can still walk around, so don’t worry. Don’t take away my faith in the White Queen.” Olivia spoke cheerfully. “More importantly, I saw footprints matching Shiroyama Kyousuke’s on the way here. And the food wrappers hidden around here were a lot like what I saw in the shopping district. Investigate outside. He’s probably been frequently heading up to the surface.”

After hearing the footsteps disappear into the distance, Olivia stuck out her tongue. The others remained hidden until there was no chance they would be heard.

“Well, that should about do it. If I’m going to get Onii-chan and the Queen together, I guess I can’t let Bridesmaid capture you here.” She lightly struck her small chest with her fist and she winked. “See? I’m not your enemy right now, Onii-chan☆”

“Hm,” muttered Kyousuke as he focused on their surroundings.

The group blocking the way forward really did seem to be gone, so she was not bluffing.

Confident in that, he crouched down to her eye level.

“Which will it be, Olivia: a rap on the head or a spanking?”

“Eh!?”

“What else could you expect after running off without asking our opinion first!?” demanded Biondetta. “Sir, this isn’t worth your time. Allow me to turn this insolent little butt bright red.”

“Nyah, nyahhh!?”

Olivia made a surprisingly swift escape, but she ultimately took up her position hiding behind Kyousuke’s back. Her already small body shrank down further and tears filled her eyes.

In fact…

“Biondetta, aren’t you chasing her around a little too much? You’ve scared her enough to count as a punishment, so leave it at that.”

“I see. So it was you spoiling her like this that created her current personality.”

Meanwhile…

“Oh, deary me.”

As an antique, Aoi gave quite an elderly-sounding exclamation as she climbed up an especially tall step in the tunnel. Once past that, the scenery changed entirely. Before, it had been a tunnel with mining lightbulbs installed at irregular intervals, but now the walls were covered in white crystals. Due to the crystalline structure, they seemed to form giant diagonal pillars and the light reflected off the walls and ceiling made it hard to judge distances or depth.

Was it black-haired Renge who had mentioned these crystals were used for the shrine’s protective charms?

“Once through here, we will be near the summit. I mentioned a crater lake that had dried up after the bottom grew cracked, right? A ladder was embedded in the side of large crack, so we can use that as a shortcut.”

“I see.”

Kyousuke nodded once in the even greater moisture of this cave.

“…But it looks like we’re going to run into some trouble first.”

The sound was too high-pitched to call footsteps. Perhaps that was because this was a crystal deposit.

A single figure blocked their way forward.

The large man wore a lab coat and a black riding suit, so he looked out of place among the white crystals. His inhaler-equipped helmet resembled a fighter pilot’s and a wheeled oxygen tank rolled at his feet. This was the swordsman summoner who had worked with Olivia and caught Biondetta off guard the day before.

Before he could draw the sword which was longer than he was tall, the vengeance demon aimed the muzzle at the end of her silver Blood-Sign.

But not at the large man. She aimed it at the back of Olivia’s head as she clung to Kyousuke’s hips.

“Biondetta.”

“No, sir. Olivia Highland is skilled enough to accurately destroy the Silhouette at the core of a Material, so beginning a battle against her at Cost 1 would be suicide. If you can’t start with a Cost advantage of at least 5 and preferably more than 10, it would be best to avoid using the Summoning Ceremony.”

“It doesn’t matter,” replied Kyousuke. And he was not just letting emotion cloud his judgment. “If that was all it took to be the strongest, I would have killed the Queen a lot sooner.”

“…”

Olivia trembled even more than Biondetta when she heard that.

What was it that had shocked the small girl? That he was denying her talent, or that he had mentioned killing the Queen?

“Olivia, are you going to rejoin him?”

“Onii-chan…”

“Do as you wish. Either way, I’ll crush him and continue on.”

Kyousuke did not even look back at the girl whose swimsuit had grown a darker shade of blue after reabsorbing so much moisture. For one thing, she was still contracted with that summoner. If that helmeted man threw an Incense Grenade, she could not reject it.

And Olivia could accurately guide an attack toward the Silhouette and ignore the Cost difference.

(But that perfect one-hit-kill technique is reliant on Olivia Highland actually controlling the Material.)

Kyousuke kept his eyes on the enemy before him and pulled his Repliglass Blood-Sign from his back.

(So it’s just like trick art or an optical illusion. If I can fool Olivia’s sensory organs, she’ll still miss and won’t be able to pull off that one-hit-kill. Of course, the Material will be changing every few seconds and each time I’ll have to rearrange the trick to work with ultrasonic waves, infrared, or whatever other senses it has, but that’s fine. ''I have it all memorized.'')

“What’s the matter, Bridesmaid?”

He put on a daring smile as he made his announcement.

He had no idea who this man was, but if he was reliant on Olivia Highland’s talent, it was all over for him.

“Just try it. Assuming you’re really so confident that you can defeat me with the same trick twice.”

The helmeted swordsman summoner did not move out of the way and he remained silent.

No, it was hard to tell with the mask covering his expression, but he was laughing.

“I knew it…”

Finally, he spoke.

But Shiroyama Kyousuke was the only one who tensed in realization of what that voice meant.

“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. So a mere princess was not enough to stop you.”

“''You''… It can’t be…”

Biondetta frowned at how he said the word “you”.

There were only a select few people with which he put such emphasis on the word. This had to be someone quite close to him but also a target of his hatred.

Then who was he?

This had to be someone just as – or more – twisted than Biondetta, but what candidates remained?

Olivia gave the answer.

While still clinging to Kyousuke’s hips, the double blonde braid girl called her partner’s name.

“…Doctor S.”

“That’s right. And the S stands for Shiroyama, you failed guinea pigs.”