Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 17===

At that moment, Shiroyama Kyousuke was aiming for a Petal using a White Thorn, but then he was overcome by the feeling of something being pulled from the center of his body. He had an abundance of experience as a summoner, but not even he had felt this before.

Something was escaping him and being stolen from him.

“Wha-…!?”

All of his White Thorns vanished and he lost his connection to Higan who had invited the Material inside herself.

“…Tch.”

Azalea Magentarain seemed to have noticed the change as she accurately controlled her Blood-Sign. But the look on her small face was not of confusion or triumph. It was irritation that her grand stage had been ruined.

Someone jumped down from the destroyed land bridge.

The shrine maiden holding a Blood-Sign was Higan’s sister Renge. When Kyousuke saw the many White Thorns floating around her, he finally grasped what was going on.

(She stole my contract between summoner and vessel!? That shouldn’t be possible. Did their blood connection as twins affect it somehow!?)

Having stolen his rights as summoner, Meinokawa Renge sharply struck a White Thorn with her Blood-Sign. As he watched the white light cut across the Artificial Sacred Ground like a shooting star, ''Kyousuke felt a chill run down his spine.

This was leading to the peak of the Unexplored-class.

This would summon the “White” Queen who Wields the Sword of Unsullied Truth (iu – nu – fb – a – wuh – ei –kx – eu – pl – vjz).

“The summoning ceremony is a technique to evenly summon any Material. It doesn’t matter if you’re the lowest rookie or the greatest veteran!! Even if you were the one to set this up, that Unexplored-class is mine as long as I knock it into the Spot!!”

The conditions were set in place.

A moment later, a tremendous pure white light blew out from Meinokawa Higan.

It was a cocoon of birth.

The intensely bright vortex stabbed into one’s retinas even with both arms covering the face, but it suddenly vanished. Instead, countless small feathers that glowed like an angel’s scattered about like a blizzard of flower petals.

A lovely girl stood in the center of it all.

Even with twintails, her beautiful silver hair reached her waist. She had black jewel-like eyes that seemed to see through everything. Her pure white clothing resembled a wedding dress, but it was far too revealing for that. A bright light from behind would probably have been enough for every line of her body to show through. Some parts of the outfit glittered with a silver light, but they were unlikely to be crass armor that directly blocked blades or arrows. For one thing, nothing could hope to harm that glowing and glittering skin of hers.

She had no weapons.

In the many legends, that clothing would transform to match the current situation and would form billions or even trillions of weapons to slaughter her enemy. However, it was hard to say those weapons were the whole of her power. When speaking of pure destructive power, her two slender arms were the greatest of all.

She was the ultimate Material that stood at the peak of the Unexplored-class which lay beyond the Regulation-class and Divine-class.

She was the ‘White’ Queen who Wields the Sword of Unsullied Truth.

Her very presence did not allow even a drop of impurity.

She was an incarnation of benevolence, a symbol of sanctity, and a personification of radiance.

(We can win…)

Meinokawa Renge held her Blood-Sign tight.

(We can win like this!! No matter how accurately and quickly she uses her Blood-Sign and even if she can freely summon Divine or Unexplored-classes, there’s nothing to be afraid of. The White Queen is the best of the best, so the battle is pretty much over once she’s been successfully summoned. Now no one can hurt Higan!!)

She was confident of her victory.

The distinctions between rookie and expert or individual and organization did not matter. When it came down to it, a battle between summoners was settled by what they could summon.

But a moment later, she saw something unbelievable.

“Wha-…?”

The sight was such a shock that she could not help but speak aloud.

Government Award 930, Golden Luxury, was now Guard of Honor’s Uniquely Selfless. That girl with red-tinged blonde ringlet curls released the Material serving her. Then she and the vessel who had returned to being an old man got down on one knee and bowed their heads.

Time briefly seemed to stop.

The broken song of the summoning ceremony came to an end and absolute silence enveloped them.

Renge almost forgot they were in the midst of a deadly battle.

Those two had wished to see this great existence, even if it cost them their lives. It was an audience with a great lord.

“Oh, Your Majesty… Please forgive us for not preparing more for this audience.”

Yes.

“We of Guard of Honor are doing everything in our ability to quickly construct a suitable audience chamber. That such a vulgar individual was able to summon you is but one sign of that. Please wait a while longer before we can truly invite you in from ''the other side''.”

They almost looked like knights kneeling before their queen.

This was not at all how one acted around the Materials that were treated like tools without wills of their own.

“What…is this?”

“Oh, no… Oh, no!! Release your Material at once. Summoning that…that thing in front of me is a terrible mistake!!”

The boy who had been with Higan was shouting something, but Renge was not listening.

The pure white queen gently smiled. Like a solid bud blooming into a lovely flower after being exposed to the breath of spring, just seeing the smile filled one’s heart with happiness.

But destruction soon followed.

The old man in a suit was kicked away like a ball and the blonde girl had her bowed head stomped down to the ground.

The dull sound seemed to arrive only after a short delay.

This was of course not caused by the speed of sound.

Renge’s mind had hesitated to comprehend the truth before her eyes.

“Nn…nnhh…”

As Renge watched in a daze, the White Queen raised her arms and bent a little backwards. As she did, her alluring bodylines moved seductively. It was the action of a student stretching after the boring principal’s speech was finally over. Material was supposed to be an inhuman monster that could use power beyond human comprehension in the isolated Artificial Sacred Ground, but her action completely overturned that idea.

Then her pure eyes stopped on Shiroyama Kyousuke.

She ignored the girl groaning below her foot, put on a venomously refreshing smile, and greeted him.

“Long time no see, brother. Have you been doing well since I last saw you?”

She had the enchanting voice to match her sexy body, but when she called him “brother”, the tone of a little girl was mixed in. It was imbalanced and inhuman, so it brought chaos to the heart of whoever heard it.

“…”

Kyousuke blatantly clenched his teeth.

Renge could not believe anything happening before her eyes. Not that a violent Material was speaking just like a human and not that the two of them knew each other.

That was why she voiced her confusion.

“Eh? Wait…what are you saying?”

That was a mistake.

“Hm? Who the hell do you think you are, butting in between brother and me!!???”

Sounds of snapping and breaking came from all around Renge.

“Gh…bh!?”

Even as she coughed up an impressive amount of blood, she had no idea what had happened to her. She had been hit by a tremendous amount of pressure, as if thrown from a safe submarine into the deep sea at a depth of several thousand meters.

“Gah…bah!? Aghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!?”

“Did you think you were safe with the protective circle blocking all external and internal obstructions? Stop acting like that’s your doing! That power comes from us, the Materials!! All I have to do is alter the orientation of the circle a bit…and tah dah! Get it now?”

“…Stop it.”

“Ah ha ha!! Look at that ugly mug thanks to the pressure crushing you evenly from every direction☆ A robber with a stocking over their head would probably look better. Nowww, let’s see. If I squeeze you a little more, what color of organs will come out of that mouth-…”

“I said stop it!!!!”

Shiroyama Kyousuke shouted from the bottom of his gut and the White Queen released Renge almost amusingly easily.

Kyousuke watched the shrine maiden collapse to the ground with a sticky sound, but…

“Ahh☆ When you give me such powerful orders, it reminds me of old times, brother. Such a thrill. But there is a limit to what I will let you get away with. For example…looking at other girls in my presence.”

There was a flowing difference in temperature in her words. They were human yet unstable. It made one think she could be lovingly rubbing her pet’s head one moment and crushing that head in her fist a moment later.

Shiroyama Kyousuke had thought he could help the Meinokawa sisters if he defeated Azalea Magentarain and did something about Guard of Honor.

But this changed everything.

The White Queen had laid her eyes on the Meinokawa sisters. And when they were with Shiroyama Kyousuke. That alone raised the difficulty of his original task beyond even world domination.

That was just how difficult it was to oppose her and to protect someone from her.

“Was Guard of Honor an organization made to summon you?”

“Who knows. I am quite popular, so I receive requests from all over the world. Do you really think I pay attention to why any particular person summoned me?”

In truth, it had actually been Meinokawa Renge and not Guard of Honor that had summoned the White Queen, but she did not seem to care in the slightest. She had kicked or stomped on Azalea and the old man and she had reversed the protective circle’s power to crush Renge.

The order likely had no real meaning.

Even if the other side had done the summoning, she would likely have tormented them all the same.

“I am aware of a collection of desires to acquire me using the Control method as a more definite method than instantly summoning me with a Blood-Sign and Incense Grenade, but I don’t know the details. After all, I’m not interested in anything other than you, brother☆”

Control.

That was a twisted desire held by some summoners.

The modern summoning ceremony was simple and had few risks. Anyone could feely grasp a Blood-Sign and any rookie could summon the most powerful Material, even if it was limited to ten minutes.

But that meant the gods who were reliable allies one day could stand in one’s way as the greatest demon the next day.

“However, it would seem their techniques are far from reaching your own, brother.”

“The initial job the Meinokawa sisters received included a ghost story about a white woman appearing at the harbor filled with Guard of Honor. I had assumed that was a dummy job, but now…”

“Are you even listening? Why the hell would you bring up other girls in the middle of our date? …But, but. I love you for being so utterly clueless, so I’ll forgive you! That seems to have been ''another me'' from a failed experiment.”

They were afraid of her.

They could not allow others to use her.

And that was why they wanted a deeper bond. Even if it was an illusion, they wanted to think that the most powerful, most beautiful, and most frightening of the monsters belonged to them alone. They wanted the peace of mind that would bring.

Instead of shuffling the deck of cards and evenly dealing them out to enemy and ally alike after each game, they would cut out the dealer and keep their own deck for themselves. They would work at it, set it up, and line it all up to obtain assured victory.

They wanted to eliminate the complicated system and simplify it. They only needed to summon from that one deck. As long as that was the ultimate trump card, they did not need anything else.

“Besides, it seems less like they want to rule over me and more like they want to be my chosen servants. That way I will prioritize them over others. It’s such a submissive way of thinking. Now. Is that really what these goddess-serving priests or queen-serving guards of honor want? Or are they simply trying to distract me from their true desire to place a collar around my neck and drag me around?”

“It’s completely insane…”

That was why they wanted that Control method.

They would place a hook in the mouth of a fish and release it into the ocean so they could reel in the fishing rod only when they wished to appreciate their catch. They would provide that limited freedom and bask in the sense of superiority it gave them. They wanted to believe that was the right thing to do.

From the moment they referred to what they summoned as mere “Materials”, it was obvious what hopes and desires guided how summoners treated them.

“Well, they tested out a lot of other ideas too. There was that…Repliglass is it? Even that was an experimental product originally meant to provide an artificial and permanent body for me in place of a vessel. Although as you can see, it was a failure☆”

[[Image:BloodSign_v01_230.jpg|thumb]]

“I can’t believe this…”

Kyousuke looked down to his own Blood-Sign.

That artificial serpent that controlled the gods was a bundle of silicon muscle. Was the greatest weapon that he relied on nothing more than a failed body for the Queen?

“But these days, Repliglass is used not just for military purposes but in power plants and water purification plants. Just how fast are this world’s distortions accelerating?”

The White Queen lightly clapped her hands together in front of her face.

“It’s the same idea as what you built so long ago, brother. It’s just that Guard of Honor is nowhere near your level, so I seem to recall it being ugly and overly large. …Honestly, the original one was a cute little toy that would fit in a household shrine…yes, like the size of a bottle ship. So why has it spread enough to ''cover'' two-sevenths of the world’s continents with this city in the center?”

Kyousuke felt a chilly fingertip running down his spine.

It did not matter to her, but that was why there was no extra layer to her words. She only spoke the truth.

“What are you all planning to do in this world?” he asked. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re already working toward the worst possible answer!”

“Ah ha ha. I’m glad to see your proper instincts are finally coming back to you. Yes, that’s right. You need to be thinking on at least that level if you’re going to talk about me. From Toy Dream 01 to Toy Dream 40, which is currently under construction, each of the cities used a different method. It was Toy Dream 35 here that produced the greatest results. The rest of the plans were ended and all of that power and technology was concentrated here.”

The Queen’s tone was plain. Toy Dream 35 had succeeded in producing the summoning technique to control the White Queen, but that likely had little to do with Guard of Honor’s methods.

It was because a certain boy lived in that city.

The Queen had chosen to appear at that location like she was popping in for a visit on a whim.

“But it doesn’t matter to me what they might say. Guard of Honor may have been deceived, but as I already said, I am not at all interested in anyone besides you, brother. To be blunt, I wouldn’t care in the slightest if this puny city and the nation or continent around it sank into an ocean of blood.” The White Queen smiled. “But anyways, I was a liiiiittle hopeful since I thought going along with this ''would reunite me with you eventually''. I’m glad that wish came true☆”

This was the true nature of the White Queen.

If Kyousuke, who she respectfully referred to as her “brother”, would pay attention to her, she was willing to trigger a war or natural disaster. If he would rub her head, she was willing to start killing every single human being one at a time to see how many hundreds of millions she had to kill before he would do so. That was the type of girl she was.

“Then that’s enough. You got what you wanted! There’s no reason to destroy anything else!!”

“That is fine by me, but won’t Guard of Honor continue on with this? Besides, they are the ones that want to order me to ''selfishly wield my power'' once they can control me.”

“Then stop them!! If they’ll listen to you, then tell them to stop!!”

“I’d rather not☆ Doesn’t that destructive turn of events sound like so much more fun? I think I can just let Guard of Honor do what they want.”

“You really…aren’t planning anything?”

“Then what do you think I’m planning?” she asked with the ultimate smile. “Do you think I’m sending all sorts of enemies after you to finally raise you to Award 1000 so you’ll be sent to ''the other side'' where we can be together forever? Do you think I’m going to exterminate mankind and Material alike to create a new world for just the two of us? Do you think I want to stay in this world and try making a contract with you as your vessel? Or do you think I’m trying to visit you enough that you start empathizing with me so I can seduce you with this captivating body and spend those ten short minutes doing things I would rather not speak aloud with you? Yes, what exactly do I plan to do?”

“…”

“You decided it was no use thinking about and gave up, didn’t you? We have a winner! Do you really think I would put together some grand plot and make detailed preparations? That is the mentality of the weak who are afraid of losing and cannot stand back up if they do lose. I am meaninglessly strong and simply achieve victory, so do you really think I would think like that? No matter what kind of hell I am swallowed up by, I will never want to do anything more than flirt with you, brother.”

“Queen!!!!!”

“Brother. I believe I already said there is a limit to what I will let you get away with. If you refer to me like a stranger, it makes me want to kill you, you know? When calling to me, do it like you used to, in that manly yet adorable voice.”

The Queen gave a soft yet somehow insane smile.

“Yes. Alice (with) Rabbit, the cute little rabbit that respectfully welcomed the white ruler visiting from another world. Just like that oozingly sweet honeymoon when we become one inside that frame you provided me.”