Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume8 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 2===

The rules had changed.

First of all, he had to win this battle no matter what. He had to hit the White Thorns, knock the Petals into Spots, and arrange the acquired letters to summon Materials from the other world. He had to use the Cost and rock-paper-scissors Sound Range to overwhelm his opponent’s Material and knock them out of the fight.

That was an absolute must.

Because not even riding on a giant meteor plunging toward the earth would reduce the power of a handgun pressed against your head.

But at the same time, moving around too much would draw the Colorless Little Girl’s attention. She may have come here to save Kyousuke, but you could not rely on a bomber with a broken targeting system. It was obvious she would attack enemy and ally alike. Once the bomb was falling overhead, it was too late.

He could not defeat the Colorless Little Girl with the cards he had on hand.

He could not harm her even if he summoned one of the Three from the Unexplored-class.

Thus, he had to ignore her.

One option was to avoid her while getting a clean hit on the War Criminal’s Material.

The other option was to ''direct her toward War Criminal so he was being attacked on two fronts and could not escape.

Those were the rules of this battle.

“Hh!!”

War Criminal fought like normal by launching the initial hit on the cubic Rose, but Kyousuke launched a White Thorn toward a completely unrelated part of the floor. The Thorn ricocheted sharply, approached the Colorless Little Girl from behind, passed below her legs, and flew in front of her face.

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Her child eyes moved…no, were guided.

It was like a cat reacting to a toy. Her slender hand reached out into the empty air to grab at something. And…

“Ha ha! That’s a dirty trick for a first move!!”

Space itself split apart.

Whether it was a Regulation-class or an Unexplored-class, a solid hit from the Colorless Little Girl would one-shot any Material. The fallen angel girl had transformed into a red slime Material, but she escaped the ultimate joker’s small hand by jumping backwards…or rather, by directing the Material’s aim towards an unrelated oxygen tank behind her.

Toy Dream OP-01’s straight corridor…no, the supporting pillar itself broke down the middle.

Kyousuke and Olivia were safe thanks to the protective circle and green slime respectively, but they would have been thrown out into the certain doom of space otherwise.

Yes, they really had been dumped into the vacuum of space this time.

<Wah, wahhh, wahhhhh!? Onii…Onii-chan!!>

“Stay calm, Olivia. We’re fine as long as the Artificial Sacred Ground remains!”

He did not want to worry her, so he omitted that they were done for once the battle was over. The winner was granted 90s of a Chain state, but the loser was immediately stripped of their protective circle and Material and they would be exposed to the vacuum.

The blue expanse of the earth lay below their feet.

A mere 10 minutes of immortality felt so unreliable. If the pull of gravity grabbed them by some kind of mistake, there would be no escaping it. They would be roasted in the deadly atmosphere until not even dust remained.

One small piece of good luck was that War Criminal had been the one to throw the Incense Grenade and open the Artificial Sacred Ground. That meant it used his footing as its base surface. When the station was torn in two, the 20m cube had appeared in reference to where Boy A stood. Kyousuke and Olivia had been thrown out into the vacuum, but they did not have to worry about an endless journey through space as long as that wall contained them. They could continue fighting.

Kyousuke only had to focus on the position of the Petals and Spots for now.

War Criminal had to remain inside the broken tunnel of a corridor inside Toy Dream OP-01, so Kyousuke had the wider field of vision and could aim for more Petals.

There was one problem.

(The Colorless Little Girl shattered the Artificial Sacred Ground with her first attack on the sub. ''She can do that at any time.'' If we lose that divine protection in the vacuum of space, there’s nothing we can do!)

He needed to settle this quickly, but rushing too much would draw her attention.

In order to avoid directly stimulating the Colorless Little Girl, he aimed his White Thorn along a detour near the distant wall of the Artificial Sacred Ground, but then he noticed something off about the scenery as a whole.

There was an odd light coming from the blue planet below them.

<What…is that? Is it coming from East Europe where my kingdom is???>

“Olivia.”

<Those fluffy things…aren’t clouds? Is it a whole lot of dust!? A-and is that orange glow from fire!?>

“Olivia, focus on the battle!!”

When satellites took photos of the Amazon rainforest, it was apparently possible to see the spreading flames from slash-and-burn agriculture and from forest fires. But the fire had to be at the level of hectares before that was possible.

Something was happening.

And it involved East Europe and Kingdom F, home of Olivia Highland.

(We destroyed System Atlantis and stopped the Blue Film that was meant to guide public opinion over the course of its four episodes. …''But did they force it through regardless?'' Damn, did the US Congress give the go ahead for the Silver Resource War!?)

The Blue Film had lost its absolute importance.

Destroying System Atlantis was no longer the key to solving this.

In war, the troops were not necessarily deployed only once the government had made the final decision. If they were already waiting at the scene, they could begin the attack immediately after the sign was given.

(They changed their method…)

Kyousuke and Olivia did not have a second to spare.

They could no longer stop this in advance.

(Even if I summoned a demon!!)

Kyousuke kicked off wall pieces larger than tatami mats to cut across the cubic Artificial Sacred Ground.

But ''not'' to take up a better position to acquire plenty of Petals with his White Thorns.

He moved in between War Criminal and the Colorless Little Girl.

Of course, he was still engaged in a deadly battle with the enemy summoner. Even with the ideals of Alice (with) Rabbit, Kyousuke would not abandon the battle to protect the enemy.

This was quite the opposite.

Illegal’s leader had set up this game of chicken, but that was proof that he really did understand how frightening the Colorless Little Girl was. He was making small adjustments to the distance between them to make sure he was never close enough for her to decide to attack.

Shiroyama Kyousuke artlessly charged into the risky minefield in between them.

If he stepped on and detonated a mine, the blast would catch War Criminal in his supposed safe zone.

“You…!!”

He did not have time to roar.

The bomber with a malfunctioning targeting system was finally moving.

<nowiki><I will do it, Nii-sama. I will fight.></nowiki>

She casually extended her small hands. They missed Kyousuke who altered his path by striking a floating piece of the station with his Blood-Sign, but those ten fingers filled with mysterious power gently touched War Criminal’s protective circle.

The resultant boom and shower of sparks was like someone touching a train’s high-voltage line.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

None of the rules applied.

The Third Summoning Ceremony ruled by the White Queen had long since been abandoned.

War Criminal entered a tailspin after being baptized into the Fourth.

But it did not end there.

The summoner who freely controlled his three devil sticks managed to stay focused on the main issue despite the extreme pain, his muddled mind, and his rapid spinning.

No matter what happened, this was a Summoning Ceremony battle where Material fought Material.

And Shiroyama Kyousuke had focused on messing with the Colorless Little Girl. He had failed to focus on building up his Material.

“You…dumbass… Too bad, Kyousuke-chan. I’ve reached the Divine-class while you took your detour!!!!!!”

Rumpelstiltskin.

Divine-class. Cost: 15. Sound Range: Middle.

Despite the grand name, it was a thumb-sized dwarf that was summoned. Rather than a divine figure from a world religion or mythology, he had only left his name as a fairy in a fairy tale.

But a god was a god.

And the ridiculously-long name made him more useful than Odin, Zeus, or another head god when used in the Summoning Ceremony where the number of letters determined how much power could be drawn out.

Kyousuke was still in the Regulation-class, so he could not overcome the power difference no matter how he launched his White Thorns.

It was true War Criminal had no way of resisting the Colorless Little Girl, but Kyousuke and Olivia were done for if Boy A and the fallen angel got just one clean hit in.

“Ha ha…”

One hit versus one hit.

Just like a duel in a Western, the exchange of a single attack would decide everything.

“I never thought I could enjoy such an old-fashioned war in the modern age of drones and cyber-attacks!!”

With his eyes hidden by his ruler-like sunglasses, Boy A prepared to give his vessel a command, but then he noticed something.

Where was the crucial target? Where was the Material being controlled by Olivia Highland?

And just before great meaning poured into that slight gap, a heavy blow ran through War Criminal from directly above.

“Wha-!?”

<Hnhhhhh!!>

The enemy could not hear her, but Olivia’s voice rang inside Kyousuke’s head.

A Regulation-class shaped like a giant spear broke through Toy Dream OP-01’s roof. Of course, there was no way of harming Boy A when he was surrounded by the protective circle, but War Criminal had thrown the Incense Grenade and destroying the floor beneath his feet took away the Artificial Sacred Ground’s base surface. Plus, simply shaking his vision would confuse him.

But would she really go that far?

It was the end for her if either the Divine-class or the Colorless Little Girl even grazed her with an attack, so would she really charge into the line of fire on the front line?

It was pure insanity, but that was why it had successfully caught War Criminal off guard.

And that created a brief opening.

“Colorless Little Girl Dedicated to a Single Goal (aie – a – oio – ei – ueo – ioa – e – uai – ee).”

<Nii-sama. What? Nii-sama.>

Did that mean anything, or was it only a reflexive action?

In the face of such great danger, Kyousuke held the top of his Blood-Sign out toward the juvenile girl’s nose. And he moved it like a cat toy.

“Sic him.”

Even the vacuum of space was compressed.

Just as Kyousuke swung his head with all his might to dodge, the girl’s hand caught War Criminal and his protective circle, sending him flying like a meteor. He crashed into and crushed Rumpelstiltskin and both summoner and vessel were buried deep inside the Toy Dream OP-01 space station.