Editing IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter (section)

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was. 

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds. 

   In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.    

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."    

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"