Editing City Series:Volume8b Chapter19 (section)

===Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT’s Amusement Park===

'''<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Algo stood on the beach sans left arm.

Alternative stood to his right and worked to helped prop him up.

With the blimp behind him, heat left his body and white steam rose into the sky. The blood vessels bulged out on his upper arm and neck, a few had ruptured, and blood spilled into the waves washing at his feet.

But in addition to that, he had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

That was due to Aoe’s fist and the Words Warn.

He and Aoe faced each other from within arm’s reach.

The wind blew through. The waves reached their feet, reaching up to their ankles.

The water was more ticklish than cold.

The giant wall to the left – Babel – continued to make noise.

The air moved and the wind blew.

But they did not move.

Aoe only sensed Yuo holding her breath behind him.

The wind blew and Algo narrowed his eyes. He wobbled on his feet, scaring Alternative, but it only happened once. He stood tall and spoke weakly but with a smile.

“Such a pleasant breeze. Nice and cool.”

The waves nearly drowned out his voice and Aoe did not reply.

Nevertheless, Algo pulled three program trigons from his pocket.

He looked to the sky.

“Aoe, why is the wind so cold?”

Aoe opened his mouth to respond.

But when he spoke, his voice was squeezed from his throat, not from the mouth.

“Because a wind that wants to be a wind…feels like the wind.”

“Yes. So I ask you, Aoe. Does your Plus fist remain real even in this Minus world?”

Aoe looked to his right fist.

After making his attack and pulling it back, the emblem had vanished.

That was only a PC Body’s clenched fist being run by a subprogram.

He stared at his fist and Algo shut his eyes.

“Yuo.”

“Um, yes!? What is it!?”

She looked up and Algo waved his hand.

He tossed the three program trigons over Aoe’s shoulder, one by one.

Monkey followed them with his eyes and the ferret caught them in his mouth and swallowed them.

“Those are Babel’s management program, the queen’s Demigod Program…and Master Suedomsa’s Demigod Program.”

“You’re really giving me all of this?”

“Oh, no. The Babel one and the Queen’s one I am merely returning. Oh, and Yuo? Take a look at Aoe’s eyes.”

“Mh?” grunted Aoe as he looked back over his shoulder. Yuo placed her hand on his right shoulder and looked at his face.

Her eyes wandered searchingly, until…

“Oh,” she said and opened a window. The window displayed a photo of his face.

'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Now he understood the reason for her surprise. Something about him had changed in that window.

“My eye color.”

The right one was still black, but the left one had turned green.

He heard Algo’s voice.

“The title of Master has been passed down, creating someone even more powerful.”

Aoe looked back and saw Algo clenching his fist.

Algo approached, stepping through the waves with Alternative.

He was now fully within arm’s reach and he spoke with his face gone somewhat pale.

“This is exactly how Master Ungyou said it would end.”

“What? Old Man Ungyou predicted this?”

“He did. He told me that you could never learn the strongest power from him, since he was your master.”

“You don’t mean…?”

Aoe gasped and Algo shut his eyes, saying nothing more.

But he did pull his fist back in front of Aoe.

He took the most basic of stances for a martial artist: the middle punch stance.

Aoe knew the meaning of this, so he clenched his right fist and pulled it back as well.

Algo asked a question.

“Can you show me the punch that created the strongest power?”

Aoe shut his eyes just once. He clenched his teeth and pushed down what he felt rising into his throat. But it didn’t work. The tremor escaped him in his breath.

He did not perform a Load. Because he knew the fist he sent forward was real.

He opened his eyes and Algo did the same to look at him.

It began suddenly.

Algo’s fist moved.

Aoe watched that movement and pulled back his right arm without lowering his head.

A wave washed over his feet as he threw a weak punch.

“––––”

Algo’s fist grazed his hair, but it didn’t hit. It passed behind him.

Instead, Aoe’s fist struck Algo in the chest.

It was a weak thing, more placing his fist there than anything.

It barely even made a sound.

Aoe heard the sound of the wave receding and then heard Algo’s voice.

“Was that supposed to be a punch?”

“But!”

Aoe hung his head. He kept his fist clenched as he bit his lower lip and grabbed Algo’s shoulder with his left hand.

Algo placed his right on that left hand and squeezed it.

Aoe looked to Algo, still biting his lip.

Algo smiled. His smiling lips parted and his grip on Aoe’s hand increased.

“Begin anew from here, Aoe.”



'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

As soon as Algo spoke those words, a window opened between the two of them.

'''<Warning: Emergency exit has been breached: Great God Lives accumulation within Babel has passed the critical point. They are no longer controllable: Babel could collapse in approximately 270 seconds>

'''<Warning: All PC Bodies in range of this window alert should immediately evacuate to the southern park>

A siren rang in the distance and Algo let go of Aoe’s hand.

“It is time. The Great God Lives will disappear just as you want them to.”

He spoke with no emotion in his voice and pulled a book from his pocket.

He held out a copy of the bible. It was the one he had inherited from Kobayashi Ungyou.

A ring sat atop the black leather cover.

The pearl ring was the one Algo had been wearing on his right hand earlier.

He pressed the two items to Aoe’s chest.

A single window appeared over Algo and Alternative’s heads.

<May your joys be many.>

Aoe wasn’t sure which one of them that window came from, but he still raised his voice.

“Hey!”

Aoe looked down to catch the bible and ring before they fell, but that was when Algo turned around without another word. Algo picked Alternative up with his remaining arm and ran toward the bow of the blimp.

'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe looked up in surprise to see long golden hair blowing in the wind.

Those two did not look back.

In an instant, Algo made a boosted leap onto the top of the blimp.

“Wa-”

Before Aoe could tell him to wait, a deep rumble ran through the air.

The blimp was beginning to rise.

He knew where it had to be going: to the top of Babel.

Neither the man standing on the blimp nor the woman in his arm looked back.

Aoe stretched his hand out toward them.

But he stopped himself. He knew what they were doing.

“They’re going to deal with the Great God Lives inside Babel.”

After saying that, Aoe reached his right arm back and around Yuo to pick her up.

The blimp carrying Algo and Alternative was already far overhead and still rising.

He did not look that way. He turned away from the sky and looked Yuo in the eye instead.

She was lowering her head a bit, but she nodded with determination on her face.

She was telling him to do this.

Just then, the air shook and the ground quaked.

“…!”

Just as he braced against the quake below his feet, windows opened all around, displaying alerts in red text.

Yuo spoke from his arm, a note of panic in her voice.

“Has Babel started to collapse!?”

Aoe didn’t answer. He ran along the beach, leaping out onto the artificial lake.

Yuo altered her coordinate setting to take a seat in the air while he gave her an instruction.

“Yuo, put up a shield!”

'''<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>