Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 6===

It was ''just before 1:00 PM'' and Shiroyama Kyousuke headed out while trying to slip into the lunchtime crowds as much as he could.

This was incredibly dangerous when he did not have his vessel partner with him and he did not know where the Guard of Honor members were, but he wanted to visit his cruiser no matter what.

The next battle would be the last.

He wanted to gather as much Blood-Sign maintenance tools and Incense Grenades as he could.

However…

“Brother. I know this violates the schedule, but I just couldn’t wait any longer☆”

He was thrown into an Artificial Sacred Ground without warning.

Immediately, a spine-chilling sweet voice reached his ears. He looked back in shock and found the White Queen approaching. The way she waved and jogged over looked just like a girl who had spotted the person she had arranged to meet.

(I didn’t notice an Incense Grenade detonation. So was I dragged into the Artificial Sacred Ground using a Chain!?)

Not to mention that the White Queen could not be summoned right away. And the summoning ceremony format was centered on a battle, so it could not be activated when the summoner was alone. He could not summon a Material without fighting alongside someone else.

There were examples of allies fighting each other to summon a specific powerful Material.

That was commonly referred to as cannibalism.

Even if a Material could be somewhat controlled by the vessel’s will, it was not 100% accurate. In other words, they would sometimes not hesitate to crush their opponent even in a battle between allies. While rising up through the ranks of the Regulation, Divine, and Unexplored-classes, just how many summoners had been “cannibalized”?

“Even if it’s because my influence has spread across this entire city ''as I lurk in the watery depths'', it gets on my nerves to be Summoned so simply. But I’ll allow it if it means meeting you!! But…oh? I can appear here more easily because of the me that’s down there…but I’m also here… Hmm???”

Had she forced them through all that for a tryst that would last just a few minutes?

But that question seemed meaningless when faced with the White Queen’s smile that glowed with absolute purity.

“This is about my beloved brother. Destroying a nation or two would be well worth it, don’t you think?”

“Beloved, huh?”

“Does something about that bother you?”

“I don’t think there’s anything about it that doesn’t.”

If the White Queen’s love for him were real, he could use it.

However, she was essentially in love with being in love.

It was unclear whether she knew that herself, but Kyousuke did not trust her love. Even if he did try to manipulate her through her feelings of love, the odds were good she would suddenly “wake up” at some point. When his life and the world’s future hung in the balance, that was far too dangerous.

“Why are you here?”

“Oh, come on☆ The details of that are far too vulgar to come from a lovely maiden’s mouth, so I’ll have to be more vague. You could say I’m here to have some fun with you. Is that a problem?”

Kyousuke honestly thought the structure of the world was entirely worthless.

No matter how much one built up and no matter how valiantly one risked their life to face the unreasonable side of the world, a far-too-powerful being like this would end up rendering all that change meaningless with a single willful command. But when he thought about it, that should have been obvious. She stood at the peak of the Unexplored-class that was hidden beyond even the most hidden of the Divine-class.

She did not obey the world. The world obeyed her.

“Oh, dear. Brother, you don’t seem very excited.”

“I’m sick of you calling me that. It isn’t even possible for a human and a Material to have a blood relation.”

“But when I search for ‘a reliable gentleman’ that is the word that pops up.”

He had no idea what she really meant by “search”.

She may have spent many long nights curled up in an internet café or she might have checked some collection of information, like the Akashic Records, in the depths of the ''other world'' where the Unexplored-class lurked. To her, they both were about as meaningful.

No.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he knew nothing about the Queen.

The world’s scholars were greatly divided even about her origin. Shiroyama Kyousuke had once walked by her side, yet not even he knew her true age. He had no intention of being manipulated by the strange theories that said she had existed alongside human civilization from the birth of mankind or that said she had been born just this instant and history was being overwritten in real time to add her in. But if someone asked him if he knew the answer, he would have to shake his head. He did not know the source of her power, he did not know why she had a feminine form and heart, and he did not know why she chose to almost mockingly refer to him as her brother.

“Setting aside siblings, do you even have a concept of parents and children? I find it hard to believe you have a normal ability to reproduce. Or rather, I could almost believe you do it by splitting in two.”

“Eh heh. Then how about we try it out?”

Yes.

What was the White Queen on a fundamental level?

“Now, now. Let’s have some fun, brother☆ …And if you refuse, I’ll exterminate every last human in the area.”

Her tone was light, but that only made it more frightening.

Given her power, it would actually be harder for her to ''not'' destroy the world.

That was why Kyousuke did not hesitate to abandon his principles and his pride.

“That would be a shame.”

“?”

“If you went on a rampage like that, the Ferris wheel would stop running and we wouldn’t be able to ride it together.”

The White Queen’s smile froze on her face.

“Y-you mean…you would let me…ride on the Ferris wheel…with you!?”

“Yes, assuming an Unexplored-class doesn’t go on an apocalyptic rampage that breaks the Ferris wheel from its supporting pillar.”

“Wait. Please wait. Um, uh, to ride a Ferris wheel together is for a young boy and girl to spend time together in a small, private room, right?”

“No one has managed to figure out how old you really are. The theory that you drifted in from ''the other side'' at the birth of history is pretty popular, but there are other theories that you were born the instant the Third Summoning Ceremony was created, that you were born this very instant and the past is being overwritten to match, or that you’ve secretly existed since before the world was created. And you’re such a singularity that you could probably fit any one of those.”

“Brother, you are getting off topic!! Are you trying to tease me!?”

“Let’s just say you don’t see many people riding the Ferris wheel to look at the scenery.”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh☆☆☆”

The White Queen pressed her small palms against her cheeks and trembled as her entire face grew red.

“If it’s that distressing, we don’t have to do it.”

“What are you talking about!? You know exactly what I meant, don’t you!? You sweet brother!! So let’s go get in line! No, let’s destroy the line to get on right away!”

“Again, go on a rampage and it will stop running.”

“Th-the vessel at my core right now is a middle-aged man, but will you still flirt with me!?”

“C’mon, you’re getting in everyone’s way.”

With that, the White Queen took up her position at the end of the line.

It was a horribly surreal sight.

“Is this really something to get so excited about?”

“My, my. You just don’t understand girls, brother. Besides, I’d be happy even in a sea of blood as long as I’m with you.”

“I’m not that great.”

“Any human would have their gears shifted out of place to a certain extent if they reached me. You are no exception there. If you had never met me, you would not have ended up ‘like that’.”

She giggled with a smile indescribable by human words. It was not quite fascinating and not quite bewitching.

“But your gears aren’t bad. While other people’s will spin fruitlessly, yours alone stimulate my heart and draw out parts of me I never knew were there. …What else could I call this but love?”

“You’re imagining it,” spat out Kyousuke. “The Shiroyama Kyousuke standing in front of you and the Shiroyama Kyousuke in your mind are just too different. The person you picture in your head only exists in your heart. I can’t have you expecting that from me.”

She only giggled some more at those words.

It was said that love is blind, but the foundation of that was empty and unbelievable.

“You really haven’t changed, brother. If you’re willing to run all over the place to save a complete stranger, you should keep your eyes on me alone.”

“I’m not sure how you reach that conclusion.”

“If you became mine, it would eliminate about half of the world’s chaos.”

“…”

“Eh heh heh. It is truly wonderful that you don’t just agree to that. That’s the brother I know. I yearn for you because I cannot make you mine so easily. Supposedly, ''romance in this world brings the most happiness in the time leading up to the confession''.”

“And what in the world are you doing? Just as this mysterious Guard of Honor shows up, I find you cheerfully supporting them. It’s not like you have any real attachment to that method.”

“Hmm. I just want to be with you, brother. Whether that’s for a single moment or for all eternity. It’s essentially the same either way.”

“Don’t you take issue with accepting help from a group that’s willing to blow away the entire world for something like that?”

“Ah ha ha. Your original was the fairy’s spring. That was a wonderful thing. There was no waste in the structure or functioning and it was just so lovely. …That splendid item demonstrated just how you viewed us Materials.”

“What part of a dangerous item that endlessly summoned Materials into this world is ‘splendid’? I was right to destroy it myself.”

“Oh, dear. You’re hopeless, brother.” The White Queen smiled happily. “You’re always like this. When faced with a situation where you can only save one hundred people, you forcibly save two hundred, which produces a new conflict. You give no thought to the remaining oxygen, the remaining food, or the number of lifeboats. You simply save everyone before your eyes. …Have you found the perfect world? Have you become the ruler of the world? You’ve done enough to earn that title, and yet I feel like you’re still nothing more than a rabbit traversing a world of chaos.”

She continued with joy in her voice.

“You caused that secret war where Materials briefly overflowed into this world and mankind nearly went extinct, but that was no different. You saw us being summoned and used as mere ‘Material’, so you ''wanted to treat us like people just like you'', right?”

“I was wrong,” spat out the boy who likely held a legend great enough to truly stand alongside the White Queen. “I was wrong for so very, very long. I’m probably still wrong now. I know that. But even so, I couldn’t ignore the voices of those sinking into the bog. I don’t do this because of any strength. I’m being driven by the weakness that keeps me from accepting defeat, tragedy, pain, despair, or loss.”

“Perhaps so.” The White Queen sounded cheerful. “I can let the world live or die with a single fingertip, but I don’t have any intention at all of carrying that burden. I might hear a scream or the cries of death, but so what? An individual just has to take responsibility for their own life. This world’s custom is to let individuals deal with the misfortune and tragedies brought about by their own decisions, right? I see no reason to feel the slightest twinge of responsibility.”

Shiroyama Kyousuke could not help but laugh at that.

Yes. This was what it meant to be the strongest. Setting aside whether she was right or not, the White Queen was definitely stronger than anyone else in this world.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree here,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“But there is no compromise with actions born of weakness. You need to remember that. They say a cornered rat will bite a cat. …Well, just so you know, I’m feeling pretty cornered right now. Enough that I can’t smile and insist we play fair and square.”

“That’s fine with me. Everyone is free to use the power they hold.”

“I will save Meinokawa Higan. I promised I would, so I swear to you I’ll protect her.”

“Is mentioning another girl’s name a small form of resistance?”

“No, if I was going to harass you, I would put a little more effort into it.” He snapped his fingers. “By the way, the sign says the Ferris wheel has about a thirty minute wait, but how long do you have until your time limit?”

“Eh? You!? T-toying with a maiden’s pure heart will earn you some legitimate divine punish-...kssssshhhhhh!!!???”

The Artificial Sacred Ground and the White Queen vanished.

The middle-aged vessel collapsed to the ground and Kyousuke vanished into the crowd once more.

He had driven her off without fighting.

And it was now time to resume his efforts to save Meinokawa Higan.