Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

'''(Timeline “Now”)

In the present, Shiroyama Kyousuke clenched his teeth.

He looked around his surroundings once more. This was an unbelievably large cubic Box. Before, it had only looked like a symbol of the malice and joy created by the Deltaston family who viewed themselves as a privileged class.

“The path to salvation was right before our eyes all along.”

“Not necessarily. Tens of thousands of developers worked for years to create this detailed system. How is an individual supposed to fully investigate this monster now? That’s like searching for a ring that fell into the ocean.”

“''Who set that limit?''”

“…”

“At the very least, it wasn’t Madam Professor who threw that ring in to leave behind a slight chance. The receiver has ignored her situation, given up on their own, and brought out some convenient numbers for a justification and validation that can fight the guilt. …I’m sick of that. I’ll end it all right here.”

Each side was 50 meters.

The area was far larger than a school gym and its size grew even larger when the great height was taken into account. Kyousuke directly faced the geometric patterns covering all six surfaces.

“Hand it over.”

“Hand what over?”

“I assume you have at least a moderate desire to look after yourself as a lady, so hand over your makeup tools. A hand mirror and some quick-drying manicure repair solution would be perfect.”

She clicked her tongue and tossed over a pouch.

He caught it and prepared a frightening device with just those ordinary products.

Those massive patterns were more than just lines. If someone understood the system behind them, they could read plenty of information just like passing a needle through the groove of a record.

When he viewed one of the walls through his makeshift filter glass, he found a deluge of messages. It was like having every page of an encyclopedia pasted on the wall. All the information he needed was there, but if he did not accurately focus in on what he needed, he would be swallowed up by the flood of information.

If he lost control, he would instantly lose sight of the answer.

The answer he had pulled out would likely never rise to the top of his mind again.

If he was simply searching randomly while focusing so intensely, it would likely take years. He doubted the souls of Himekawa Mika and the rest of the 353 vessels had that long.

But he had a hint.

Shiroyama Kyousuke knew Madam Professor.

He understood that devil-may-care developer named Shigara Masami.

What would she do?

Through what process would she have arrived at what truth, how would it have angered her, and what would she have added in? And what ''simple but hard to notice'' hiding place would she choose so the coldhearted developers would never find it yet it would appear like magic to anyone truly in need?

———…

It was only a thin, thin thread at first.

Not even Kyousuke knew if he should continue in that direction. He suspected it was the entrance to a labyrinthine forest that would send him running in circles forever.

———''If…

Even so, he grabbed for it.

He felt something solid in his hand and he relied on that slight sensation to continue further. He crossed the sea of countless words while desperately connecting one small and vanishing point to another.

If he let go even for an instant, it would all be over.

It was like desperately holding onto your lover’s hand while being tossed in the waves during a storm at night. If you let go, you could never find that hand again no matter how much you regretted it.

———''If you see Pandemonium activate before your eyes and your furious heart cannot forgive what has happened, then please make use of what I have left behind. I do not have the right to stop the damned project or to change its cursed use, but I still want to leave behind a chance to stop the tragedy that is sure to eventually occur.

The fingers of his mind traced along the line formed by the connected points.

Once he found that direction, he could see more and more points gathered around. Just like seeing the stars twinkling in the sky after sunset, he could not believe he had not noticed them sooner. He connected the countless points of light with further lines. The single unreliable thread joined the others to create a thick string and ultimately transformed into a sturdy rope.

———''Pandemonium’s permanent summoning of the Wicked Green Woman will, in a way, succeed, but the safety of the 353 vessels is not theoretically guaranteed. In the worst case, all of their souls will either rupture or their bodies will fuse together.

He slowly shifted the weight of his heart.

He checked on the strength of this lifeline. Inside the vortex of information that raged like the stormy sea, he confirmed it was safe enough to support something more important than his life.

It was fine. There was no more need to hesitate.

———''But there is a way to save them. In addition to summoning the Wicked Green Woman, Pandemonium supports 353 secondary summoning systems as camouflage. If the vessels’ bodies and souls are bound together and the correct souls are placed inside the twisted embryos, their regressed bodies will regain the proper experience points and may rapidly grow back into their original forms. How to do that is given here.

Shiroyama Kyousuke crossed the sea of information using that sturdy lifeline.

And on the far side, he found it.

A deep sea treasure had been placed there such that no one else would find it. That final glimmer of humanity had been secretly thrown into the otherwise coldhearted system.

———''I only hope that whoever is seeing this has the normal sensibilities to be enraged by what you have seen.

Kyousuke’s mind focused in on a single point.

He touched the core of it all.

———''And if so, ''please save'' the vessels who will have been caught in a future tragedy.

“…I found it,” quietly said Shiroyama Kyousuke.

Alice (with) Rabbit had heard it.

The student had reached Madam Professor’s domain.

“Ellie Slide!! Use memory and cognizance incense to read my thoughts and use corrosion incense on the six surfaces! Sever all the unnecessary lines in the geometric patterns and rewrite it the way I want!! Think of it like an insect’s…no, a reptile’s incomplete metamorphosis!!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!! That’s one ultra hard mode request after another. Those grooves are even thinner than the surface of a video disk and this Box is sturdy enough to survive an attack from the Lady of Purple Lightning. That’s just not possible!!”

“I’ll put together the theory. You read that with your incense too. Pandemonium redirects the power instead of using pure armor strength, just like how a magic circle is made to allow otherworldly power to flow through it. So if you focus on how you apply the power and guide it to collide head-on along the same line, you can naturally burn it out. It’s perfectly possible to do by human hands!”

“But!”

“You can do it! Aren’t you the amplifier that can strengthen any summoner!? Then do what I say and amplify Shiroyama Kyousuke’s power here!!”

The incense expert clicked her tongue and steeled her resolve.

She pulled a small bottle from the belt around her waist and swapped it out with one on the back of her axe.

She operated the flute-like keys and pulled the trigger.

A sweet smell spread.

The area filled with a sizzling sound like that of Chinese cooking. Parts of the dimly-lit Box flashed white as if from a blow torch. Each of those lights was accurately cutting a groove more than a fiftieth thinner than a hair. It was like a tadpole casting aside its gills and gaining lungs to breathe on land as a frog.

Anyone watching may not have been able to tell what was happening.

Had it succeeded or failed?

But there was one parameter even an amateur could perceive.

“…”

Kyousuke silently turned around.

The White Queen was still standing immaculately by his side and smiling.

But a moment later, the silver twintail girl burst from within and scattered in every direction as particles of light.

It was a sublime sight.

At first, the particles scattered wildly like a firework accidentally detonating before it was launched, but they belatedly gathered together and flowed in a certain direction. They passed through the wall and vanished toward the large room full of hundreds of transparent spheres. The many bound souls were being cut apart and returned to their original bodies.

Those masses of flesh had yet to regain their proper form.

Those souls had yet to find their proper place.

If they were brought back together through Pandemonium, the vessels could return to themselves. The original 353 people would recover.

They would regain their stolen experience points and the giant embryos would grow back to their proper ages.

Their bodies would return and their souls would settle in there.

That would save all of them.

Kyousuke only had to watch the process automatically play out.

He looked over to the person who had carried everything all this time.

Only the beautiful woman with a bluish-black ponytail and a tight skirt suit remained.

“This is a present,” added the incense expert. “I left only Himekawa Mika’s soul in that container. You wouldn’t want to lose the experience points she gained here, would you? Both for technical reasons and so she can bear the burden of her deeds, both good and bad.”

Himekawa Mika was entirely limp, so Kyousuke gently supported her.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“Uuh…ah…”

She could not believe what had happened to her.

She was Alice (with) Rabbit’s enemy.

She had lied to and deceived Alice (with) Rabbit.

She was a wicked woman who had given no one any reason to protect her.

She had given up on walking toward the future.

She had only held the mistaken hope of finding something she could leave behind.

And she had gotten so many others involved for that.

And yet…

And yet…

And yet…

As if to cut off all of those thoughts, Shiroyama Kyousuke spoke.

He did so without any hesitation.

“''The next step is prying open the thick doors and saving the 353 vessels trapped inside.''”

“Ahhhhh…!!!!!”

Nothing more was necessary.

Himekawa Mika wrapped her hands around Kyousuke’s shoulders and buried her face in his chest. The sobbing woman was not Madam Professor, but she was still a human being with a unique heart capable of shedding tears. She was not a disposable tool meant to reach something else, whether it be the Wicked Green Woman or the White Queen.

(Pandemonium…no, the central processing core’s Box shouldn’t be working now that the geometric patterns have been destroyed. But it would be a problem if they built a 2nd or 3rd one, so I should probably do a more thorough job of destroying it.)

Himekawa Mika was safe.

They had a path toward saving the 353 vessels.

They could destroy Pandemonium.

The White Queen was gone.

The situation could not have been more exceptional, but Shiroyama Kyousuke’s expression did not relax. At first, Himekawa Mika and Ellie Slide did not know why.

So it took them a moment to sense it.

…''Hee hee.

They heard a feminine laugh that should never have been there.

A pure white that rejected all darkness stood less than 20 meters from Shiroyama Kyousuke.

She had waist-length silver twintails and skin so white it seemed to glow. Her exceedingly luxurious clothes looked like a wedding dress cut down to size with silver armor added on. That clothing could transform into any weapon and yet her two slender arms were feared as the greatest weapon of all.

She was the strongest of the strongest.

She was the White Queen.

“What…?”

Himekawa Mika stared at her like she could not believe her eyes.

“But…! But if we were freed, there is no more vessel supporting the Queen…!”

The twintail girl did not respond. She simply waved her index finger back and forth.

This was an enjoyable bit of fun. You have my praise for that.

But if you speak up again, I will crush you as a hindrance to our date.

Kyousuke understood the meaning hidden in her gentle smile and bewitchingly glowing eyes, so he opened his mouth again.

“This is a counter summoning, isn’t it?”

“Yes, brother. The Pandemonium Project was developed to strengthen the Wicked Green Woman with its primary system while also summoning the White Queen to be defeated. Everything got all switched around, but if you focus back on the original purpose, this shouldn’t be confusing. …Simply put, ''Pandemonium was built to summon two Unexplored-classes at the same time.''”

Kyousuke and the others had destroyed one of those and the White Queen controlled the other.

They could not summon a strengthened Wicked Green Woman as was originally intended. And even if they could, Kyousuke would never allow it. He would not sacrifice Himekawa Mika and the other vessels again.

“Now, brother, you have saved the 353 who were supposedly beyond saving, but the task is not yet complete. It will take about 10 minutes for all of the souls to settle into their regressed bodies, recover their experience points, and grow back into their original forms. If any critical damage is done to this mass of Repliglass known as Pandemonium, to its arteries or veins, or to its heart reactor before that is complete, what do you think will happen?”

The transformation was like rewinding the footage of ice cream melting on hot asphalt, so would it simply stop?

Or would it all burst?

“…Do you really think I’ll let you?”

“Yes! That is exactly it!! I do not care what is good or evil, pleasant or unpleasant. I simply want to enjoy my date with you for as long as I can possibly enjoy my time with you! So if this will keep your focus on me for even a second longer, I am willing to play even the most reviled role!!”

He doubted he could defeat the White Queen even if he gathered every last weapon in the world and called in every last person on the planet. The only people here were Shiroyama Kyousuke, Himekawa Mika, Ellie Slide, and Max Layard. Even if one of them started the Summoning Ceremony beginning from Cost 1, they would never stand a chance against the already completed Queen.

They were woefully unprepared.

Shiroyama Kyousuke knew that, but he still grabbed his Blood-Sign.

“Hee hee.”

The girl laughed in delight.

She laughed innocently, as if she truly did not know anything else.

“Three attacks. Since you altered the structure of the Box, my summoning here is limited. You have already calculated it out too, haven’t you? If I use my full specs, three attacks is my limit. After that, I will disperse once more and our date will come to an end.”

Three attacks.

Only three attacks.

But that number would come to crush Kyousuke as a barrier more hopeless than the end of the world in any mythology. For one thing, the average Regulation-class or Divine-class would be too frightened to move when faced with this opponent. Something on that level would attack him thrice.

“Oh, dear. If even that is not enough of a handicap, just tell me what you need, brother.”

The White Queen sounded like she was joking and a portion of her dress transformed into a Japanese sword nearly 2 meters in length. She casually tossed it his way.

The blade rotated through the air and fell vertically down.

It split the floor in front of Kyousuke and remained standing.

“Do you remember the Attach Saint Project? That camouflage project summoned a Divine-class’s weapon instead of the Divine-class itself and they incorporate that into something manmade to wield the power of the gods without losing control. Hee hee. Come to think of it, you looked upset when you saw that, didn’t you?”

The White Queen clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled.

“The ‘White’ Queen who Wields the Sword of Unsullied Truth (iu – nu – fb – a – wuh – ei –kx – eu – pl – vjz). The sword mentioned there is actually my clothing…but that sword contains my own power instead of just a Divine-class’s. Since that is a part of me, it can harm me. This is the very strategy you used during the Guard of Honor business. How about it? I would very much enjoy a sword fight with you, brother.”

That weapon could kill the peak of the Unexplored-class.

Shiroyama Kyousuke could not have wanted anything more.

But his answer was clear.

“Hell no.”

“My.”

“Fighting you with the power you gave me? I’d just be dancing in your palm. From then on, I’d only be able to resist you within the rules you had set up! I won’t rely on something like that, Queen. I’m done with ''relying on the strongest because it’s easy''!!”

He had the courage to brush it aside with his own willpower.

He had the character to reject the extreme temptation of the simple term “strongest”.

He was rejecting the White Queen’s very existence, but she gently narrowed her eyes in a smile as if she found that unbearably adorable.

And Kyousuke did not bother with her any longer.

“Mika, lend me your strength.”

“That’s Mika''-san''. And I never imagined I would be on your side. I was prepared to forever part ways with you after deceiving you like that.”

“That doesn’t matter. I’m not letting her cheat us out of what we’ve accomplished here! I need your strength to defeat her. It’s just three attacks!! Only three!! Lend me the strength I need to overcome the end of the world three times!!”

Kyousuke was cut off by a shrill noise.

It came from the whistle hanging from Himekawa Mika’s neck.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s not how to say it.”

She finally – truly finally – wagged her index finger in her usual way.

With the sides of her navy blue tight skirt ripped and her stockings intentionally torn, that bluish-black ponytail beauty smiled.

And she spoke like a true member of Illegal.

Her voice was as clear as a small bell but also somehow fearsome.

“Say it, Kyousuke-kun. At times like this, you need to honestly shout ''help me''!!”

He was caught off guard.

He understood what she meant, but it still took him more than a moment to accept it.

After all, that boy was the sinner who had released the White Queen. During that Secret War, all of the truly powerful had been wiped out, Government, Illegal, and Freedom had thoroughly lost their way, a great many problems had scattered across the world, and thus half of the world’s problems were thanks to him. It was possible that had even indirectly led to the construction of Pandemonium.

So how did he have any right to use those words?

Could he really say them? Was he allowed to?

He clenched his teeth, bit his lip, and just about swallowed them on reflex.

“The scope of salvation is not determined by qualifications or conditions.”

A soft sensation reached the summoner’s head as he stood in that extreme position.

The woman by his side had gently placed her hand on it.

It was just like an adult comforting a child lost in a strange city.

“I believed that sacrificing the 353 souls was the best answer. You forgave and saved a sinner like me, so why would I reject your salvation?”

He had continually walked a hellish path much like walking barefoot across scorching coals.

He had spent so much time alongside the greatest evil.

Even as the cross on his back nearly crushed him, he had needed to become the strongest to prevent it from doing so.

As those days continued, he had eventually stopped hearing those words.

Himekawa Mika was not the Madam Professor from his memories, but just like that woman, she may have given him a goal he needed to pursue.

A metallic taste seeped from his bit lip.

He slowly removed his teeth which had become a tool of self-harm.

And…

The absolute summoner feared as Freedom Award 903, Alice (with) Rabbit, let out a pure voice just like when he had known nothing of another world.

Yes.

“                                   ”

Those few words were the trigger that burned down the world.

An Incense Grenade fell to his feet, his vessel partner nodded in satisfaction, and the two of them watched the White Queen smile as dark flames enveloped her.

The final battle was beginning.

The power known as the human heart would clash head-on with the strongest that lurked in another world.