Editing City Series:Volume6d Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

A battle was underway.

Elrich muttered to himself while hearing clashing swords and a great beast’s roars.

“Why was the Messiah recreated? Has the castle’s device gone even more haywire?”

“That I can’t say. But if this was done intentionally, I can only imagine it was Bermark’s doing. Opening the underground passageway is always his job.”

“Are you saying we weren’t closed in here just to lock us away? If this was on our commander’s orders, then could this be something she wanted us to see while also preventing us from digging into any further secrets?”

“She may be testing us. If we want to learn the secrets related to the Messiah, we must first fight alongside the Messiah.”

They heard more sword fighting and Elrich changed the subject.

“Do you remember what the Unreif Germane says? When the Messiah descended to Alfheim along with the one-armed young man, she encountered a dragon and slayed it with the help of two Neue Kavaliers who came running to her aid.”

“I get what you mean. And take a look at the Messiah’s sword.”

Elrich did so. He recognized the sword the Messiah was wielding up on the hill.

“Rein König!?”

The Messiah gave a shout.

The white sword she held amplified the note and converted it into an impact of pure white light.

That was Busting. The destructive impact gave a roar as it crashed into the dragon’s right shoulder.

The dragon roared as well.

“But our Messiah is a Stimmer, isn’t she?” said Elrich.

“The past records of the Messiah say she was a Buster. It’s a question of regeneration or destruction, I suppose. Which is a big difference.” Witzmann scratched his head. “I doubt I can slay a dragon with the Messiah at my age, but I might as well give it a try.”

Witzmann kept his eyes on the hill where the Messiah and the dragon fought while he pulled a notepad and a fountain pen from his pocket.

He suddenly walked forward as if drawn toward the battle.

He kept walking while drawing a complex emblem in the notepad. He rapidly drew out several emblems, tearing out and throwing away the page each time he finished one.

The discarded pages gathered in midair and linked together when they made contact.

Around a dozen pages were attached by their top and bottom edges, creating something like a long, thin sash.

But that sash was still as light as paper, so it flew through the forest air.

A moment later, he reached his left hand behind him and grabbed the end of the paper strip. He pressed his thumb against the emblem at the very end of the strip and the entire thing stretched straight out into a solid sheet.

“Hm. It might curl too much to the upper right.”

When he swung the long sheet of paper, it easily sliced through the leaves and branches in its path.

It was a sword.

It had all happened in an instant. He spun the paper sword around and held it out in front of him. Then he used the pen in his right hand to add more writing to the surface of the paper sword. He had a smile on his lips.

Elrich jogged to catch up with him.

“I see you aren’t rusty at all. I’m less confident in your stamina, though.”

“I’m two years younger than you.”

“You should listen to any warnings your elders give you.”

Elrich pulled a single earphone out of his lab coat’s inner pocket, inserted it in his ear, and stuck the cord inside his lab coat. After doing something with his hands inside his coat, music began playing from the earphone.

“You got that working?” asked Witzmann, still drawing emblems on the paper sword.

“Japan beat me to the punch. It’s a personal Erklärung weapon that uses a different process than the Eingeweide. The Japanese call it a Rhythm. It’s apparently an ancient technology over there, but I’ve never liked how it feels. I’ve remade this one a bit, but I’m still not a fan.”

Elrich began to sing his Text.

''Righteousness is worthless / Wickedness is worthless

''Truth is worthless / Lies are worthless

:''But if you enjoy them

:''You can consume the world four times as quickly

<Elrich – Crusher High Rhythm – Take – Wide Range Activation – Hit.>

He rolled up his lab coat’s sleeves and emitted a vibration from the palms of his spread hands. A 2yd diameter area around his palms shook like shimmering heat, producing sounds like tearing flesh.

“I have to admit it’s pretty nice for something thought up by Asians.”

“It lacks originality,” said Witzmann, piercing his paper sword with the tip of his pen.

Bluish-white flames erupted from the gaps between the pieces of paper forming the sword.

The different flames linked together and burned the air without burning the paper.

Swinging the sword drew out a scarlet afterimage and all the leafy branches touched by the fiery arc were reduced to ashes.

“Pretty well-made, don’t you think?”

“Pretty cliché, you mean. I think you’re the one that needs more originality.”

Elrich smiled a little and Witzmann looked back to smile as well.

The forest ended directly ahead of them and two people were fighting an intense battle against a dragon up on the hill.

The one-armed young man used his sword to battle the dragon’s claws. The Messiah girl used her Rein König to battle its fangs.

Metal clashed, dragon wings whipped up the wind, the great beast’s feet crashed against the ground, and its maw roared.

Sounds and movements intersected while the two old men viewed the Messiah.

“Her face.”

She had a unique trait. One they recognized from someone else.

They were focused on her eye color.

“Her eyes are the same color as Hazel Mirildorf’s!”

“Nothing can surprise me at this point!” shouted Elrich, running forward with his hands carrying a rhythm of crushing.

The short old man in a lab coat burst from the forest with his white coat flapping behind him.

Witzmann also raced forward with a fiery afterimage in his hands. He leaned forward and let the sword tip graze the ground as he ran.

The sword tip’s radiant heat drew out a scorched trail along the hill’s green grass.

He accelerated, whipping up the wind in his pursuit of the lab coat leading the way.

They never slowed their pace.

They ran toward the dragon they were both staring at. And toward the one-armed young man and the Messiah.

The Messiah swung Rein König. She raised her voice and a white light shot out.

She appeared oblivious to the old men’s presence as she fought.

Elrich held his fists at the ready and Witzmann bent over to swing his sword up from below.

That was when the Messiah held her sword aloft and called the name of a certain wind.

At the same time, something appeared from beyond the hill and carried the wind into the sky above.

It was blue and had a 30yd knife-like silhouette.

Elrich and Witzmann noted that silhouette as they approached the dragon.

“So everything is the same. Except that this Messiah is a Buster?”

“The past Messiah had the power to destroy and the present Messiah has the power to regenerate.” Elrich smiled with just his lips when he said “destroy”. “Why did our commander give another country data on something as destructive as the Wort Bombe? Why doesn’t the current Messiah have the power to destroy? I feel like those two questions are connected.”

They ran.

They ran in from behind the Messiah, Elrich on the left and Witzmann on the right.

“!?”

Surprise and a hint of joy appeared on the Messiah’s face as they passed by her and made their first strikes against the dragon as it prepared to slash with its claws.

Their heat and crushing were joined by a line of wind flying in from the sky.