Hidan no Aria:Volume9 Chapter1

Status: Incomplete

2% completed (estimated)

   

1st Ammo: Spark Witch -Dracula Hilda-

"--Watson!"

Turbulent hot wind blew my hair into a mess, as I yelled over the sound of cackling electricity.

Feeling the searing light fade away, I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision.

"......."

Having been struck by the lightning orb from above, Watson was sprawled on the floor of the First Observation Deck.

I rushed over immediately, and saw that the black bulletproof jacket she was wearing was now spread open like a towel, the hood of her cloak covered her head, giving the appearance of a turtle which had retreated into its shell.

"Are you all right.. Watson!"

"... I.. I'm.. not. Ever since the encounter with that Demoness Hilda, I have always.. planned to strengthen the electrical protection of my gear... However, my apologies Tohyama.. I need.. to rest for a while..."

Talking up till this point, Watson stopped moving.

How did things come to this.

I had pursued Watson, who had taken Aria with him and fled to the Sky Tree -- finally engaging him in a life & death duel for 23 minutes.

Known as a superb first class fighter, his... no, her fighting skills were extraordinary. Even with my fighting capabilities 1.7 times stronger than that of HSS Normale while I was in HSS Berserker mode, I was subjected to a very tough battle.

And despite her strength, even Watson--

In a single strike, lost consciousness in just 5 seconds.

Unheard of and never seen before. A spherical lightning orb with a diameter of less than 2 meters... That was the appearance of the object that had hit her from above.

It wouldn't be wrong to assume that this was an attack from Hilda.

After all, the Bat-girl from Grenada had ambushed us half a month ago using high tension electricity.

Only this time the attack is much more powerful--

(If there was another shot now.....!)

This is not good.

Our movements are now thoroughly exposed to higher ground--the Second Observation Deck which has been taken over by Hilda.

As the First Observation Deck we were on was still in its construction phase, other than steel beams, there was no ceiling to act as cover.

(I need to hide Watson for now....)

Carrying the unconscious Watson, I prepared to fall back from the area for now.

However, whether due to an outage in the electricity supply or other reasons... The lift did not respond when I pressed the call button.

Left with no choice, I could only take the staircase used for construction work to make my way down. Encountering a door on the way down, I kicked it open.

Behind the door was a room full of water pipes that were stored messily.

--Even though the space is very small, but at least it should be safe.

After putting Watson down, I flipped open my phone to use it as a light source.

".......?"

There was something strange on the screen of the phone.

Black words on a white background displaying: "Error Code 961 Signal Interference".

Even pressing the call button resulted in a 'Please Hold' tone from the phone, there was no way to make any calls. Sending messages was out of the question as well.

"Hey, Watson, pull yourself together."

Ignoring the situation, and using the phone screen as a source of light, I shook Watson who was seated and leaning against the wall---and she slowly regained consciousness.

"..... Tohyama... Where.. Where is this place...?"

"Relax, we are below the First Observation Deck. Around us are concrete walls."

"Than... Thanks... Aria... Aria is on the Second Observation Deck, Hilda is there as well... Since I brought Aria here... I must bear the responsibility. So please, as someone who also cares about Aria... Please...! Help her... save Aria.....!"

"--Don't worry, my intention has always been to bring Aria back with me. The opponent has simply changed from you to Hilda, that's all."

Upon hearing my words, relief showed in Watson's eyes--

Then, using both of her trembling hands, she handed me her sword.

"This, this Holy Cross Sword, I'll pass it to you... use it well. You've seen it before, Hilda... loathes this."

Looking at Watson who was straining just to speak, I furrowed my eyebrows.

This sword... It's not the first time I've seen it right?

Even though is seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember when it made an impression on me.

"Is that so? You can't remember? When Hilda... Tohyama, remember the battle on Sotobori Dori [1]?"

"Ahhh... that time you appeared and chased Hilda away, I remember now."

"..... That's correct, however, I was actually putting on an act then--so as deceive everyone... Tohyama, just take the sword, conventional weapons have no effect on Hilda."

Of course--Hilda is the daughter of Vlad, and is a monster that possesses unlimited regenerative abilities.

Even though I am not proficient in the use of weapons able to deal with the supernatural, now isn't the time to nit-pick on such matters.

I took the silver sword, and Watson took out a concealed Saxon hunting knife, passing it to me as well.

The Holy Cross Sword was very long, and the blade will slightly show under my jacket..... better to conceal it under my clothes. With the strap as a support, the sword won't drop off.

Looking on as I accepted both items, Watson again passed me a small compressed-air type injector.

"Nebula... a stimulant to the central nervous system. Under normal conditions it can increase concentration when injected into the body, and is a much stronger steroid compared to Latzo when one is losing consciousness. There's still one dose left."

"Why don't you use it? My body is quite resistant to drugs. The paralysis drug you used on my eye previously--it wasn't very effective."

"This.. Having this readily available will just be somewhat reassuring,"

Watson shook her head, and looked up towards the ceiling.

"Hilda... is a 'Spark Witch'. She is able to manipulate electricity, because of the genes from the African Knifefish.... it's a type of electric fish. This has given her body cells the ability to store electricity--which is also the biological ability to use electricity generated by the body. What's worse, is that she also possesses a supernatural ability which can be used in combination....."

So in short it's a high level combination of a freak and an ability user?

This is just downright unfortunate.

"Her witchcraft---or ability, is being able to manipulate atoms using electricity. Simply put, to convert surrounding material into atoms, and attract or repel the atoms from there. Although this requires a vast amount of concentration, the effective radius is very small, and the rate of success is low, however... if combined with the ability to generate electricity, a positively charged lightning orb can be created..... Or she can dissolve the ground beneath her feet, and move herself around like a shadow."

Truth be told I don't know if the explanation is truly accurate...

Hilda may look as if she is able to move as a shadow, but in reality it was not an actual shadow, it's more like dissolving herself into a pool of muddy water. I expressed my own views to Watson.

"Hilda is a very intelligent woman, I believe she will not rely solely on these ability. She has the art of suggestion--an ancient form of hypnotism. This will render others to listen to your instructions, while forgetting everything else, it's pretty useful. This may be the reason why you do not remember much of the incident at Sotobori Dori."

"Vampire, super powers and hypnotism. What a triple whammy, it's a goddamn Grand Slam [2]."