Horizon:Volume 9B Chapter 62
Chapter 62: The Honnouji Weirdos[edit]
How
In the world
Did this happen?
Point Allocation (Positive Thinking!)
●
What am I supposed to do about this? worried Masazumi as she heard a quiet laugh from Nobunaga.
“I like your answer. Staying hidden to avoid influencing you was worth it after all. But…”
Nobunaga tilted her head before asking a question.
“I am impressed you knew the Genesis Project would be happening here at Honnouji. What kind of investigation did you run to figure that one out? Did you send in spies and such?”
…Wait, how did we figure it out?
Masazumi looked to the others, who tilted her heads and exchanged glances. The sign frame group joined in too.
Unturning: “Come to think of it, I don’t remember doing any real investigation of the site.”
Worshiper: “Judge. Thinking back, I’m not sure when we made that determination.”
Asama: “Oh, I think it was when I made a connection between the full moon and the lucky days.”
Vice President: “No, there was an earlier hint related to the ‘end it but not let it end’ thing.”
“Oh,” said Naomasa. The view on her sign frame showed she was on Musashino’s bridge.
Smoking Girl: “It was at Sanada. During our camp there, we were sharing our thoughts on the Apocalypse and I recall discussing the possibility while tending to the fire.”
Silver Wolf: “I remember that! Then we pulled my mother into the discussion, we ended up looking into P.A. Oda’s ley line and ether consumption trends, and we decided it had to be at Honnouji.”
Vice President: “And because that discussion was being relayed to other nations, most nations began equating Honnouji with the Genesis Project.”
“Then,” said Naito, raising her hand. “I’d rather not say this, but…”
“Yeah…” said the others, ready for what she was going to say. And say it she did.
“We didn’t do any official investigating or gather any definitive evidence, did we?”
●
Nobunaga couldn’t wait to find out how her friends from a decade ago had investigated this secret project and arrived here. She was eager to hear all about their struggles if they were willing to share. And…
“Sorry, but hear me out. Um, you want to know how we decided the Honnouji Incident was the Genesis Project and why we decided to show up here?”
“Testament. I would love to know.”
She subconsciously leaned forward in excitement. The Musashi Vice President raised her right hand and hung her head.
“I suppose you could call it group psychology or maybe it was speculation layered on speculation. If I had to describe it further, I guess we discussed the issue and thought that sounded like a reasonable answer. So it was all one big assumption. We had no actual evidence.”
It took a few seconds for that to sink in for Nobunaga. And after another few seconds of thought, she finally reacted.
“Eh?”
●
Gold Mar: “She gave us another ‘eh’.”
Wise Sister: “Heh heh heh. We attack another nation and barge in to face their leader! And why!? Because of a baseless assumption! Baseless! Tasteless! Graceless! Oh, dear. Does this make us idiots!? Well, only one way to save face now: declare war!”
Vice President: “No! No war! That would only deepen our shame!”
Art-Ga: “So is this that thing where a nation thinks another nation has illegal weapons of mass destruction and invades only to find there aren’t any?”
10ZO: “Except in our case they were actually there.”
Silver Wolf: “Does that even matter when we had no evidence?”
●
Masazumi heard laughter. Directed at them.
It felt more like Nobunaga was laughing at them than with them. And after looking up to check on the activity in the sky, she looked back down at them.
“You really haven’t changed.”
“I couldn’t say since I wasn’t with them in your time, but I agree they haven’t made much progress.”
“That goes for you too, Seijun!” added the idiot.
“Very well.” Nobunaga smiled and crossed her arms. “It is nearly time. Let us begin.”
“Can I ask one more thing?”
“What might that be?”
“Do we have another chance left?”
Nobunaga’s expression shifted. The smile slowly vanished as she stared intently at them.
“To be honest, this can no longer be stopped. Even if you do stop me, the Honnouji system will kick in to support the process. The Genesis Project was designed for instant activation and guaranteed completion.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
That brought the smile back to Nobunaga’s lips.
“How much of the process do you understand?”
“Well.” Masazumi nodded and corrected her posture. “Based on what you told us about the lecture weapons, it sounded like you only had to destroy the 2nd moon with your improved Logismoi Oplo. But I take it there’s more to it than that.”
“The 2nd moon only acts as a vessel for Destiny’s personality, which is a collection of ether. Destroying it will leave her with nowhere to escape, but it will not execute the personality. Our investigation says that will only allow it to dissipate.”
“In that case,” said Masazumi. “You will offer up a skull at Golgotha. That is, you will hold an execution here and offer that up to the moon. I don’t know how it will happen…”
But she did know one thing.
“But this project requires your death.”
So…
“To prevent destiny’s death and your death, Musashi will stop the Genesis Project in accordance with our usual policy. That is our final decision.”
“If so.” Nobunaga nodded. “Then just out of curiosity, I have one question. …Toori-sama.”
Nobunaga raised her gaze to view the idiot back behind Masazumi. Masazumi looked back to see the idiot with his hands in his pockets, but he didn’t just have Horizon with him. Asama, Mitotsudaira, and the Aoi Sister were all there.
They were in their battle formation to handle it if anything were to happen.
Nobunaga narrowed her eyes in a smile as she asked the idiot a question.
“Am I Horizon Ariadust?”
●
“No, you’re not.”
Nobunaga heard his immediate answer.
There was a fair amount of distance between them, but he was there in front of her. She felt bad for putting that troubled look on his face.
“Horizon’s right here. You’re an automaton who took great care of her old memories – which I’m really thankful for, by the way. But when you were watching us from inside Hashiba, you were separated from those memories, weren’t you?”
“Toori-dono, since when can you think so logically!?”
“Don’t be dumb. I function on way more complex logic than your ‘if busty blonde, then jump for joy’. My logic has me crawling along the floor if I even catch a glimpse!”
The “real” Horizon elbowed him in the side and he doubled over, but he recovered quickly.
“In that sense, you’re like Horizon’s old memories taking on a life of their own. But that can become a thing of the past and you can become your own person in no time. And if you’re having trouble there, we can take you around and show you all sorts of stuff. So come join us.”
This made her sigh. If anything, the sigh was filled with disappointment, but she also gained something far greater.
“I really am Nobunaga, aren’t I?”
That was a relief. She drew the sword at her hip and readied it.
“I am not afraid to die.”
She moved to pierce herself with the blade.
Looking up, she confirmed the pillar of light was just about reaching the 2nd moon. And sign frames appeared around her.
<Activation: authorized>
Three more sign frames appeared overhead: a sword, a mirror, and a jewel.
These had been developed in the Imperial Palace to control the environmental gods through the Emperor.
At this point, she had already snared her target. So…
“––––––”
If she died here, her death would reach Destiny.
●
Mitotsudaira sensed pride in how everyone instantly took action.
She ran, Futayo followed, and the rest used guns or spells to try and stop Nobunaga’s blade or hands.
But they were all stopped.
“Defense barriers!”
Lots of small, antipersonnel barriers opened all at once. They were ejected to catch Futayo on the legs and elsewhere, while they focused more on Excalibur than Mitotsudaira herself.
“That won’t stop us!”
Mitotsudaira yanked on the sword as she raced on. More defense barriers appeared, but…
…I’m still closing in!
They all moved forward while talking. It felt a lot like during training, but that was to ensure the time they spent preparing wouldn’t go to waste.
They found ways to approach without triggering the defense and security systems. And they prepared spells or weapons. They used their experience of being stopped from approaching Hashiba to successfully approach this time.
They spent time and did what it took to move in and stop Nobunaga. So…
Asama: “She is a vessel! Much like the Emperor, Nobunaga intends to act as a vessel for destiny’s personality! She understands emotions, but only in the statistical sense of an automaton because she was created for the Logismoi Oplo. A vessel that understands emotions but doesn’t actually have them is perfect for accepting destiny’s personality!”
So Mitotsudaira understood what was going to happen.
Silver Wolf: “Nobunaga is using the pillar of light to access the 2nd moon. And while linked with destiny’s personality, she simply has to kill herself!”
Destroying the moon with the Logismoi Oplo wasn’t necessary.
She herself was Olos Phtonos and a vessel. So to function as a judgment weapon, she only had to summon destiny’s personality into herself and kill herself as a form of lecture.
And if it had all been brought together…
“Here it comes!”
A great form emerged from behind Nobunaga. The white winged shape resembled a god of war.
It was 400m tall.
…Is this what the huge stage was for!?
It was made up of a right arm, a left arm, a torso, wings, and two legs. Each component was made from a key bone, such as a shoulder blade or ulna, and they were all ejected in a position that guarded Nobunaga where she stood directly below them.
They all fit together.
The white whole stood as if reaching up toward the light overhead.
And ether light dropped from the center of the pillar in the sky, as if reaching a hand down toward Nobunaga. So…
“Let’s do this!”
Mitotsudaira slipped past the defense barriers, slashing through them when necessary.
The ground had begun to tremor. The light above was definitely shining brighter.
Scarred: “Master Tenzou! The crust around the ley lines is being stripped away!”
Mitotsudaira could already see what was happening.
Nobunaga accessing the moon had caused a reaction in the earth. But…
“You will not reach me in time.”
As the light from heaven picked Nobunaga up to carry her away and she tried to pierce herself with her blade, everyone raised their voices as one.
“Now!”
“Eh?”
Nobunaga looked their way just as Horizon, being held up by Persona-kun, shouted.
“Horizon Memorial Attack!”
A right arm burst from the smoke still hanging over the stage and performed an alley-oop to send the memorial stone toward Nobunaga.
It scored a direct hit.
●
“Um…I’m not complaining exactly, but did we just hit an injured girl with a gravestone?”
“I-it stopped her, didn’t it!?”
“I must admit it felt truly wonderful to use the rest of you as a diversion so I could hit her after all that ‘you will never reach me in time, mwah ha ha’ taunting.”
●
Nobunaga stood up and realized she no longer held her blade.
The previous stone attack had been surprisingly effective. That was the first time anyone had done that to her. Not too surprising, I suppose.
The beam of light stretching down from the pillar had vanished. Furthermore…
“Oh…”
All of the boosted Logismoi Oplo that had been protecting her had vanished from behind and overhead.
The safeties had kicked in after her failed suicide. And…
“–––––”
A giant insha kotob was ejected overhead, but it shattered.
The being that had severed its link to the 2nd moon and started approaching her had instead fled in a hurry.
A massive amount of ether light fell around her like snow.
It had no heat and made quiet metallic sounds while she saw something.
<Genesis Project: Primary Process Failed: Access Denied: Shifting to Secondary Process: Confirmed>
The backup plan would begin now.
This wasn’t over yet. And they must have understood this. Because…
“Hold it!”
They hadn’t stopped their charge.
●
Asama read the sign frames that started appearing all around.
…Any major undertaking like this will have a few safeties in place to ensure it’s completed in some form even if something goes wrong!
Nobunaga’s suicide had been meant to directly trigger the beginning, but the right hand had stopped that. Good girl.
Nobunaga could not kill herself without her sword. She still had her link to the 2nd moon, but since she was the Logismoi Oplo, it likely mattered that her suicide happen while she was conscious.
…Because that delivers her intent to die into to destiny’s personality.
That had nearly worked. A light had definitely descended from above while that giant god-of-war-like thing stood below. That light must have been Nobunaga’s link with destiny.
But her suicide had failed.
Destiny’s personality must have fled in a hurry. The massive amount of ether light would be the lingering traces of destiny’s personality.
While attempting a slow death, she had nearly been killed by a lecture. Even if she did want death, she wouldn’t have wanted that.
So the backup had kicked in.
“This is worse than before.”
Naomasa, who was on Musahino’s bridge, was sending in an analysis of the surrounding sign frames.
“Honnouji is ascending along the pillar of light. The engine division speculates this is meant to carry Nobunaga up to the 2nd moon as a vessel after she is made to kill herself down here. Then once destiny’s personality has been called into Nobunaga, the Logismoi Oplo will activate and that will destroy both Nobunaga and the 2nd moon.”
Art-Ga: “Isn’t that a lot more destructive than their Plan A?”
Gold Mar: “Now that destiny has figured out what’s going on and run away, they have to hunt her down.”
Smoking Girl: “Probably so. So unlike the first attempt, destiny’s personality will be extracted into Nobunaga using a spell. While the first attempt would have been instantaneous, this will take time, but the Genesis Project will eventually activate.”
Laborer: “How much time do we have?”
Asama: ‘I think it’s related to the phases of the moon, so I don’t think it will happen right away. Even if she’s brought up there now, the 2nd moon has already passed by.”
Asama felt a great burden on her shoulders as she said the words.
…I don’t know how long I can actually delay it, but…
“Hurry, everyone! I’ll do what I can to interfere!”
●
Nobunaga sensed the situation moving on to the next phase.
No matter what happened, the Genesis Project would adapt and continue.
But the others were still rushing toward her.
Some, like Naito and Naruze, were firing toward her and they refused to stop even as they broke through the barriers opened by the defense system.
…If any of those hit me, they’ll kill me!
Had they gotten their means and ends confused?
“But it won’t work.”
She might fail to physically die, but her OS as P-01m would still induce death.
If she shut down her life support management, she would die.
She had several safeties like that. But…
“Wait!”
Mitotsudaira ran this way. So did the Musashi Vice Chancellor who Nobunaga didn’t know very well.
…Yes.
She understood. For the past 10 years, especially after their Horizon had joined them at the Battle of Mikawa, they must have been constantly saving people like they were attempting to do with her now.
Good.
He and she were running this way among the rest.
And she opened an insha kotob. It would let her shut down her OS’s life support management. But just as she was about to press the button…
“I won’t let you!”
She activated a Logismoi Oplo: Phos Kenodoxia.
That boosted defense power to the max, so…
“Asama-sama!”
On that instruction, Asama skillfully activated a small defense barrier between Nobunaga’s hand and her insha kotob.
She couldn’t press the button. And the absolute solidity of that barrier meant…
“She is the same as we used to be! So…I will protect her as if she were me!”
Those words brought tears to Nobunaga’s eyes. And then it happened.
He spoke too.
“Hey! It’s dangerous up there!”
So…
“Come here!”
●
That was enough for Nobunaga.
She understood. She had spent the past 10 years remembering the past. As Hashiba, she had gained her own companions, but she had also felt a need to follow the Testament.
She had believed that she had to die as Nobunaga. But…
“You mean…I don’t have to die?”
“Of course you don’t!!” he shouted. He was falling behind the others, but she could hear him clearly. “No one was born to die, idiot!”
“Yes.”
He was right. She believed that.
She hadn’t lived all this time just to die.
But then what had she lived for?
…For all of them.
She had heard Hashiba’s Ten Spears had finished at Shizugatake and were rushing here.
Were they all okay? Had they grown?
What had happened to Shibata and Oichi? She had nothing but thanks for Maeda, Sassa, and the other great upperclassmen who had helped her. Not to mention Matthias, Niwa, and so many more.
“Thank you so much.”
Something happened as she spoke the words. The insha kotobs around her suddenly distorted and vanished.
…External interference!?
Was someone accessing her OS?
“I will stop this!”
It was Asama and her. She had opened up her P-01s OS and Asama was using that to establish a divine transmission link with Nobunaga that she could use to hack in.
Incredible. How determined are they to stop me?
These people refused to allow death.
“Toori-sama.”
Nobunaga spoke to him as he arrived in front of the stage.
“My old memories end with you reaching out your hand to me,” she told him. “I was so happy then. You must have been so embarrassed, but just because you thought you had hurt my feelings, you chased after me. I could tell just how much you cared about me. So I say this because I care about you and do not want you caught up in this.”
She spoke directly to him.
“Stay away.”
He immediately yelled back at her.
“Shut up!”
He tried to climb into the stage but couldn’t quite make it.
“Um, hey, Nate? Little help? Yeah, yeah, gently, though, gently.”
After being gently lifted up, he roared at Nobunaga.
“I got over that remorse ages ago, you dumbass! And you’re not Horizon! If you don’t get that, then until you figure it out, you should, um, wait, um…you’re Nobunaga, so you’re doing the history recreation of your death, aren’t you? Crap, what do we do about that? …Oh, right. You can give up your inherited name.”
●
Art-Ga: “This has to be one of history’s worst attempts at persuasion.”
Gold Mar: “His brain must be out of breath.”
Me: “Heyyyyy! Be a little nicer when you insult me!”
Asama: “Um, Toori-kun? We really don’t have time for this.”
●
Nobunaga made up her mind. These people would do everything in their power to stop her from dying.
And she agreed that she had not been born to die.
Her old memories had brought her here.
…Thank you.
She had been worried that the last of those memories had been holding him back.
But it wasn’t. He could live on even when she had told him to stay away.
So now she had no regrets and no remorse. She was satisfied.
“Yes.”
She had made up her mind.
She had not been born to die.
She felt she had been born to protect these people.
She wanted to protect the people connected to her and all the people with the possibility of becoming so.
She wanted as many of her relationships to survive even if all the world’s relationships would eventually vanish.
Whatever might happen to the world, she alone held the one and only possibility of letting everyone survive.
And when Honnouji’s main system activated the process instead of her…
“–––––”
Her OS forcibly shut down her life support management system.
Nobunaga had stopped. And…
<Obstacle elimination: forced transfer: execute: confirmed>
Everyone around her suddenly disappeared.
●
Mary sensed wind. She felt something like a sudden heat.
…Oh.
She looked back just as the others were ejected from empty air.
“A spatial transfer!?”
They had been forcibly removed from the center of Honnouji.
Honnouji would now use the rising pillar of light to reach the 2nd moon. And so it had transferred them away to eliminate all unnecessary risk.
…That was a ley line transfer. That shows just how close we are to the ley lines here.
Some managed to land on their feet and others didn’t, but…
“Kh!”
They all tried to get back through Honnouji’s main entrance again. However…
“Watch out!” shouted Mary as she and all the others were blasted outwards.
Something massive left the ground at the center of Honnouji. The accompanying blast slammed everything outwards.
…Was that…?
The center of Honnouji had begun to ascend. That was all.
●
This destruction had been prepared in advance.
Honnouji’s structure – which had a diameter of 2km – along with the 8 ley line reactors and the underground portion, was pulled up toward the sky.
Honnouji didn’t have any kind of propulsion of its own. The pillar of ether light created to link with the moon had supplied the large structure this ascending force.
The central domed hall and the 8 ley line reactors below rose into the night sky all at once.
Partway up, the surface dome began to self-destruct in order to reduce the weight needing to ascend. And as it left the ley lines, the reactors lost their ether supply and began to weaken. Once they ceased to function altogether, they too were discarded.
With the supply and output of power gone, the pillar of light also disappeared.
Just as that happened, Honnouji cast off its crust portion and excess, leaving behind only the frame and the center.
As the remnants of the dome scattered in the high-elevation winds, several insha kotobs formed rows in the space surrounding the center.
The rows of spells rotated like orbit lines and provided support in place of the ether pillar, stabilizing the whole.
The Musashi fired on it from below, but it simply defended against the attack.
<Ascending course: attitude control: established: execute>
It rapidly grew more distant as it rose.
On the surface, it could be seen as far away as Oushuu and Kyushu, so effectively every force in the Far East realized two things.
First, the Honnouji Incident was complete and Nobunaga was dead.
Second…
“So it came down to Plan B! This delays the Genesis Project, but it also guarantees it. Sounds like high damage, high return to me!” shouted Takenaka aboard the Azuchi.
She knew the Genesis Project could no longer be stopped.
“But I know some people out there will try to stop it anyway. If we have the strength leftover, we should go on the attack! Ending this now can only help us. …We can see the Musashi out ahead! All hands, get to your battle stations!”
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