Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Final Chapter (section)

===Part 7===

A mirror world.

A thin layer of water stuck to the surface of salt which spread out endlessly, making the great salt lake into a gigantic mirror of the world.

“……Amazing. Everyone’s faces are reflected on the ground.”

Kagura sighed while staring directly down. It must have been fairly curious as she had removed the machine helmet she had been wearing and looked around at the surroundings.

“It’s like the ground is a mirror. A mirror with enough clarity to see every strand of hair.”

“Even if it is a great salt lake, it seems it’s limited to after rainfall.”

Splash.

With the sound of a puddle of water splashing underfoot, Sheltis turned towards Kagura who was beside him.

“……The problem is that it’s just a little too bright.”

The ground underfoot was a mirror. Because the sunlight was reflected as-is, the reflected light was also strong. If they stayed in that place for a long time, it might hurt their eyes.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, I have a good idea. Sunglasses!”

“No. It doesn’t seem like they’d suit me.”

He responded bluntly to {{furigana|Machine crystal|Ilis}} who was swaying at his chest and looked at the members walking ahead of him again.

Walking at the front was Horn with machine pistols in both hands. On her back was a long-range sniping rifle and reserve revolving machine pistols could be seen at her waist holsters.

A little bit away from her was Monica gripping her crossed rods <Rosario> and Vaiel with his iron fist protectors <Knuckle Dusters> equipped. Kagura followed behind them with Sheltis walking more-or-less beside her.

“……It’s a little bit of an odd order in a certain way.”

A gunner coming up to the front went against the basics of formations but as this was concerning the Sennenshi, Horn Nova, this didn’t apply. She was a generalist that excelled in anything from long-range sniping to hand-to-hand combat. Her combat skills were high enough that she had been attributed as such.

And just before that.

“You are a curious individual.”

“Eh?”

She said it with a sigh.

Horn, who had been silent to this point, suddenly murmured with her gaze still fixed ahead.

“You seem to have been quite close with Scheele.”

“……Yeah. We were both apprentice Priestesses so she’s two years my junior.”

Monica nodded, knowing the line was directed at her.

“I had heard from ane-ue that apprentice Priestesses did not form friendships amongst themselves.”

“It is as Viola-sama said. It is well-known. In comparison with the handful of Priestess positions, there are ten times to a hundred times that number in apprentice Priestesses. The fact of the matter is that they are all competing against each other.”

Monica faced the back of the Sennenshi walking ahead and continued.

“Scheele and I are the same. I’m a busybody so I would look after my juniors’ troubles but that was an even more detested act. For Scheele as well, putting aside what it looked like on the surface, there would have been times she would be troubled by being in my care. Looking from her viewpoint, it would be like being pitied by an enemy.” [T/N: The original literally means “being sent salt by an enemy”. It’s when you assist your enemy when they’re suffering.]

“And in the middle of that, Scheele grew attached to you?”

“That’s……because I quit as an apprentice Priestess, I think.”

She spun together words plainly and without any personal feelings.

“Not being opponents has removed the fence in our hearts. We couldn’t do it as apprentice Priestesses but with the pros and cons relationship gone, Scheele can connect with me honestly.”

“That’s a pleasant irony.”

Horn who was walking ahead laughed.

“There’s no difference between Guards and apprentice Priestesses. The Elite Guards are also like that. They’re under the command of the Sennenshi but every single one of them is an ambitious person looking to get you while you’re not looking. ……Though they would be unreliable as subordinates if they weren’t at least that ambitious. It’s quite a dilemma.” [T/N: “get you while you’re not looking” is literally written as “cut your head off while you sleep”. That old assassination one.]

“……But competition like that is everywhere. If not for that, the quality of the Priestesses and Sennenshi could not be assured, so it is necessary.”

“Then those in your unit are also opponents for you.”

“…………”

Monica went silent at the Sennenshi’s words.

After a little while.

“……It is my goal to become a Sennenshi with all of my teammates.”

“So you’re putting up a front.”

The resolute girl’s voice and Horn’s half-surprised mutter were transmitted in that place.

“Cooperation, teamwork, collaboration. I’ve heard it put many ways but all the way until I became a Sennenshi, I have never experienced the meaning of those words. Apprentice Priestesses and Guards are cut from the same cloth. The bunch at {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}} are all dead set on defeating their rivals.”

“Pardon me, but what of Viola-sama? She also has a history as a member of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}.”

“Ane-ue is not in the category of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}. She is a family member of the orphanage, the same as me.”

Saying that, Horn kicked rock salt under her.

“Children without parents and children without friends. ……The children at the orphanage gathered from that and continue to cooperate and live on. Those children are much better than the bunch at the tower. ……Though for thinking like that, that Priestess branded me a ‘weakling‘.”

Crunch.

While watching the rock salt split under her feet, she continued on.

“I don’t place faith in the bunch at the tower and only treat the orphanage family specially. That Priestess doesn’t seem to be able to tolerate that. If that makes me a weakling, then that should make her a weakling Priestess for asserting she can purify mateki when she can’t.”

“…………”

……Wrong.

Whispering that within his heart, Sheltis clenched his fists without anyone’s notice───

“It looks like you want to say something?”

Immediately afterwards, Horn turned to him with a tone mixed with cynicism.

“It was the same a few days ago but I’ll at least praise your courage in not showing cowardice while facing me.”

The piercing gaze that was felt even if one did not wish to was turned towards the end of the formation.

“……You’re referring to me?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you glaring at me so openly? You look like you want to say something, so if you have a rebuttal then say it.”

A smile with provocation and inquisitiveness mixed in spread on her face seen from the side.

“What I……want to say most is”

Coming to a stop there, Sheltis forced out the voice he’d kept within his throat.

“that she is not a weakling.” [T/N: With this, it’s decided that I won’t be separating any sentences that are split like this into two. I might still do it for less obvious ones though.]

The land of shining salt.

The quiet and coldly transmitted sound waves.

“The Priestess named Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is……very strong. Stronger than you or me, I believe that she carries stronger feelings than anyone.”

“Your basis for that is?”

“The Priestesses’ purification room.”

It should have been conveyed to Horn the Sennenshi with those words.

“There’s no way you don’t know of the Priestesses’ purification room. As you requested the purification of a child named Tessha, you must have also entered Ymy’s purification room once.”

The fastening belts meant to restrain a patient who was thrashing out of control.

The blood stains left behind by Guards who had set into necrosis after being infected with a great deal of mateki were still vivid. Surely they had been unable to wipe it off no matter how hard they tried. In that ghastly place where blood had been spilled to that extent, Ymy fought with mateki alone.

She resisted the unease and loneliness to her utmost, alone.

“How much of a heavy pressure do you think it is for a girl of not even seventeen years to be called the ‘Priestess of Baptism‘ and have expectations of her from those of {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}}? The Priestesses are relied on by the Guards and those in the Living Districts to be able to purify any mateki……she was persuaded that she is the last hope and that cornered her into extending the Priestess training which should normally not be lengthened.”

“──────”

“That’s not just for the child named Tessha. It’s not related to the Guards or the civilians in the Living Districts either; the Priestesses work hard for all those living upon {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}}. They absolutely will not slight others for reasons like they can’t trust them or that they’re useless.”

“……Let’s suppose that’s true.”

Slowly, Horn looked ahead and started walking again.

“Are you not denying that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses of the tower do not view the others as their comrades?”

“On that point as well, my view is different from yours.”

“How is it different?”

“It might be like Monica said earlier, that people cannot open their hearts to each other because of competition. But do you think they do that because they want to?”

It’s not just Ymy and Monica. The apprentice Priestess, Scheele, from just now was also a good example. They didn’t actually like that thorny relationship.

“If they don’t like it, it’s fine if they quit. It’s a simple matter.”

 

“──They can’t quit!”

 

Before he himself realized it, he had put strength into those words.

“……Despite undergoing harsh training and being unable to form friendships with those around, apprentice Priestesses still aim for something they want to achieve beyond those painful memories. I can’t understand what it is that you can’t accept about those from the tower who do their best.”

“──”

“You patrol the dangerous Biotope by your own will and continue to search for the Yuugenshu……honestly, you’re amazing. But Ymy is the same. While almost being crushed by the surrounding pressure, she does her best for the sake of those suffering from mateki. ……Even so…………why is someone like you who is doing her best to save a treasured child unable to acknowledge a Priestess who wishes to protect those important to her in the same way!”

Silence.

A nervous silence filled the land of salt which shined silver.

“That was quite the outstanding speech.”

With slow footsteps, the blinder-wearing Sennenshi turned to him again.

“And you’re a Cadet Guard? What are you preaching to me? Do you want to call me a weakling as well?”

“…………”

Horn’s tone was plainly provocative. Her gaze was sharp enough that it was clearly conveyed even through the blinder.

“──A waste of time.”

But.

Contrary to expectations, the one who looked away first was her.

…………That’s unexpected.

……So she won’t deny it.

Looking at her back from the end of the line, Sheltis narrowed his eyes slightly. Despite her biting response, she had the same reaction as the time with Ymy.

 

“But that’s wrong: you’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

“……And if so?”

 

Judging from Horn’s personality, there was no way that Ymy’s words would not have wounded her pride. At that time, Sheltis had been prepared for Horn to be enraged. However, Horn’s response had been sharp but she had not denied Ymy’s words in the end.

……It’s not that she didn’t deny them but that she couldn’t?

……Maybe Horn actually acknowledges Ymy at the bottom of her heart?

She knew of Ymy’s efforts as a Priestess and that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses serving as her subordinates were helping her.

However, Horn did not acknowledge those yet.

──Because she wants to save the child named Tessha.

Not a single Priestess could save the child who was part of the orphanage family. She couldn’t acknowledge {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}} which placed those Priestesses at the top and there was no way she could acknowledge the subordinates of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}.

……Even though, in actuality, they are two people who should be able to understand each other the most.

……Even though Ymy and Horn should be the two who most wish to save those afflicted with mateki.

“──”

However. No matter how much Sheltis stared at her, Horn’s wordless back was firm and her mind isolated from the outside.

“Yoo, by the way, how long are we gonna keep walking?”

Vaiel who had kept his mouth shut suddenly turned to Kagura.

“Wasn’t it said just a little while ago? Until we reach the center of the great salt lake.”

The girl pointed at the digital map displayed on the {{furigana|Machine pearl|Machina}}.

“If we corner it up to there, the Yuugenshu won’t have a place to escape to. From the center for a radius of two kilometers, the Regular Guard unit has formed an enclosure.”

“They’re being really strict on the preparations.”

Vaiel kicked the rock salt at his feet and sent it flying. Looking at that from behind, Kagura turned to him and called out.

“By the way, I would like to ask you something. A little while ago, you said the great salt lake was ‘not very appealing‘.”

“Ah? Did I say something like that?”

“You can’t play dumb because the recording has been saved on this {{furigana|Machine pearl|Machina}}.”

“……Damn it. So what do you want to ask?”

Being told that it was no use trying to fool her, Vaiel shrugged.

“This place is beautiful and unusual. However, the first thing you said was that it’s ‘not appealing‘; what do you mean? I remember something out of place.”

“Ah, I would also like to ask. Though I thought I’d ask afterwards.”

“……I can’t hear anything.”

The person in question turned his face away while keeping his arms crossed.

“Did I say that too fast? Then I’ll repeat it.”

“Not that, you idiot, I meant that it’s bothering me how quiet it is.”

Plop……He forcefully lifted his shoe which was submerged in water to the ankle.

“Look, there’s this much water. It’s enough to call it a salt lake so it must be a lake to begin with. Even so, there’s nothing here. Not a single fish is swimming in the water and there’s not a single bird flying in the sky if you look up. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“There’s just this much salt, you knooow. It would be hard for a living creature to survive.”

“I get that but somehow, I’m not used to it. It’s too quiet.”

Vaiel had his brows knitted as he tried to start walking again, but just before that, Kagura suddenly pulled on his sleeve.

“Whoa, what?”

“……Ah. No, you said it was ‘too quiet‘……but wasn’t there the cry of a cat just now?”

“A cat?”

“Yes. It was a cute cry that went ‘nya─o‘.”

She touched the sides of her ears that were poking out. Because the Nell folk lived in a snowy region of the {{furigana|floating archipelago|Lagoon}}, they developed the hearing necessary to hear others in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Did you hear it, Sheltis?”

“No, but what about you Ilis?”

“I am the same. I’m not good at perceiving sounds. I’m this small crystal so my sound collection devices have a limit.”

……If Kagura said so, then I’d like to believe that it’s true.

……In that case, is the sky suspicious?

Without relaxing his wariness of the ground, Sheltis tilted his neck a little and looked overhead.

“There shouldn’t be any cats around this place so isn’t it just a bird like a seagull? That bird that goes nya─ nya─ for its cry. I’m pretty sure they lived around river mouths or tideland.”

“I wonder. ……I’m not sure because time has passed but, at any rate, it was a cat-like voice.”

Following him, Kagura and then Vaiel looked up at the sky.

“……Is it that?”

Monica suddenly pointed at a spot on the salt land.

A small black shadow. It wasn’t a shadow but a black body. Four thin legs and a roundish tail. Long and narrow pupils that shined golden.

 

“Nyaao……”

 

Its cute mew was like that of any black cat in the Living Districts.

“It appears to still be a kitten. Its gait is also premature.”

“It got lost all the way out here? Sheesh, the parents are probably looking for it.”

Monica and Kagura naturally leaked their feelings out at that appearance.

However.

Sheltis widened his eyes and glared at the black cat which had come right before their eyes.

……I was on guard.

……Just when and how did it manage to get this close?

The entire surface of the great salt lake shined silver. If there was something like a black cat in this world of just white, then he definitely should have noticed. Not just him, Horn Nova should have perceived it, of course.

“Nyaao……”

“Poor thing. I wonder if walking around has made it weak?”

The kitten tried to draw closer to Monica’s legs──

“Monica, get away from that!”

Everything was simultaneous.

Sheltis jumping out in front of Monica and.

 

“That’s supposed to be camouflage?”

 

Horn’s bullet piercing the kitten’s body.

“……!”

“Silence.”

The Sennenshi interrupted Monica who raised her voice reflexively.

“Take a good look. If you look at it, does it still appear to be a kitten?”

Fshhh ── though it was supposed to have received a fatal wound, ‘something‘ stood up without injury.

The eyes that should have been golden had turned into a reddish crimson at some point. Its body which should have been the size of a kitten was also expanding at an unpleasant rate.

“Unfortunately, my eyes are special; isn’t it unfortunate that you didn’t get in a surprise attack?”

Tap. Touching the side of her blinder with the gun barrel, Horn’s lips drew out a dangerous smile.

“……Viola-sama’s ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘?”

“As expected, a former apprentice Priestess would know. My eyes are the same as my older sister’s, with shinryoku to see the future ── I clearly saw the future in which that attacked you. What a cheap act.”

Confirming the world of the future a few seconds ahead, foreseeing the opponent’s movements and firing. One of the reasons that Horn Nova reigned at the summit of the gunners on the floating continent was this.

“Hereditary territory type shinryoku art. Syun-rei who’s also a Priestess possesses the power to ‘see the shape of others’ shinryoku‘ but my sister and I……well, ours is like a degraded version.”
[[image:Eden06_247.jpg|thumb]]

Muttering almost to herself, Horn once again pointed her guns forwards.

“Now then, we’ve finally met. You’re the S vector, eighth class, right?”

What the Sennenshi declared that to could no longer possibly be called a kitten.

──Yuugenshu.

Its crimson eyes were filled with a clear hostility and its large body which was wrapped in a dark purple mist continued to swell. Its legs were originally four but they each split at the tip and became eight. Its roundish tail also distorted into an oval and wriggled almost like a snake.

“Sheltis, it’s that time’s……”

“I thought the same thing.”

It resembled the Yuugenshu they had found in the underground room when they accompanied Leon to the {{furigana|floating archipelago|Lagoon}}. It had been sleeping within a water tank at first but that Yuugenshu had also become gigantic the instant it left the water tank.

……It’s really like it just came out of slumber and grew up.

In actuality, the Yuugenshu from that time was called the ‘Sleeping Child‘. And this ‘S vector, eighth class‘ also used mateki to assault its opponent and put them into a coma.

“Does it not resemble it?”

“…………”

Sheltis chose to remain silent in response to Monica’s question.

The image that formed a common point between the two Yuugenshu ── ‘sleep‘ and ‘awakening‘. Was that a secret connected to the truth of the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}>?

“That’s enough talk.”

Horn’s voice flatly interrupted.

“Except for Monica, move away from me and spread out. This guy’s mateki is troublesome.”

A Yuugenshu which commanded mateki which even a Priestess could not heal.

……Other than me, if someone is bathed in it, they should sustain great damage regardless of the presence of formal wear.

A pincer attack with him moving in for close-range combat and Horn sniping would be more definite. But that was because of his secret that he could nullify mateki. It was not a plan he could use in front of Monica, Horn and Vaiel who did not know this.

“Do it.”

“──Roger.”

Gently, light wrapped around Monica’s surroundings as if jumping. The azure light indicative of the activation of a barrier type arts sparkled as they weaved layers.

Crunch……

In a moment, something broke underneath the Yuugenshu’s legs.

With the sound of something hard breaking, a black crack appeared in the pure white ground.

That crack spread in all directions from beneath the Yuugenshu in the blink of an eye.

“Wha……!?”

“It’s a gigantic crevice! Something like this was below the rock salt layer……everyone, retreat!”

“Following Ilis’ warning, they jumped back. Kagura and Vaiel who were at the end of the line also turned around and moved away from the crevice.

It can’t be.

“It didn’t run away but instead lured us to this crevice──”

“A trap!?”

Horn and Monica who had been the closest to the Yuugenshu would not make it in time with their flustered reactions. The ground below was breaking so they couldn’t jump or move back.

“Monica!”

“Shelt…………!”

With the voice that became a echo and was disappearing, the two fell along with the Yuugenshu into the crevice.

“……Tch!”

“Sheltis, you mustn’t!”

He was halted by {{furigana|Machine crystal|Ilis}} before jumping into the crevice to follow the two.

……The hole is too deep.

He had no idea how it went underneath so it was too dangerous to jump in to follow those two right now.

“! Sheltis, a mateki reading detected to the front and right. Incoming!”

“A new one, huh!”

Cr……crunch……

Cracks sprung up one after another like a spider’s web in the vast rock salt. Those gradually expanded and from within the gaps overflowed deep purple mist.

“The leaders, Monica and Captain Horn, are underground and its allies are going to fight us here……we’ve been splendidly divided in strength. At any rate, it seems like we’ll have a basis for verifying the Yuugenshu’s intelligence after this. Even though in the past, it was said the Yuugenshu had no intelligence.”

Kagura smiled wryly, accompanied by the floating {{furigana|Machine pearl|Machina}}.

“Though that’s if we return safely.”

Sheltis drew his dual swords from their holders and stared fixedly at the deep purple mist.

Crimson eyes rose up within the mist. One, two……three, four…………there might be many more still hiding underground.

“Connection successful. I have requested support from the unit who has set up camp at the coast.”

“Thanks.”

All directions. The mist beasts creeped up from the crevices around them to surround them. Each of them was a small one which took the form of a lion but it was troublesome because a Yuugenshu’s strength could not be judged from its appearance.

……Which ones are strong and which ones are weak?

……I don’t have time to think about that.

“Let’s go.”

Telling that to the two behind him, Sheltis ran along the silver ground.