Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 15 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.07 Daisuke Part 5 ==

“—aaAAAAAAAHHH!”

Howling from the depths of his stomach, he forced his consciousness to come back to reality.

GARDEN dyed in white retrieved its previous colors and the flow of time resumed.

It wasn’t just Daisuke.

All Mushitsuki in that battlefield shouted loud.

It wasn’t just to resist the combined mental attack by C and Genius. Even as they were hurt and collapsed—they vowed that they’d fight, walk their own chosen path.

They were Mushitsuki who sang their dream’s praises as loud as their voices let them.

And the number of those among them who fell to the mental attack—was zero.

“—”

The surrounding air all rose up to the high sky. The gigantic orchid mantis blocking their sight swung up its large scythe.

Reversing the winds it whipped up, Genius swung down its right scythe.

This combination of mass and speed was aiming for the Mushitsuki on the surface—

“Haha!”

Harukiyo’s full-powered fist repelled it. The vast heatwave burned up Genius’s scythe in an instant, blowing away the fairies and Revived on the surface.

Genius swung his left scythe horizontally to swipe.

Cutting a high-rise building into two, the pursuing giant scythe’s tip—was pierced by the Arisu’s thrust spear.

Scales came gushing out from the silver lance fused with the Morpho butterfly. Not coming to a rest even after breaking Genius’s scythe to smithereens, this impact erased even the crumbling building’s remains.

“Arisu!”

Daisuke shouted and asked.

“—Where is she?”

Sleeping Beauty accurately surmised the meaning behind his question.

The tip of the silver lance raised aloft pointed to the head portion of Genius.

No—it pointed behind this thin and long head, to a certain point in the pagoda.

“…!”

Looking up where the spear pointed, Daisuke was wrapped in an orange glow. His body suddenly became lighter.

Turning around, he could see a boy on the other side of the swarming fairies and Revived.

It was a blood-soaked Shiohara Shachito. Kneeling on a collapsed building, he pointed the hockey stick at Daisuke. —Him being here probably meant that the fight between teacher and disciple was over.

His body now lighter, Daisuke kicked the ground and leapt high.

As he tried leaping over Genius, the orchid mantis opened its mouthpart wide to stop him.

Mountain-like fangs that attempted chomping down on him—were shattered.

The shockwave emitted by Rina’s seven-spotted ladybug struck the orchid mantis’s jaw from below as though it was an uppercut.

Daisuke kicked the orchid mantis’s head and used the momentum to leap again—

“—OOoooOOOOOH!”

His left fist pierced through the pagoda’s wall. Using that momentum, he stabbed both feet through the wall to hold his body in place.

“Gwuhhh!”

A fierce storm of electricity blew all over the windowless pagoda’s surface.

Daisuke held himself at the place close to the pagoda’s summit—the spot Sleeping Beauty Arisu had indicated with her sensing ability.

“OOooOOAAAAAAHHH!”

While receiving enough electricity to brighten up the entire sky above GARDEN, Daisuke put his gun muzzle against the wall in front of his eyes. Pulling the trigger, he destroyed the thick metal wall.

He finally reached the pagoda that held C’s main body.

He wasn’t going to leave it just for Fuyuhotaru.

Wringing out his remaining powers, Daisuke invaded the tower.

“AAAAaaAAHHH!”

The dark interior had nothing in it other than ceiling and floor. Daisuke destroyed the wall using his left arm while firing the gun with his right. He was constantly getting hit by the electricity raging through the building’s interior, so Daisuke was losing the sensation of his arms.

Destroying everything he found, Daisuke rushed through the floor. In this state where his consciousness was held only through sheer force of will, he searched for C’s main body, and his eyes—

Finally found it.

It was a spacious space with a freezing air.

There were no lights in that room, and there were electric devices blinking on and off that looked like bookshelves.

And further back—

There were two eyes staring at him.

Daisuke readied his pistol.

“C—”

The next moment, light holding vast amounts of energy burst.

Ceiling, floor and walls all broke to smithereens. Having lost his footing, Daisuke was flung back outside the pagoda helplessly.

As he was thrown into the air, what Daisuke saw was the scenery of the crumbling pagoda. He saw the building’s top part explode while the foundation burst into smithereens.

What remained after the crumbling pagoda was two figures floating in air.

One of them was inside a transparent box that was linked to the surface through golden electrical discharges. Rounding her body and covering both eyes with her hands was the girl Daisuke knew as Horiuchi Erii—C.

The transparent box was housed in a majestically-decorated enclosure, itself resembling a large chair or a bed. The girl sleeping inside didn’t move a muscle.

And the other figure—was sitting with her legs crossed on top of the sleeping girl.

Her face was the exact same as Horiuchi Erii. However, her body clad in something like a transparent negligee was pale and slightly see-through. Her worn tiara was shining, and eyes covered by eyelashes bursting with gold looked down on Daisuke.

It was C’s main body—and her body double that could be called the medium of her power.

“Guh…gaha…!”

As Daisuke fell right next to his friends, the orange glow left him and vanished. Since his mass was no longer reduced, the damage he’d accumulated made it impossible for him to move. He couldn’t get up. The healer Nene rushed next to him.

“C…!”

“So that’s her real body…!”

The Mushitsuki fighting with Genius all looked up at C floating above the debris of the treasure tower.

Looking down on them getting pumped up, C widened her eyes.

Much like a balloon instantly inflating—the remains of the pagoda gathered around the floating C. Revolving around her much like a planet’s rings, they formed a perfectly round shape. The sphere’s radius was probably several dozen time the petite C’s height.

And it didn’t end with this.

“…!”

While the Mushitsuki were looking up, C’s expression changed.

Golden wings slowly unfolded from the back of the girl who narrowed her eyes in anger. Patterns drawn with golden threads looking like the veins on a leaf drew the shape of the letter C.

Sitting on her majestic bed, the girl sprouting gigantic wings—

Was her form that of an angel with a halo?

Or was it a buddha with a mandala?

These golden wings—clearly holding vast powers—caused light to surge in the sphere protecting C. All the debris became connected through golden threads, transforming into a glowing golden sphere.

“N-no way, is she trying to Mature…?”

He heard Terasu’s mutter.

“No—t-that—”

Ogata Akatsuki denied this.

Her transformation done, C looked down on the Mushitsuki.

Her gaze was unchanged from how it was before.

“It’s Semi-Maturation—”

It was the ability of Akatsuki’s, Mushi the mayfly. She controlled it so perfectly it could be called Half-Maturation. Since C could control the life and death of Mushitsuki, she was now attempting to control even the phenomenon of Maturation—

“…!”

Genius also started changing in front of the shocked Mushitsuki’s eyes. White blobs gathered toward its lost leg and the large scythe was regenerating.

The entire orchid mantis’s body was transforming as well. It became even larger, and the remaining legs also became sharp scythes.

Furthermore—

The Mushi of the Revived surrounding the Mushitsuki also began to change.

“All of them—”

While holding down his shaking legs, Daisuke rose up.

It wasn’t just C. Even Genius and the Revived, meaning the entire enemy forces, were Maturing.

On the other hand, all surviving Mushitsuki were already with a foot in the grave. They sacrificed plenty to reach this far, using up their very body and soul to fight.

Coming all the way here—they no longer had the powers to face against such powerful opponents.

“—Leave the surface to us, Rank 1s.”

A soprano voice echoed in the despair-filled battlefield.

As Daisuke turned around—he could see Kasuou transforming into an entirely different person.

“You bastards need to go and beat the crap outta C already.”

Kasuou’s vivid golden hair was being dyed pitch black. One arm vanished, and she used condensed mist to sprout a clawed giant arm in its stead. A single eye became a black void, and her exposed teeth were growing sharper.

“Before it’s too late for all of us, like that stupid Himiko.”

Just like the groaning Kasuou said, all Mushitsuki other than her were also transforming.

The Mushi equipped to Terasu’s throat now covered her all the way to her mouth, becoming a mask with countless breathing holes.

Yotsuba’s limbs became dyed in white and black, her entire figure wavering while drawing faint afterimages.

Namie’s common albatross butterfly burning in white started multiplying as if engaged in cell division.

Aijisupa’s hairband and clothes were dyed in pure white, the steam making his body float in air.

“…!”

He could see other Mushitsuki change their forms as well.

They were Semi-Maturing just like the enemy—or not.

What Kasuou and the rest were doing was nothing more than a rampage, inducing themselves to Mature out of their own volition. It would increase their powers, but it wasn’t a state they could hold for long—in the first place, there was no guarantee they could go back to normal after this.

It wasn’t them just betting their lives.

A few minutes. Once this much time passed, it would be too late for them, and if they actually Matured—they would just increase the number of threats on the world.

However, right now, they judged this to be the time to fight and bet on everything.

And that was—the same as Daisuke.

“Yeah, we’ll beat her.”

The seconds hand counting down hundreds of seconds to decide this heroic fight already started moving.

They could no longer go back—

“ORAAaaAAaaaAAHHH!”

“WooOOOooOOOOH!”

“AaaAAAaaAAAHHH!”

The howling Mushitsuki and the Semi-Matured Revived clashed directly. Genius, that became even larger, swung down its sharp scythes.

The goggle’s wireless functions already broke long ago. His comrades’ shouts and the explosive sounds and impact filling the surface right after them shook his eardrums.

“OOOOOH!”

Daisuke made the pattern on his entire body glow and unleashed a bullet toward the floating C.

However, the electric attack shot by fairies from the surface and a concentrated fire from the autocannons, as well as the lightning from the golden planet protecting C, intercepted the bullet.

The same happened with Harukiyo’s flames, Arisu’s scales and Rina’s shockwaves. Their attacks were cancelled, not even reaching the sphere engulfing C.

Attacks from long range weren’t going to work.

Since he estimated this, Daisuke did not hesitate. He kicked the ground, rushing ahead.

“—ooOOOH!”

Avoiding obstacles, he ran through the battlefield where Mushitsuki and Revived fought. As he accelerated, the patterns over Daisuke’s entire body increased their glow.

“—ooOOOOOOOHHH!”

Making himself into a green-glowing bullet, he leapt with great momentum, kicking the earth.

Genius’s scythe swung down, attempting to intercept his leap.

The next moment, Genius was struck by a concentrated attack from all Mushitsuki on the surface. Attacking together while not caring about any damage to themselves, they managed to carve through the orchid mantis’s large body.

Enemy attacks were launched at Daisuke again and again.

The Mushitsuki on the surface blew all of them back.

He took a full-powered running start, followed by a full-powered jump.

And obtaining the full-powered support granted to him by his allies—

“—OoaaaAAAaaAAAAAHHH!”

Daisuke landed right on the top of the sphere protecting C.

Immediately fearsome lightning assaulted Daisuke—but his left arm and right leg covered by a thick, burly carapace grabbed onto the pagoda’s debris forming the sphere and wouldn’t let go.

Having released his power to the very brink of losing control, the change reached all the way to his right arm as well. It fused with the gun, becoming a giant maw of the checkered beetle spewing hellfire.

“aAAaaAAAAHHHH!”

The sides of his mouth ripped and spouted fangs. Daisuke emitted a bestial howl.

The bombardment unleashed from the beetle’s maw struck the golden planet protecting C from zero range.

Mixing with the lightning assaulting Daisuke, it caused so much light to burst that it felt like it was going to destroy the entirety of GARDEN.

“HahaaAAaaAAHHHH!”

The flame devil, Harukiyo, followed Daisuke. Becoming a crimson flame, his right arm stuck to the sphere of light, persistently pounding it with a fireball. As he sneered in great joy, the lower half of his body began transforming into ethereal flames.

“—!”

Sleeping Beauty—Arisu also leapt to the sphere of light. Her long, black hair became silver, and a slashing attack that once parted the sea struck the light sphere again and again. She also emitted a blowing storm of scales that weakened C’s abilities, covering the entire sphere.

“…aaAAAAHHH!”

Lady Bird—Tachibana Rina also pursued the sphere of light. Having swelled up to several times its size and sprouting nasty-looking thorns all over, the seven-spotted ladybug unleashed a shockwave that once half-destroyed GARDEN.

“—”

Even while getting hit by these four focused attacks, the expression of the C sitting atop her real body did not change.

Turning her eyelashes spreading golden sparks ahead, she raised her thin arms aloft. Light surged from her ten outstretched fingers, and she supplied the golden sphere protecting her with the energy known as electricity.

The lightning unleashed from the surface of the sphere became even stronger.

All four Rank 1s including Daisuke were assaulted by further impacts.

“Vanish, all of you incomplete Undying—”

“ooAAaaAAAAHHH!”

“HaaAAAAHHH!”

“—!”

“aaAAAAHHH!”

Lightning ripping through the night sky kept piercing through the Rank 1s—

Daisuke continued his bombardment single-mindedly.

Harukiyo clashed with fireballs.

Arisu swung down her spear.

Rina unleashed shockwaves.

“You failed worms—”

C’s golden pupils glared at Daisuke.

However, he and the others did not stop their attacks.

They clung to the golden sphere—literally like worms, continuing their attacks.

Impacts caused by these midair clashes reached even GARDEN’s surface. All high-rise buildings in the center of town were unable to withstand the storm of blowing energy, crumbling down.

C’s eyes glaring at Daisuke turned even harsher.

Lightning kept increasing its limitless power as it struck the four Rank 1s—

On the other hand, the attacks made by Daisuke’s group started weakening at some point—

At last.

All four exhausted at the same time.

“—…”

Using up power beyond their limits, they couldn’t even raise screams.

As tattered as a squeezed rag, they were finally blown away from the sphere.

And the result of this assault by the four Rank 1s, regarded the strongest, was—

Not even a single crack appeared on the sphere protecting Super Class Rank 1, C. It appeared like this unimaginable defensive hardness denied everything, creating an isolated territory. Not only that, but using her precise control she would instantly change to other domains, constantly repeating regeneration and hardening.

Daisuke, Harukiyo, Arisu, Rina.

The fight between the four Rank 1s and the Super Class Rank 1 ended in the former’s utter defeat.

However—they had no regrets.

Nor pain.

While returning to a humanlike form after spending their powers, they were falling down toward the surface.

Those four all had the exact same expression.

As for why—

“—The world, will change…”

All of them muttered this because they saw the same scene.

Super Class Rank 1, C, was descending on GARDEN just like a goddess.

Another glow appeared above that divine figure.

It was just a small glow.

But it was—the light that would change the world.

“…To a world where no Mushitsuki will be born again…”

Looking down the four smiling Mushitsuki, C widened her glowing eyes.

It was because she noticed while Daisuke and the rest were falling, that the surviving Mushitsuki had already vanquished Genius.

And because she saw something standing on top of the unmoving orchid mantis.

A lone girl—

“…!”

She looked above her.

There she finally noticed the small light coming down on her.

It was—a single flake of snow.

“…It’s our victory.”

Daisuke and the other three Rank 1s could not compare to the C.

However, there was another Rank 1.

The girl standing atop the defeated orchid mantis—was Secret Class Rank 1, Fuyuhotaru.

The one C feared the most—

The one Daisuke and the others defended to the death—

The course of the destruction that no one could evade finally reached their archnemesis.

“—aaAA—”

What meaning did this whisper-like voice leaking from C’s lips hold?

Sitting on the bed where her real body slumbered, C raised her arms right above her.

[[File:Mushi Uta 15 p330.png|thumb]]

An electric strike surged from the golden sphere.

All autocannons installed around town immediately launched a volley of bombardments and ground-to-air missiles.

Fairies, C-butterflies and the Revived on the ground launched attacks straight above them.

The sky of GARDEN became filled with golden flashes of light.

“—“

However, the snow that broke down even through all of those did not slow down its fall in the least.

C looked down at the surface. She reached out toward Anmoto Shiika.

However—

“...!”

Shiika calmly covered herself with a curtain of blizzard.

Even while protecting her body, she kept her gaze trained on above C. With a strong gaze that lacked any doubts she focused her consciousness on the flake of snow.

And the falling snow—touched the golden sphere protecting C.

Destructive noise loud enough to rupture eardrums echoed throughout the entire GARDEN.

This lone flake pierced through the sphere that Daisuke and the others hadn’t left a single scratch on. It broke through even C’s territory, and the snow glowing white got in contact with C’s body double.

“—”

C kept resisting, reaching her hand toward the snow.

However—

As if those golden eyes of her saw through this inescapable fate—

She let her arms that tried protecting against the snow drop down.

“…”

Why had she done this?

C erased her angry expression—and looked at none other than Daisuke.

And then—smiled.

“…”

Why had this being called Super Class Rank 1, C, smiled at Daisuke in her last moments?

He was thinking while watching the snow finally touch C.

Most likely, he would spend the rest of his life wondering about what this meant—

Daisuke was convinced of this.