Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 6===

When Karuta looked down from the second-floor of the gym, he saw the real Threat there. These were the legged tadpole ones, but there were a lot of them. Each one rivalled a large semi truck in size, but more than 100 of them were lined up here.

Yes, lined up.

This was odd. What were they doing? Instead of causing mayhem or crawling around, they all remained entirely motionless while staring in the same direction. A few possibilities came to mind – waiting, sleeping, resupplying – but none of them seemed quite right.

A home theater projector that could be used with the lights on was projecting some kind of footage onto the stage.

Aine had speculated the tadpoles used their vision to locate targets.

If that was true, then they were watching something here.

It included audio:

“Crystal Magic produces supernatural phenomena from the unseen occult pressure differences similar to high and low pressure fronts that are created by the collision of the powers pouring down from space and the power emanating from the Original Crystal Embryo in the center of the earth. Just like the priests and priestesses of an older age gained enough power to gather the people’s support and rule entire countries or the world by reading the wind to predict the weather for use by sailing ships or farmers.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

His breathing stopped.

He could not believe what he was seeing here.

What…what were they doing??? His mind could not keep up, but the cheerful female voice from the reference video did not stop.

“That is why Crystal Magic uses a god’s name to gain the ability to ‘read’ the occult calendars and horoscope charts found in different mythologies and religions. Crystal Magic cannot create the wind out of nothing and cause miracles that way, but it can cause phenomena impossible for an ordinary person by riding the existing wind and using the great power found there. Just like a windmill grinds wheat or a glider soars through the sky.”

“The Threat…the real Threat ''is taking a class in school''?” groaned Marika like she too could not believe what she was seeing.

Why had the Threat occupied Second Grimnoah without sinking it? Why had they attacked the academy ship in the first place?

This was the answer.

“This is bad,” said gyaru-ish Hashizaki Tayori. Instead of retreating to surreal sarcasm, she laid out the actual risks. “The Threat is powerful enough already, but are they analyzing our Crystal Magic now? That’s the human trump card. If they learn to do the same thing, their tougher bodies will let them win.”

(Is that really it?)

Karuta had his doubts.

If those Threats (that had somehow gotten their enormous bodies through the entrance) were hooked up to a computer with a cable and were mechanically installing the data, he might have feared the same thing.

But this was different.

The gym’s atmosphere was relaxed. Even if the purpose of this was to learn, he sensed something else in the atmosphere hanging over the tadpoles.

Yes.

When Karuta and his classmates had learned about Crystal Magic as a means of fighting the Threat on the first ship, they had not had a clear vision of how it would be used. They had been more focused on whether they would go to the cafeteria or the school store for lunch.

Some of the Threats here were secretly napping. Some were swaying in time with some kind of rhythm. Some were scratching at the floor with their feet. They were drawing out orderly doodles. If these tadpoles were given thick paper textbooks, they would probably draw out a flip book on the edge of the pages.

But that would mean…

(Do they ''not have a goal''? These tadpoles are just aimlessly passing the time? Almost like they’re dying for this class to end. But could mere machines do that??? An AI that gathers data from past weather forecasts is only doing that because it was given that specific goal. Machines can’t take a break unless it’s set as a necessary task for achieving their optimum goal, like if they need to cool down or limit energy consumption. ''There’s no such thing as a program that can just “kill time” if you tell it to.'' Then are they not machines? Are they just like us?)

“Wait, wait!! Could they be harmle-”

Karuta was cut off by a dull bang.

It came from Imi who was still held in Tayori’s arms.

Her eyes were wandering while she held out her right hand. She held a bizarre weapon that had medical equipment like a scalpel and forceps spread out like a multitool in place of a bayonet.

She had already fired.

There was a hole in the head(?) of one of the legged tadpoles on the floor below.

They had been so tough, yet this one had gone down so easily.

This was the first time someone other than Karuta and Aine had defeated one.

But he could not rejoice over this because something felt off.

“No. I can’t take it anymorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre!!!!!!”

She had been pushed to the very limit and her scream echoed across the gym.

“Sacri-sama.” Aine calmly announced their coming execution while adjusting her grip on her crystal-like katana. “We have hit the limit.”

All forms of killer intent stabbed in at Karuta’s group.

Those tadpoles had been aimlessly attending the class, but that did not mean they were powerless. Karuta and Marika had attended their classes on the first ship in much the same way, but they had possessed enough power to crush the Problem Solvers, hadn’t they?

“Tch! Tezcatlipoca, power up!!”

Marika stood up immediately. She must have decided there was no point in hiding any longer. Pointy crystal armor jutted out from her body while she drew a rapier-like device out of empty air. But that was not only a close-range weapon. By turning the round guard around, she could use it as a laser sniping unit.

Several laser beams shot down like lightning strikes.

The gym floor shattered.

The doodles drawn in the middle of class were destroyed.

Karuta clenched his teeth as he turned toward Aine and gestured over the wall with his chin.

“Always have an escape route in mind and cause them some trouble without getting yourself killed!!”

“Understood.”

Aine did not hesitate at times like this.

Marika tended to solve everything through combat and even she was forced to only snipe down from the upper floor, but Aine immediately jumped down from the railing to fight on the front line below.

Meanwhile, Karuta turned toward Imi and Tayori.

“What gods’ names did you input into your Crystal Blossom circuit boards?”

“I used the Norse monster Fenrir and Imi used the Egyptian medical goddess Neith.”

Tayori activated her crystal armor with a sound like a thick spring being released. Thick claw-like weapons attached to the back of her hands. She was apparently limited to infighting and had no projectiles.

Fenrir.

A weapon named after the wolf that devoured the top Norse god might possess great power in every single blow.

“Power up complete. What do you want us to do?”

“We won’t last long like this. I want to destroy the Sparkle on the roof ASAP if possible.”

“That would be difficult. But if I went unnoticed…”

“?”

“I’m a close-range specialist, so I could climb onto the roof and ''bite'' that lion. Getting close to it would be the hard part, but if I could do that…”

Karuta nodded.

But then he heard an unusual sound from the floor below. That was not the sound of heavy and solid metal clashing. It was a high-pitched and piercing sound similar to glass.

Glass.

Crystal.

“Aine!?”

Driven by a very bad feeling, Karuta leaned over the hip-height wall and looked down despite the danger. That was when he saw it.

The legged tadpoles were shaking their truck-sized bodies. But even with the laser sniping from above and Aine going wild with her katana, they did not fight back. Was this part of their division of roles? Instead of trying to fight, they were trying to escape to safety so their accumulated knowledge could be passed on to the rest. Or to put it another way, Aine was chasing down the unresisting tadpoles and mercilessly cutting them down from behind. If his side stopped trying to fight, this hellish scene would go away on its own, yet the hell before his eyes never ended.

This almost made it look like his side had started it.

All they had wanted to do was take back their school.

When one tadpole’s leg was cut off, it rolled over, exposing its belly.

Aine used her flight to jump straight up in preparation to deliver the finishing blow.

Just then, the tadpole did something strange. It forcibly bent its humorous elliptical body to bring the long tail-like part in front of its belly to defend itself. Almost like it was terrified of the coming pain.

“Wai-!!”

Not even Karuta himself knew what he had wanted to shout there. And Aine’s sword completed its merciless attack before he could get the command out. Instead of aiming for the obvious belly, she bisected the upside-down tadpole’s head starting with its giant jaw.

The giant black thing screamed, the slicing of its mouth distorting the cry.

Karuta watched on in shock as Marika fired more lasers down. She could not finish them off with that, but she could cause the other scattered tadpoles to flinch. And when that brought them to a brief stop, Aine would attack. All without batting an eye.

He had thought he understood her.

At least a little.

She had learned to feel embarrassment when her skin was seen, but she had failed to learn to feel the same when her skin was touched. She would stand by his side with sword at the ready no matter how hopeless the situation and she had accepted the bitesize chocolate reward while complaining that it was inefficient. When he had shown off his ugly side, she had held him to her flat chest and pointed out his faults like a mother.

But her sword showed no hesitation whatsoever.

The reaping had begun.

(What…?)

He could not breathe.

The next thing he knew, he was holding his head and screaming. But he was not giving any clear command. Aine would continue with her current actions until he gave her an additional command. And wasn’t he the one who had told her to “always have an escape route in mind and cause them some trouble without getting yourself killed”?

He had caused this.

He had destroyed a school and taken lives.

How was he any different from the Problem Solvers who had destroyed the first ship and taken his peaceful school from him and his fellow students?

In fact, this may have been worse. This was like unchaining a ferocious dog and releasing it in a peaceful park on the weekend.

Unlike Aine, Marika seemed focused on simply holding the Threat back. To make sure they did not customize themselves using the tadpoles that had been cut down. But was that effort even necessary in the first place? The Threat was under attack here, but they were focused on running away and did nothing to counterattack.

(What is this? What are we doing???)

“This started with Imi lashing out, but it’s still the right thing to do,” insisted Tayori. She would follow them as long as they did the right thing. Her stance there had not changed. “They don’t seem to have anything like high-speed wireless internet, but if they can carry out the knowledge stored inside them and spread it to the rest like an ant sends pheromone signals, we won’t stand a chance. What do you do if you need to stop the roaches from breeding before the majority of them develop a resistance to your bug spray? You find the ones that survive the bug spray and you squish them. That’s the best plan.”

The best plan.

If she really thought that, she could have kept quiet. Since she had gone out of her way to say it out loud and seek his agreement, this must have left a bad taste in her mouth on some level. And an excuse disguised as a justification was not going to reach Karuta.

The gym ceiling was torn through and the orderly arrangement of steel beams rained down. The anti-air laser lion dropped down along with the artificial cover it had destroyed.

That was the Sparkle.

That was their key strategic figure. The Threat should have wanted to protect it more than anything, yet it had chosen to drop down itself.

“This is our chance!!” shouted Marika as she aimed her rapier-like device at this new target.

Karuta could not understand why this made her so happy.

A straining sound filled the gym. Glowing rain poured down while rage ruled this place. Its lion-like form had changed. To reiterate, the Threat could customize itself into a more powerful form by devouring the corpses(?) of the fallen ones.

It consumed the tadpoles.

Its companions had been defenselessly cut down and it devoured the remains of those it had most wanted to protect and absorbed their parts to change its own form. The lion was not functionally capable of shedding tears, but that did not mean it felt nothing.

The twisted chrysalis created from the slaughter was torn open.

“Crystal Magic is a top candidate for the next world’s strongest, so it must be used for the public good without letting national or racial boundaries get in the way.”

The cheerful female voice sounded so out of place now as that silly reference video continued to play up on the stage.

The lion stopped walking on four legs while it emitted a burning pressure from its entire body. That 3m mass of metal now planted just two legs on the floor just like a human to display a body far more powerful than a human’s.

Something it had absorbed caused its color to change.

It looked a lot like an armored warrior creating a fusion of Eastern and Western by wearing a suit of armor glowing a reddish-purple with black belts holding it tight in places. The capacitors remained as wings on its back, but the obvious lion’s head and mane were gone. It had abandoned its identity to fulfill its objective. That stance seemed to ooze from its armor. A pair of red eyes glowed like burning flames within its newly-acquired helmet.

It held a single sword in its hand.

The sword was longer than its reddish-purple armor was tall and it looked far too heavy for a human to wield. But there was something odd about that sword. The guard extended far out to the front, but it barely existed on the back of the blade. Instead, there was a metal loop on the front. It initially reminded Karuta of an oscilloscope, but he soon realized he was mistaken.

That was a tonfa and handcuffs.

That may have been meant as a response to the jitte-like part of Aine’s sword. But unlike that laser gun unit, this did not appear to have any practical use. ''Does it want to steal the title of justice that badly?'' thought Karuta while clenching his teeth.

Its metal fingers grasped the sword’s hilt unexpectedly smoothly. That might look like armor, but it was clearly structured differently. If it was hollow, it could not move those slender fingertips that much. That was a body, not armor.

The blade of the long sword emitted a light as bright as a welding torch. At the Port of Kobe, the tadpoles’ teeth had crackled with electricity, but this was even more intense. White light surged out like the hamon was leaving the surface of the blade, so plasma emitted from the tip may have ran along the blade before being absorbed and stabilized within the guard. Or in other words, the sword was being exposed to a massive amount of heat with no effect.

Simply releasing its power seemed to cause physics to break down. All the rain-wet wreckage from the roof began to defy gravity by floating up like helium balloons.

(An electric…ionocraft?)

An unnatural humming sound shook the entire space.

It was like the amplified buzzing of an insect or like a bug zapper or transformer that used high-voltage currents.

If the excess energy escaping from it was enough to affect its surroundings like this, the power stored inside it had to be enormous. Carelessly touching the inside of that thing would turn a human to charcoal.

All of that energy was created within the armor, spread through its entire body, and then shaped into a weapon. It went out of its way to create the complex shape of a hand and then created a separate sword for that hand to hold. Why not have the weapon combined with the arm? Why even prepare an arm at all? Efficiency and logic could not explain any of this. The decisions were based on some other standard.

A sword and light. Big and strong. And a metal culture. It was like a symbol of justice – the leader of a war for good.

This was no longer the lion-shaped Sparkle.

This was a different Threat.

This armored warrior could be called…

“''The Warrior Doll'',” said Karuta.

He spoke loudly enough for anyone to hear him even as he felt like he was wandering through a muddy nightmare.

“You have all passed the Crystal Blossom selection process,” continued the video. “But that is not why you should feel proud. Be proud that you can use this chosen power to protect the weak. Keep that in mind as you aim to be a strong and noble magician. Keep your ears open to the cries of those in need and rush to their aid faster than anyone else. Become the people’s hope. The world became a brighter place from the moment you chose to learn Crystal Magic!!”

Its bipedal form was less stable, its center of gravity was located high up, and it had created a complex hand to hold its weapon.

If this form was only meant to fight, then its evolution could not have been based on practicality. This 
may have been the aesthetic sense it had learned from Second Grimnoah.

It had watched them from the sea below, boarded the ship once they left, and then learned of justice.

It had learned the meaning of wearing armor and wielding a sword.

With the baton and handcuffs, this Threat had tried to dye itself in every form of justice it could find, so it may have respected humans in a way. Not the power of Crystal Magic itself, but the way of life that had led them to wield that power. Even though the current world’s strongest were the kind of garbage people who would not hesitate to cut down unresisting lives.

“Ha.”

Utagai Karuta started laughing.

What else could he do?

This was a good reminder of his position in life. Yes, it was absurd for him to be on the side of justice. He was only a persistent stalker who had completed his filthy quest for revenge. None of the praise heaped on him by the rest of humanity could change what he was deep down.

Whenever he stood up, justice would stand up to oppose him.

It had been that way with the Problem Solvers, it had been that way with the three middle school girls controlling the decoy Threat at the Crystal Beach, and now it was happening a third time. At this point, it could not be a mere coincidence.

You’re saving the world? You’re rescuing your friends?

No, all you ever do is kill the righteous.

Admit it.

“Ha ha. Ah ha ha ha ha, hah hah hah hah hah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hee hee ha ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!”

He laughed.

He laughed and laughed and laughed.

So of course his vision grew blurry. Laughing so hard was bound to bring tears to his eyes.

Those tears did not fall to the floor.

They were pinned in midair and began to float upwards.

Then he made his move. Shocked Marika tried to stop him, but he ignored her, climbed over the hip-height wall, and dropped down from the second floor. There was no logic to his action. As long as he was close enough to command Aine, he would be safer while hidden.

But he no longer cared what happened to him.

His body slammed loudly against the floor and excruciating pain raced through his spine rather than his skin. ''Why aren’t you dead?'' he cursed himself as he slowly stood up.

So much had happened here.

This Warrior Doll had lost everything.

Yet it stood perfectly still with the long sword held in both hands. It made no surprise attacks. It would attack fair and square and from head on. This was different from the Gestalt’s mimicry. Karuta could sense a definite will in this reddish-purple armored warrior.

Simply gathering strength inside itself pinned the falling raindrops in the air and caused the wet rubble to float up in defiance of gravity.

It was a 3m mass heavier than steel.

It did not matter whether or not the armored warrior Threat knew the actual words

The shared concept stabbed into Karuta’s heart all the same.

''I am allowed the pursuit of righteous vengeance.

''I challenge you to a duel, human.

Karuta actually felt jealous.

He felt jealous of this twisted and horrific monster that had cannibalized its own to grow stronger.

All of that was allowed if it was done out of righteous anger. That armored warrior could remain on the side of justice, so it looked so bright to Karuta.

He clenched his teeth and trembled at how puny he was himself. He hated himself for being unable to die. Humanity had truly lost if the other side was the just one. He had failed in his duty as strongest. He had not protected their justice and simply handed it over to the other side. This was about more than himself. He had brought down all 5.5 billion humans.

The white light traveling along the curve of the sword was probably a plasma jet. That weapon decorated with a temperature hotter than the sun’s surface was thrust straight out. As if to prove its own righteousness.

The distance between them did not matter.

The overlapping armor at the back of the knees, behind the helmet, and elsewhere opened up and a green explosion burst from those gaps. By the time Karuta noticed that, it was already right on top of him.

That was some form of booster.

The 3m giant brought a shockwave as it approached, so its body alone would have been as deadly as an artillery shell.

Karuta could only stand there in a daze.

So what happened next was not his doing.

“''Sacri-sama''!!”

He could not understand it.

A dull sound rang out.

A small white figure had moved in between them at the last second. His Crystal Magic looked outmatched against that 3m armored giant, but her cold blade had caught The Warrior Doll’s hot one.

The Warrior Doll had more than just leg strength. It could accelerate its heavyweight armor using the eruption of green light behind it.

That explosive propulsive force gave the reddish-purple armor mobility surpassing that of a fighter craft. Even without its sword, it could break a warship in two with a simple tackle. How powerful would its sword strikes be if it had optimized the techniques needed to kill? The edge of a sword was determined by how much speed could be placed behind its weight.

A high-pitched sound rang out.

It had broken the sound barrier.

It was a testament to Aine’s skills that she had managed force her slender form in between the boy and the Warrior Doll and stop the latter with her crystal-like sword.

But then came the second explosion.

The white welding light ignited along the armored warrior’s blade burst outward to slam into the crystal girl trying to lock blades with it.

Karuta had researched swords since Aine wielded one. In the world of samurai, there had been attacks aimed for the face of an opponent locking swords with you. For example, spitting needles that sent a large number of needles toward the enemy’s face.

Even if that attack lowered the Warrior Doll’s strength a little, Aine had no way of blocking the heat and shockwave.

“!!”

Nevertheless, she forcibly clenched her teeth. Even Karuta could hear the straining sound. He also detected a scorched smell, like the hair drier had been blowing on something for too long. Aine adjusted her grip on her crystal sword to protect the boy and she ignored her own damage as she once more attacked the Warrior Doll in front of her.

There was a franticness to her action that was not like her. Her blade of course did not reach the armored warrior. Each time it caught her sword on its own, it caused a massive explosion to wear down her small body.

What?

What was happening?

Karuta could not believe what he was seeing. He knew for a fact he had never ordered her to do this. He had told her to always have an escape route in mind and to cause them some trouble, but this was the complete opposite.

“Oh.”

He realized something while watching that small back.

He realized why she kept going and kept getting back up from the wet floor even though she could not have any strength left.

Was it because his spirit had broken?

Was she trying to make up for what he had lost?

“Ai…ne.”

Her small back seemed to be working hard to prove something.

To prove that it was not wrong to try and take back the second ship.

To prove that it was not wrong to try and save Gekiha and the others from the first ship.

To prove it had never been wrong to fight in Kyouka’s place since she could not do it herself and to come all this way searching for Marika’s group.

It was just that the crystal girl could only express herself through combat.

“Aine.”

There was an obstinance to her actions.

And she did not seem to understand what it was she had done.

But.

She looked so small. He could not see her face with her back turned. He knew she would not be hanging her head or biting her lip, but he could still sense something from her. Even as she continued the intense battle, was hit by the wall of wind, and was gradually worn down. The sense he got from her was not of a heroic fighter or a horrific murderer. He sensed something sad, like he was looking at a lost child.

Was Aine really the one in the wrong?

Who was it that had boarded Second Grimnoah to fight the Threat?

The battle in the gym had been started by Imi’s outburst.

Aine had not started any of it, but right now that small girl had been left all alone with only her sharp sword to work with.

“That’s enough, Aine!!!!!!”

He gathered what little strength he had to approach her small back.

He hugged her from behind.

Her crystal sword came to a brief stop as he placed his hand over her smaller one.

“I’m sorry, Warrior Doll.” He tried to catch his breath while facing the armored warrior again. “Your anger is probably justified. I was clearly using her wrong.”

That should not have mattered to the Threat.

Yet it did not attack. It waited for him to speak with the tip of its plasma jet sword aimed his way.

Even though it probably did not understand human language.

“This was entirely my fault. We could have turned back as soon as we found Marika’s group safe. And even if we couldn’t find a way back, this wouldn’t have happened if we just hadn’t approached the gym. This wasn’t somewhere we had to go. I just thought it would make for a good shortcut.”

Karuta staggered to the side.

No, he moved to stand next to battered Aine. And he pulled out the puny modified military flashlight he used as a weapon.

“We’re one and the same, so Aine will have to fight too.”

He was at fault for all of it. Even if they were one and the same, he would not back down on this.

“But please. Please don’t hold this against her. Your vengeance should be targeted at me. Give me this one thing, please.”

He suddenly found himself bowing.

[[Image:ApocalypseWitch_v03_10.jpg|thumb]]

He could not escape this vengeance, but the Warrior Doll had to understand that challenging him directly like this introduced the possibility of being killed in the attempt. Even though that was not necessary. Karuta’s group had secretly gathered information on the Problem Solvers and then made cheap surprise attacks in every way they could. But the Warrior Doll had left a chance for its own defeat.

That was why Karuta wanted to apologize to Aine and tell her to survive.

To do that…

To do that, he was willing to lift his head!!

“I challenge ''you'' to a duel, Warrior Doll!!!!!!”

After tumbling down to the position of the despicable challenger once more, Utagai Karuta looked up at the peak from down in the mud.