Difference between revisions of "User:Démiurge"
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| − | == Chapitre |
+ | == Chapitre 5 : Pour répondre (Pragmatisme)== |
| + | Et donc, |
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| − | Ensuite : |
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| − | La marionnette vide et l'oiseau blanc qui ne pouvait pas voler |
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| − | coururent main dans la main pour échapper à tout ce qui cherchait à les séparer, |
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| − | et regardèrent le ciel. |
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| + | la marionnette s'enfuit vers le ciel que l'oisillon désirait tant, |
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| − | Le ciel leur a permis de croire qu'ils pouvaient aller n'importe où. |
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| − | Ce ciel que les ailes de l'oisillon ne pouvaient atteindre. |
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| − | Mais s'ils le pouvaient, que gagneraient-ils ? |
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| − | se demanda la marionnette. |
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| + | vers ce monde étroit et sombre. |
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| − | C'était le jour de leur première rencontre. |
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| − | Quand le poussin avait prononcé le nom de la marionnette. |
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| − | Un titre évité pour deux significations |
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| − | et un nom juré en trois. |
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| − | Je suis le ciel. Le ciel vide. Ton ciel. |
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| + | Oui... |
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| − | La marionnette a juré sur son nom de donner vie à ce ciel. |
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| − | De briser et de détruire toutes les cages. |
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| − | Pour défier à jamais ce qui les retient. |
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| + | Un ciel pour que la marionnette soit à l'abri du mal, pour sourire du cœur. |
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| − | Alors, où veux-tu aller ? |
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| + | Un endroit où personne ne les piétinerait, où personne ne les blesserait, |
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| − | Demanda la marionnette à l'oiseau, qui implora... |
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| + | aucune force ne les contraint, aucun besoin de changer. |
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| − | == Partie 1 == |
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| + | Un nouveau monde où ils pourraient voler. |
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| − | C'était le jour J... plus qu'une heure avant le début du match. Tout ce que Sora pouvait percevoir clairement dans l'obscurité, c'était le siège dur et la sensation de Shiro sur ses genoux. Derrière lui... |
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| + | |||
| − | "Extension du bras spirituel... connecté ! Je le lance, je le fais... !" |
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| + | Ce jour-là, |
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| − | -Il entendit Til crier alors qu'elle abattait son marteau. Il a frappé à leurs pieds avec un boom. |
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| + | L'oisillon savait très bien que ça ne serait probablement jamais le cas. |
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| − | Tout le monde priait silencieusement : S'il te plaît, démarre bien. Puis une lumière spirituelle traversa les joints et illumina le petit espace, le cockpit qui les entourait tous les trois. Ensuite, le champ de vision de l'unité s'est affiché sur toute la surface du cockpit. |
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| + | L'oisillon implora la marionnette, qui jura de se battre : |
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| − | Ils étaient situés au milieu des ruines d'une ville souterraine abandonnée depuis longtemps. C'était une décharge, des déchets métalliques remplissant les restes d'usines où tout s'était arrêté sauf l'éternelle Sainte Flamme. C'était l'endroit où la ferraille inutile venait se reposer - en d'autres termes, leur lieu promis. Là, se tenait leur machine humanoïde géante, un lourd canon Gatling dans les deux mains. Depuis la posture du démon, il a tourné sa main gauche en arrière et a tiré dans la direction de huit heures. |
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| + | Aucun ciel ne vaut la peine de te voir souffrir. |
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| − | "Yuhh ! Ça marche, Til ! Shiro, comment ça se présente ? !" |
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| + | Alors la marionnette, elle aussi, s'enfuit dans cette même cage. |
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| − | "...Tous les systèmes, vert... Laisse-moi faire le tir..." |
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| + | Jusqu'à ce que nous trouvions un moyen de créer ce ciel, |
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| − | Sora et Shiro partageaient un seul siège dans le cockpit exigu, vérifiant la prise des joysticks de chaque côté. Sora tenait la droite et Shiro la gauche, des catalyseurs qu'ils tenaient avec des gants en orichalque tout en voulant faire bouger leur corps. Ils hochèrent la tête avec satisfaction lorsque l'unité prit exactement la "pose cool" qu'ils avaient imaginée. Ils le déplaçaient comme leur propre corps - non, comme un seul corps, deux en un. Tous deux souriants, ils le contrôlaient avec plus d'agilité que leur propre corps. Pendant ce temps, derrière eux... |
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| + | c'est ce que pensait la marionnette dans ce monde étouffant. |
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| − | "Ils ne sont pas verts, ils ne le sont pas... Malgré tout, l'écran est tout rouge, c'est touuuut." |
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| + | Pensée et seulement pensée... |
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| − | Til gémit dans le deuxième siège, serrant son marteau. L'écran était devenu rouge, les alertant d'erreurs même dans le processus de démarrage, même dans les diagnostics initiaux. |
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| + | Doutant et vacillant, ne trouvant rien à chercher, |
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| − | "Vous êtes vraiment sûrs de vous ?! Monsieur et Mademoiselle, vous avez l'intention d'affronter le chef - avec moi, vraiment ? Dans un rush de quatre jours comme celui-ci ? Je ne peux pas garantir que ça se passe bien, je ne le peux pas ! Je ne pourrais pas même si nous avions eu quarante ans, je ne le pourrais pas ! Je-je ne veux pas mouuuuurir..." |
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| + | la marionnette pensait toujours à cette promesse : |
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| − | Oui... Le combat à travers les bras spirituels. Tous les dégâts convergeaient vers leurs noyaux, ce qui signifiait qu'ils perdaient la partie si les manettes de Sora et de Shiro et le marteau de Til se brisaient. C'était un jeu de combat très sûr dans lequel il était impossible de briser l'armature de l'autre. Cependant... |
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| + | |||
| − | Les dommages non liés à la collision de leurs bras spirituels, tels que, oh, les explosions accidentelles et autres formes de dommages auto-induits étaient hors garantie. Ainsi, ils étaient tous heureux qu'il ait bien démarré, leur épargnant une "impasse" avant le début du jeu, mais le point de Til était qu'ils auraient peu de place pour se plaindre s'ils mouraient dans une mer de flammes à tout moment maintenant. |
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| + | Ce jour-là, |
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| − | "-Est-ce que ça va vraiment bien se passer sans Jibril ?" |
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| + | dans un nouveau pays, regardant les cieux, |
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| − | La voix s'est fait entendre de loin, au-delà de la vision de Sora, Shiro et de l'unité de Til. C'était un signal de l'unité qui était à l'affût au sommet d'une usine abandonnée. Ils pouvaient tout juste distinguer sa silhouette au zoom maximum, mais son style était clairement différent de celui des autres : un golem de fer qui semblait bien adapté pour être le patron de la fin d'une ruine. Sa forme simple mais raffinée était décorée de fleurs, et plusieurs lignes de lumière spirituelle brillaient sur lui. C'était l'unité de Chlammy et Fiel. |
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| + | voyant le bébé oiseau déployer ses ailes et sourire, |
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| − | "Ouais... Jibril ne peut pas participer à ce jeu. On le savait." |
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| + | la marionnette vide - le ciel - Sora - |
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| − | Sora a répondu avec un sourire que tout se passait comme prévu. Après tout, les différences entre les talents étaient absolues, y compris les talents pénibles. Comme dans le cas des talents à la con qui vaporisaient l'orichalque lors de la synchronisation en raison d'une énergie spirituelle excessive. Le pauvre Jibril, incapable de remplir les conditions de base du jeu, a dû bouder dans la cachette de Til. |
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| + | Traduit avec www.DeepL.com/Translator (version gratuite) |
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| − | "Ce qui m'inquiète le plus, c'est que... vous êtes sûrs de pouvoir le faire avec Chlammy comme pilote... ?" |
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| + | == Partie 1 == |
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| − | Sora a apporté un autre "talent" avec un sourire en coin. |
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| + | ...Une scène remplie de l'écho de l'éruption de la Forge Sacrée... le site d'élimination des déchets. |
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| − | Lors du test de l'unité, Fiel avait dit qu'elle essaierait de piloter. Puis elle avait poussé tous les membres de son unité en avant d'un seul coup, était tombée et s'était coincée la tête dans le sol. Elle était incroyablement douée quand il s'agissait d'être maladroite. |
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| + | Une gigantesque machine humanoïde argentée avance à pas lourds dans les ruines souterraines ensevelies sous les déchets métalliques. Des larmes coulent dans les yeux ardents de Veig qui marmonne avec désolation le premier souci de sa vie. |
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| − | ... Comment avez-vous réussi à faire ça avec une unité qui était censée bouger selon votre volonté comme votre propre corps ? Sora commençait à soupçonner que c'était moins un don qu'une malédiction qui interdisait à la race d'utiliser des outils, mais... |
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| + | "... Ai-je vraiment fait quelque chose de si mal... ?" |
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| − | " ...Nous savions aussi comment ça se passerait. Je suis au moins plus apte que Fi." |
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| + | Il se souvint des deux âmes qu'il avait fracassées après une lutte inattendue - l'âme de cette petite herbe étrangement coriace aux seins excellents, et l'âme de cette vipère incompréhensiblement toxique qui avait fait craquer son épée pour la première fois. Se balançant sombrement, vacillant en avant, il pensait : |
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| − | "Pourquoi, j'apporterai mon soutien ici. Il y a une place appropriée pour chacun d'entre nous. ♪" |
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| + | ...Que diable ai-je fait... ? |
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| − | La voix a indiqué le canon bizarre et follement grand monté sur le dos de l'unité, qui était apparemment fait de bois. Donc Chlammy pilotait et Fiel tirait. Mais encore une fois... |
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| + | Veig se souvenait avoir été remercié, mais jamais blâmé. Pourtant, tout ce qu'il ressentait maintenant était un mystérieux sentiment de culpabilité gravé dans son âme trop profondément pour le nier. Maintenant, il se tenait là, devant la masse métallique tombée, la machine gisant sur le sol avec ses membres totalisés. |
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| − | "... Je vérifie juste une dernière fois. Vous êtes d'accord pour qu'on aille chercher la victoire pour de bon, non ?" |
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| + | "...Ho... J'ai bien dit que je serais en retard, mais pour faire une sieste, tu as du cran, hein ?" |
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| − | "Pourquoi, nous sommes plus inquiets pour vous deux. Pouvez-vous vraiment tenir votre part du marché... ?" |
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| + | Veig a regardé attentivement le cadre cassé. Par le biais du système de communication, il a accusé ses pilotes de faire les morts. |
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| − | -『 』 n'étaient que des humains, aussi, après tout. Chlammy a fait un rappel un peu compliqué, tandis que Fi a poussé vivement. |
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| + | Dans ce jeu, les attaques ne causent aucun dommage direct à la machine adverse. Par conséquent, tout dommage doit provenir d'une défaillance du rite ou d'une erreur de tir - ou être auto-infligé. Et honnêtement, c'était les deux. L'intuition de Veig lui a dit. Il a soulevé le corps brisé et a hurlé. |
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| − | "Ne vous inquiétez pas. Quand on joue, on a l'intention de s'amuser.♪" |
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| + | "Hey, je te parle !! Ton adversaire, c'est moi. Ne te retourne pas et ne meurs pas. Tu n'as aucun sens ?!" |
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| − | "...Faites-nous confiance...nous jouerons...jusqu'à ce que, nous soyons satisfaits...♪" |
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| + | En effet... Sora et Shiro n'ont jamais eu la moindre chance contre Veig dans une bataille d'armes spirituelles. Il était donc inévitable qu'ils perdent. Mais quand même... |
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| − | Mais Sora et Shiro ont répondu avec irrévérence, aussi insouciants que possible. Sora a également murmuré : |
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| + | "Tu n'as pas l'intention de te taire sans dire un mot sur ton âme, n'est-ce pas ? !" |
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| − | "Je doute que personne d'autre que 『 』ne puisse affronter Veig." |
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| + | Oui, ils avaient tenu tête à Veig avec une tempête de balles impensable. Mais ils n'ont rien emporté de leur âme, le barrage était trop fragile. Tout ce qu'il a fait c'est rejeter l'attaque de Veig et dire non à son âme... |
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| − | Jusqu'à ce que nos tours soient dévoilés, ce qu'il gardait pour lui. Sora et Shiro mirent de côté leurs doutes et fermèrent les yeux dans l'attente du départ. |
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| + | Il n'a rien dit. Il n'a rien admis. Leur âme avait seulement rejeté la sienne et était restée inébranlable. Veig a serré les dents. S'ils pouvaient faire autant, alors pourquoi ? |
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| − | ... Les gants d'orichalque enserrant leurs manettes, Sora, Shiro et Til synchronisèrent leurs âmes, leurs trois noyaux se connectèrent... et ils se déplacèrent comme une seule unité. En sentant leurs sentiments s'aligner, comme s'ils se tenaient la main avec leurs cœurs, Sora a ressenti... |
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| + | Il souleva le cadre en ruine comme s'il le tenait par le col et se mit en colère : |
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| − | -...que ce n'était pas mal... C'était un peu comme lorsque Shiro s'endormait sur ses genoux. Leurs battements de cœur, leur respiration, même leurs émotions se chevauchaient doucement... c'était, en d'autres termes, comme d'habitude. Sora et Shiro n'avaient même pas besoin de se connecter par le biais de catalyseurs pour que leurs tensions et pulsations confortables se synchronisent. Il n'y avait que Til, qui était censé se synchroniser de la même manière. |
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| + | '''“Quand allez-vous répondre à ma question ?!”''' |
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| − | "...Il reste 600 secondes...avant le début du jeu...c'est ça." |
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| + | Et il a enfin obtenu une réponse. |
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| − | Comme en réponse au murmure inquiet de Til, un dispositif a surgi devant eux. |
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| + | "...Tout de suite, je le ferai. Je vais vous donner votre réponse, je vais le faire." |
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| − | Il s'est divisé en de nombreuses pièces qui se sont attachées au plafond : d'innombrables caméras et des antennes de transmission. Ils avaient eux-mêmes stipulé que le lieu et leurs unités resteraient tous secrets jusqu'à dix minutes avant le début. L'équipement que Til avait lancé avait été fourni par Veig dans le but de diffuser le jeu dans tout Hardenfell. Ils sentaient les regards des Nains sur tous les écrans de ce pays, le deuxième plus grand du monde. |
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| + | ... Une voix a murmuré à travers la porte. |
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| − | Sora, Shiro, et Til. Et Chlammy et Fiel. Deux unités, cinq personnes- ils ont attendu dans le silence troublé seulement par la combustion de la Forge Sainte, ils ont attendu le début de la partie, l'arrivée de leur adversaire. Et à la fin... |
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| + | "Whuh ?!" |
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| − | '''"QUE LA FÊTEEEEE COMMMMMMEEENCE !!!"''' |
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| + | L'épave a soudainement répliqué en explosant, libérant un torrent d'âme fou. Elle lui répondit par une puissante imagerie qui lui vola momentanément sa conscience. |
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| − | Cela n'a pas été transmis par le système de communication, mais par les haut-parleurs externes. Cette chose est apparue dans les airs au-dessus de la salle, la lumière bleue des particules de son demi-mouvement à travers l'ancre suivant dans son sillage. Son corps argenté et fluide a atterri en soulevant une tempête de ferraille et de gravats comme un boulet de canon. C'était l'unité qu'ils avaient vue il y a six jours, avec une seule différence, mais quand même... |
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| + | —…… |
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| − | "Nous sommes en direct !! Vous avez la chanson du générique ? ! Prêt à décomposer les moments forts après que j'ai gagné ?!" |
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| + | '''Il était au fond d'un petit trou, sombre et exigu. Veig connaissait la fille qui pleurait en regardant le ciel, seule. Il la connaissait bien... la fille incapable de voler, qui plus que quiconque admirait les oiseaux qui volaient si haut.''' |
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| − | Sa main gauche a sorti l'épée ridiculement grande de son dos et l'a brandie devant les innombrables caméras. Il était prêt à déclarer la victoire à tout Hardenfell. |
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| + | '''Une fille paradoxale, elle savait qu'elle ne pouvait pas voler et pourtant elle levait les yeux au ciel... Elle pleurait même si elle avait abandonné... Le monde l'interrogeait avec des questions sans réponse - pourquoi elle avait fui, pourquoi elle n'avait pas essayé - puis lui demandait pourquoi elle pleurait... et la méprisait pour cela. Il l'a laissée dans ce trou... sans rien vouloir...''' |
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| − | Aucun Nain n'aurait besoin de demander pourquoi. Car en effet... |
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| + | '''La fille solitaire... balançant son marteau à travers les larmes...... Il-''' |
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| − | '''"C'est moi, le PUTAIN'D' chef d'Hardenfell !!!"''' |
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| + | —…… |
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| − | -il s'agissait, en fait, du plus grand de tous les Nains, doué d'un talent inégalé à cette époque... et de son chef-d'œuvre. |
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| + | Veig a essayé de tendre la main... mais blam, l'explosion a secoué la grotte et l'a tiré de sa rêverie. Dès qu'il a jeté un coup d'oeil autour de lui, peut-être plus tôt, il a deviné ce qui se passait. Il grimaça et hurla d'impatience. |
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| − | ...... |
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| + | "Quelle blague... Vous n'avez jamais eu personne là-dedans depuis le début ? C'était télécommandé... ?!" |
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| − | Sora et les autres n'avaient aucun moyen de savoir quel genre d'acclamations et de musique se produisaient à l'autre bout, mais... |
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| + | Maintenant que tu le dis, il n'y avait aucune règle qui disait que tu devais piloter la machine... si ? S'ils le contrôlaient depuis un cockpit à l'extérieur du cadre, ils pouvaient le balancer sans problème. |
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| − | "......Mmm ? Alors, c'est ici que ça se passe, c'est ça... ? Eh bien, je suppose que n'importe quel endroit fera l'affaire, hein... ?" |
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| + | Mais même si c'était télécommandé, ils devaient être connectés à leurs bras spirituels. Ce qui signifiait que faire exploser leur propre cadre si négligemment aurait des répercussions. Et en effet, le sol a tremblé avec une réaction en chaîne d'explosions l'une après l'autre dans toute la décharge. |
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| − | -sur place, ces mots résonnaient dans le vide, tandis que les personnes présentes ne disaient rien. L'air légèrement contrarié, il passe au système de communication - dirigeant la tête de son unité au loin - et change de vitesse. |
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| + | Les esprits générés ont dessiné des lignes de lumière comme si elles circulaient dans des circuits gravés sur la scène. Le circuit de lumière convergeait pour le montrer : |
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| − | "Tu crois vraiment que tu peux me battre avec ce genre de bêtises ? Tu te fous de ma gueule ?" |
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| + | La véritable unité ! |
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| − | Alors que le blâme profondément déçu de Veig se faisait entendre, tout le monde devait admettre : |
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| + | Désireux de voir où se trouvait le vrai cockpit, Veig a suivi la lumière de l'esprit jusqu'à sa destination. Il s'est avéré qu'il se trouvait au centre de la scène tremblante, si loin que sa fonction zoom était tout juste suffisante pour le distinguer. Au sommet d'une plante particulièrement haute, ses yeux ont trouvé leur cible et se sont ouverts en grand. Il s'agissait d'une fille qu'il connaissait bien, debout sur le siège d'un cockpit ouvert. |
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| − | -Ouais...on dirait bien que c'est le cas... |
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| + | "Vous demandez pourquoi j'ai fui ce monde sanglant, n'est-ce pas... ? ...C'est une question stupide, en effet." |
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| − | Face à la machine de Veig, même Fiel était obligée de glousser devant l'infériorité de la sienne. Et puis il y avait celle contrôlée par Sora, Shiro et Til. |
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| + | Mais c'est une fille qu'il ne connaissait pas qui lui a murmuré. Ses yeux, embrasés d'un feu inextinguible, regardaient sa machine au loin. La fille, avec un morceau de ferraille en forme de marteau dans sa main, a parlé comme si elle déposait une déclaration de guerre. De son cœur, elle a dit son âme... pas des faits objectifs, mais ses sentiments : |
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| − | "...Et même toi, tu ne peux pas faire mieux que d'emprunter de la merde ? Si tu te moques de moi, je vais devoir t'écraser." |
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| + | "C'est parce que je méprise ce monde, vraiment." |
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| − | En effet...c'était "emprunté". |
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| + | == Partie 2 == |
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| − | La machine de Lóni Drauvnir, d'il y a six mille ans, qui avait été exposée à la salle du chef. Une relique du passé. Déjà une antiquité. De plus, ils avaient retiré l'équipement offensif des épaules. Il n'était pas étonnant que Veig les regarde avec dépit et désillusion. Personne ne pouvait réfuter que leur unité était inférieure à celle de Veig. Non, ils ne pouvaient pas le réfuter... ils ne pouvaient pas faire ça. Cependant ! |
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| + | Til’s voice, resolute, was yet like her limbs…jittery. She couldn’t help but tremble, because of what she saw down there from the open cockpit—Veig standing there in the venue that still quaked from the blasts—and because of the sparkling hammer in her right hand. Regardless— |
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| − | '''"Qui êtes-vous pour parler ?! Vous croyez que c'est nous qui déconnons ?!"''' |
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| + | “Don’t worry. We’ll blast off with you. We promised, didn’t we?” |
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| − | Ils pouvaient le réfuter !! |
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| + | “…Brother…always…keeps, his promises… Trust us, okay?” |
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| − | Sora parlait pour Shiro et Til dans le cockpit avec lui - ainsi que Chlammy et Fiel sur le lieu de l'événement - et probablement même Jibril, qui regardait : |
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| + | —Sora’s and Shiro’s voices intoned from the seat in front of her, joyful but firm. And Til felt them holding her left hand tight. She broke into a smile to realize her trembling had somehow stopped…and she continued with her eyes fixed straight ahead on Veig’s machine, all the way through to the man inside. |
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| − | '''"Vous ne vous souciez même pas de savoir s'il est vivant maintenant ?! Pourquoi tu nous racontes des conneries depuis un robot à gros cul ? T'as perdu la tête ?!"''' |
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| + | “…I hate this country. I hate Hardenfell, I do.” |
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| − | ...Bwoing... |
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| + | She reaffirmed her feelings—her belief. This arrogant world told her not to run. This |
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| − | La seule différence avec l'unité qu'ils avaient vue l'autre jour était qu'ils se balançaient d'une manière agaçante et saine. Les visages de tous se tordaient de dégoût devant ces gros seins qui semblaient avoir été simplement boulonnés. Cependant- |
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| + | oppressive world told her not to be ashamed. Til looked up at its tireless way of life and sneered at it. |
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| − | "Hff... Inspiré par ces beaux seins bruts, j'ai trouvé un moyen d'atteindre des sommets encore plus élevés, et vous ne pouvez toujours pas l'apprécier... ? C'est quoi votre problème ? Vous êtes de ceux-là ? Un pauvre type qui ne reconnaît pas l'art quand il le voit ?" |
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| + | “I love the sky, I do… In this country…the sky is closed off, it is.” |
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| − | "Vous pensez que les seins qui gigotent sont de l'art ?! Hé, cessez de les pousser vers le haut ! Arrête de les pousser vers l'avant ! Arrêtez de vous tortiller !!" |
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| + | The cave’s ceiling reminded her; lost and confused, she’d ended up in this dump before she knew it, and the world asked her, Why did you run? Now, Til knew the feeling of a hand in hers. Now, she knew another world—that of those two. Now, she could say it: |
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| − | Sans se décourager, Veig a exhibé ses puissants seins. Incapable de le supporter, Sora s'est serré la tête. |
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| + | Ah…there never was a place for me here. |
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| − | "...Regarde. C'est comme les genres de jeux. Quand vous vous spécialisez comme ça, vous limitez le public... Et quand vous êtes tellement spécialisé que ce que vous regardez est plus étroit qu'une tête d'épingle, vous devez vraiment élargir votre point de vue et penser comme l'homme de la rue... '''Au moins façonnez le mécha entier comme une femme, voulez-vous ?!'''" |
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| + | —Screw this place—!! |
||
| − | Quant à ce qui le faisait chier : Ce serait une chose si nous parlions d'un robot féminin comme dans Virtual-*n<ref>[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_On Virtual On]</ref>, mais celui-ci n'était qu'un gros morceau de métal rebondissant avec d'énormes seins attachés à un cadre élégant. |
||
| + | So—! |
||
| − | ...C'était quoi ce rebondissement ? Même le métal liquide ne devrait pas rebondir comme ça !! |
||
| + | “I also hate the chieftain of this country. I hate you, I do…!” |
||
| − | "Qu'est-ce que tu veux de moi, gamin ? Je dois me battre avec cette chose ! Tu n'as pas le droit de le reconstruire. C'est contre les règles ! Les spécifications peuvent tolérer des modifications cosmétiques mineures comme celle-ci, alors je me suis arraché le cœur en faisant ce que je pouvais, vous savez ?!" |
||
| + | The hammer sparkled ever brighter as Til’s words spilled out uncontrollably, with the pain that burned her up. What came back was a lonely, sorrowful chuckle. Til ground her teeth. |
||
| − | "Arrache-toi les tripes ! Pourquoi t'as collé ça sur un truc avec lequel tu allais te battre en premier lieu ?!" |
||
| + | …She’d known—no, she’d had a hunch—that he’d say that. What he was saying. As if it was everything— |
||
| − | Leur échange a continué à travers la ligne de communication, insupportable à écouter. Mais sur une note totalement différente... |
||
| + | '''“I hate that…how everything’s just as you expected… I hate iiit!!”''' |
||
| − | "... C'est soixante secondes... avant le début du jeu... c'est..." |
||
| + | Her voice impulsively swelled with the pain that only grew: |
||
| − | -... Til marmonne, de plus en plus mal à l'aise, et, en même temps... |
||
| + | '''“I hate how you act like you’re so great, I do! I hate even more that you actually are, I do!!”''' |
||
| − | ...le son de la vapeur de la Forge Sainte remplit la salle, annonçant midi. |
||
| + | The dam had burst, and her feelings could no longer be contained. |
||
| − | "...D'accord, alors - aucun changement dans les règles ou les jetons-" |
||
| + | “I hate how you advertise yourself as a genius, I do! I hate how I can’t argue because you actually are a genius, I do!! I hate how you look down on me, I do! I hate so much that it’s only natural because you’re above me, I do!! I hate how you’re so hairy!! You shaved too much, you say?! So what? Are you trying to rub it in? I wish you’d go to hell, I do!! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you—U-Uncle, you’re a pervert!! I hate you very, very, veeery much, I do!!” |
||
| − | Peu importe à qui il répondait, Veig a levé la main de son mécha et a continué. |
||
| + | «Whoa!! Come on, stop already or I’m really gonna cry! Goddamn!» |
||
| − | "C'est fini si je casse tous vos noyaux, ou si vous cassez les miens... Au fait, il n'y a que des joueurs ? Si vous voulez autoriser de nouveaux challengers, vous devez le dire maintenant." |
||
| + | The momentum had flushed out everything Til wanted to say. Inattentive to the tearful begging over the comm system, Til caught her breath. As the shaking of the stage and the sparkling of her hammer and her pain all grew in speed, she wiped her tears. With a sharp, firm voice, she mulled over her words carefully and gave her answer: |
||
| − | Veig a demandé d'un air autoritaire, sachant que Jibril n'était pas là. |
||
| + | “I hate you. That’s why I run. If that’s not enough for you to understand—” |
||
| − | Mais Sora, Shiro, et Til ont également levé la main de leur mécha et ont répondu. |
||
| + | Then in the spirit of the game: |
||
| − | "Eh bien, vous savez, nous n'avons pas beaucoup d'amis. Ceux qui sont ici sont tout le monde. Nous le garderons fermé aux nouveaux challengers." |
||
| + | “—I’ll sock it to you like this—and then I think you will understand, I do.” |
||
| − | "...Pas de magie, à part les armes spirituelles et les rites de scellement... Je ne peux pas l'utiliser de toute façon... Pas de problème." |
||
| + | Yes—seeing behind her eyelids the place the feeling of those two had taken her as they held her left hand, that black sky with a white bird, Til laid down the gauntlet sonorously. |
||
| − | "Pourquoi, nous sommes de si bons amis, je vais laisser passer ça même si c'est un sacré problème.♪" |
||
| + | “I fled to win—to honor my promise, I did.” |
||
| − | L'accord de Fiel était dégoulinant de mécontentement tandis que Veig affichait un petit sourire en coin. |
||
| + | …A tactical withdrawal was made when one had a chance of victory… She had been just lost, but now it would be redefined—no. Each time another explosion went off, the spirits converged into her hammer, and it was that pain. |
||
| − | La torsion de ses lèvres s'entendait dans sa voix alors qu'il exposait le point principal avec un poids retentissant. |
||
| + | And now it had been redefined—!! |
||
| − | "Très bien, prêt pour la bagarre ? Voyez si vous pouvez me faire accepter votre âme." |
||
| + | That pain had turned her conviction into that of the past. Til savagely swung her hammer as she— |
||
| − | Et c'est ainsi que les trois méchas et les six personnes dans les cockpits ont levé leurs mains et ont crié en chœur : |
||
| + | —bellowed forth her soul with the stirring of a power beyond all normal conception throughout the venue. |
||
| − | —Aschente— |
||
| + | '''“I fled for the sake of this day, when I’d surpass you, I diiid!!”''' |
||
| − | "Ha ! Niècey, tu es dans le coup, aussi... ? Tu n'as plus nulle part où aller, hein ?" |
||
| + | == Partie 3 == |
||
| − | "......" |
||
| + | It was a power that all feared instinctively. The memories sleeping deep in their blood awakened. An outrageous power of a whole different rank, a whole different status, a whole different order of magnitude—quite literally a different level. The future brought on in the next few moments by this power beyond reason didn’t take someone like Veig to foresee. It was a strike from the heavens that sneered at every one of heaven’s gifts crawling atop the earth, judging them likewise of null value. No one could mistake that power. It was |
||
| − | Veig, qui avait entendu la voix rocailleuse de Til, continua avec un rire jovial. |
||
| + | a Heavenly Smite…… |
||
| − | "Juste pour que tu saches : Je tiens mes promesses. N'attends pas de pitié de ma part." |
||
| + | “Hey, whoaaa! I thought the Flügel wasn’t—hey, isn’t that against the rules?!” |
||
| − | -...Grk... |
||
| + | From his machine—his cockpit—Veig screeched, blanching. Someone who wasn’t in the game—with magic that wasn’t even a seal rite!! His one eye searched in a panic for the Flügel, but in the next moment— |
||
| − | Grâce aux catalyseurs, la sensation de Til, qui tenait son marteau d'une main tremblante, a fait son chemin jusqu'à Sora et Shiro. |
||
| + | —he realized that the center of the crawling power…was Til’s hammer. And his one eye was opened by the roar over the comm system and the unheard-of shock that followed… Yes: |
||
| − | ...C'était le sentiment naturel de quelqu'un qui regarde vers le ciel malgré son incapacité à voler. Le tremblement de ses mains était celui de se jeter dans le vide, un mélange de peur et de malaise. Cependant, quand elle a réalisé qu'ils partageaient ses sentiments, le tremblement s'est légèrement atténué. Oui... ils ont ressenti la peur qui les a poussés à se concentrer au maximum. Til a également ressenti le malaise... et pour cette raison, elle s'est sentie remplie d'espoir. |
||
| + | '''«Ultra-large-scale spirit-arm expansion—connect all!! Ariiiise!!!»''' |
||
| − | "...Ho, bande d'idiots. Laissez-moi ajouter une autre règle. Vous devez me dire où vous avez touché pour activer la motivation de ma putain de nièce, d'accord ? Vous pourrez le faire après avoir perdu et être revenu à vous." |
||
| + | Til’s face wrenched in agony as she brought down the hammer. There was a flash as it bore through the cockpit…and through the plant below. With that, there came a moment of silence to the blast-stricken venue. And then… |
||
| − | Le ricanement sauvage de Veig fut répondu par le feu et le soufre qui signalaient midi - la corne de la Forge Sacrée, annonçant le début de la partie. Simultanément, les amas de métal, amalgames de vérité et de mensonge, se heurtèrent et produisirent une explosion plus forte que la Forge elle-même. |
||
| + | “—?!!” |
||
| − | == Partie 2 == |
||
| + | …a vertical oscillation unlike anything that had gone before tossed them. A heavy shock came from behind Veig. He dodged instinctively on the spot, but from the mass of metal that had only grazed him flowed a tempestuous soul. |
||
| − | À peine la flamme sacrée a-t-elle éclaté pour marquer le début de la partie que le golem de Chlammy et Fiel a fait demi-tour et a disparu dans les ruines. L'unité contrôlée par Sora et Shiro a également fui sans la moindre hésitation. Les caractéristiques de Veig étaient inconnues, mais clairement supérieures aux leurs. Et en plus de ça, le pilote était Veig. Un combat rapproché était hors de question. Par conséquent, Sora et Shiro ont opté pour la tactique du tir de projectiles à moyenne et longue portée, mais... |
||
| + | '''……''' |
||
| − | "Mmm... Bon, je vais vérifier... si vous me prenez vraiment pour un imbécile. Vous pouvez esquiver ça, n'est-ce pas ?" |
||
| + | '''A girl who wanted to imagine things that could not be imagined. A girl who wanted to fly though by no effort could she fly. Saying she could do nothing, she chased the bird in the sky for which there was nothing to do…''' |
||
| − | La voix est sortie de l'unité qui les observait tranquillement à 400 mètres de distance. |
||
| + | '''They said she was just running. They mocked that it was impossible. Her soul…''' |
||
| − | Et puis, quelque chose a volé devant leurs yeux, alors qu'avant même que leurs cerveaux ne puissent le traiter, Sora et Shiro, et même Til... ont perçu une seule chose. C'était aussi incohérent que si plusieurs secondes avaient été perdues dans leur mémoire. C'était trop soudain. L'unité de Veig était censée être à quatre cents mètres de là - et maintenant elle était devant leurs yeux, levant son épée géante débordante de lumière. Tout ce qu'ils percevaient était le froid, la chair de poule qui se levait sur leur peau en sachant que leur unité était sur le point d'être fendue de la tête aux pieds... |
||
| + | «I…knew it! …I knew it!! Better than anyone, I did…!!» |
||
| − | —. |
||
| + | The transmission helped Veig crawl back to reality. But another—no, ten more—no, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand—innumerable storms of metal whipped through the stage and assaulted his unit like squalls. |
||
| − | ...la compréhension de Sora a juste réussi à rattraper son retard : Veig avait lancé son épée et s'en était servi comme d'une ancre pour se téléporter devant eux... alors que Veig saisissait sa poignée dans la main gauche de son unité. Mais le comprendre n'était pas suffisant pour l'éviter. Sora ne pouvait même pas bouger. Il est resté assis là, à regarder la lame s'abattre avec tout l'esprit de Veig, toute son âme... Un éclair suffisant pour détruire leur Mech et faucher leurs âmes avec... Cela aurait dû signifier la mort instantanée. Mais en accord avec les règles et les conventions, les dommages ont convergé vers le coeur de Sora, Shiro et Til... Oui... |
||
| + | Just scraps, they hadn’t much in the way of force or even speed. But every time the fierce soul contained in them scratched by his frame, it left residue. As Til’s voice, wheezing in agony, continued to come through, it pounded at Veig’s will, hard, so hard— |
||
| − | '''“Agh—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhh?!”''' |
||
| + | «So…you wanted me to live like you…? Fa-kew!!» |
||
| − | Le coup a attaqué leurs noyaux synchronisés, et ils ont crié... |
||
| + | To live like them. Like a Dwarf. Without giving up. Without going astray or tiring. To try to overcome natural gifts. To live without shame or retreat. Indeed… Putting themselves on pedestals, though they couldn’t overcome Veig!! Looking as if they understood, talking as if they knew!! They’d called her rubbish, and then!! They’d all said it. They’d basically said this… |
||
| − | —......... |
||
| + | —Everyone else is doing it, so you should, too. |
||
| − | '''La prochaine chose que Sora vit, ce fut une colline, où une brise agréable soufflait.''' |
||
| + | —You can dream you’ll be rewarded. Just do it— |
||
| − | '''"... Maître. Pourquoi... pourquoi avez-vous choisi de fuir... ?"''' |
||
| + | —just shut up and do your work!!— |
||
| − | '''Jibril se tenait devant lui, les pics montagneux de sa poitrine se balançant.''' |
||
| + | «I don’t like a world that tells me what to do… I hate it, I do!!» |
||
| − | '''"Ma chair est vôtre... et pourtant vous ne l'avez pas une seule fois enfoncée dans vos mains."''' |
||
| + | I’ll never give in… |
||
| − | '''-Quoi... ? Hum, ce n'est pas tant fuir que se retenir désespérément.''' |
||
| + | I’ll overcome the chieftain and destroy those dictates—!! |
||
| − | '''"Pourquoi cela, Maître ? Ma chair n'est-elle pas digne de votre usage ?"''' |
||
| + | I’ll use measuring instruments and Elven theory. I’ll use anything to find a different way! |
||
| − | '''-Euh... pourquoi ? P-parce que ma soeur Shiro est ici, et...''' |
||
| + | I’ll show him… So she thought… |
||
| − | '''Ses yeux erraient à la recherche d'une excuse pour ne pas embrasser les seins massifs de la Jibril en larmes... mais ce qu'ils trouvèrent, c'est la Loli Shiro aux gros seins qui souriait à côté de lui, lui donnant le feu vert avec son pouce tourné.''' |
||
| + | «But…no matter what I did…I just…couldn’t find anything!!» |
||
| − | '''"Est-ce parce que tu manques de confiance en tant qu'homme que tu fuis ma richesse ?"''' |
||
| + | Just piling up failures. Bathed in error, lost, confused, making one mistake after another. At last surrendering to a false resignation, as paradoxical as ever. Unable to say anything in return… At some point…she came to think she’d forgotten those feelings, and just wandered, pathetically. |
||
| − | '''-Quoi... Uh ? Est-ce que j'ai... fui... ?''' |
||
| + | «…But—hee-hee… Now I know what to say—I do…» |
||
| − | '''"Maître... les nichons ne sont pas menaçants. S'il vous plaît, rassemblez votre courage et surmontez votre peur..."''' |
||
| + | Weeping, sobbing, yet the two souls grinned. At last Veig realized the true nature of the maelstrom of metal pounding his unit. And for the first time in his life, he said, It couldn’t be—he doubted his own intuition. |
||
| − | '''Oh... OK, je crois que j'ai peut-être fui, je veux dire...''' |
||
| + | “……Hey… Ho. I must be hallucinating, ain’t I?” |
||
| − | '''Sora a tendu le bras pour répondre à sa demande de pétrissage de sa poitrine généreuse. Après tout, refuser une telle demande dans ces circonstances serait une honte pour un garçon. Si sa sœur aux gros seins, Shiro, disait que c'était d'accord, alors il ne devrait avoir aucune raison de se retenir ! Et donc, ah... si le bonheur avait une forme, ce ne pourrait être que la forme de cette sensation !''' |
||
| + | He saw the whirlwind of metal converging. Not the ground shaking, but the stage moving. Not the metal flying, but just gathering. The parts, the catalysts were joining and coupling and assembling. The majestic waste disposal site was rising as one. The stage itself was wakening—and standing up. That was his impression. It was confirmed by Til’s announcement to everyone watching in Hardenfell, I’ll tell you, and the thing that towered before his eyes—a thing inconceivably gargantuan. |
||
| − | '''"...Nii... Les seins... sont faux... Réveille...toi !"''' |
||
| + | «You forge ahead without shame…as you will—but I, too…will do as I will, I will!!» |
||
| − | '''Alors que Sora massait son bonheur anormalement doux, il a entendu une voix lointaine. Oui... d'un endroit très éloigné, une voix qui n'était pas celle de la fausse soeur à ses côtés !''' |
||
| + | She’d led a life of shame—failing, contradicting herself, getting lost without end. Today, this moment, was what it had all been for, and for that she was proud. She trumpeted to all the world that had rejected her, just as they were taught: |
||
| − | —......... |
||
| + | '''«Shut up!! Your stupid world can eat shit, it can!! Pft!»''' |
||
| − | C'est vrai, un faux est un faux... Il ne pourra jamais être comparé à la vraie Shiro- !! |
||
| + | Having asserted her freedom to rebel, the girl crumpled. The siblings embraced her and kept her from falling. Veig gaped at last. |
||
| − | Avec une ferme résolution, Sora s'est échappé de l'illusion et a retourné sa conscience dans le cockpit où la vrai Shiro l'attendait... |
||
| + | It wasn’t from finally observing the giant object towering over him. It was the girl held by the siblings in the now-empty cockpit at the top…the girl weeping tears of heartfelt joy that she was not alone—a girl beyond his knowledge, who looked down at a bird from heights beyond its knowledge…with a dazzling smile…beyond all knowledge. |
||
| − | "Qu... ? ! Heyyy, Shiro ! Pour un frère, presser les énormes seins de sa soeur de 11 ans, n'est-ce pas la cause d'un verdict de culpabilité unanime ?" |
||
| + | «…Uncle, did you…ever imagine…this…?» |
||
| − | [[Image:NGNL V10 11.jpg|thumb]] |
||
| + | She asked him whether this was a sight that effort and sensibility could get to—and that moment, a torrent of violence descended upon Veig’s unit… |
||
| − | ...et se lamenta sur son crime, réalisant que le bonheur illusoire qu'il avait éprouvé était la sensation de Shiro augmenté en mammouth sur ses genoux. Sora s'est éloigné en paniquant, mais... Non, tu ne peux pas !! Shiro a rapidement serré sa main. Pétrissant sa grosse poitrine avec la main de Sora comme si elle voulait ajouter à sa phrase, elle lui a dit. |
||
| + | == Partie 4 == |
||
| − | "...Les faux seins sont supérieurs ! Les faux seins...sont des rembourrages... !! Ce qui signifie... que tu peux les toucher et les écraser... tu peux faire n'importe quoi... et c'est bon ! Y a-t-il quelque chose de mal... à toucher... un ballon de baudruche dans la poitrine ? !" |
||
| + | Neither Veig nor any of the Dwarves watching through all of Hardenfell had ever imagined it, most likely. However, aside from Dwarves…the three who were watching at Til’s hideout did not seem all that surprised. Their eyes still on the monitor, they spoke admiringly… |
||
| − | ...... |
||
| + | “…Wow… A city can walk, can it…? Oh, is that also a spirit arm?” |
||
| − | ......Huh ? Maintenant que tu le dis... |
||
| + | “To be more precise, it is a spirit-arm expansion connected to her hammer, on which she engraved my one-percent Heavenly Smite.” |
||
| − | Au moment où Sora commençait à être convaincue... |
||
| + | “Observation: Height 9,700 meters. Length 74,200 meters. Cannon count 982. Definition: High-maneuver fortress class. Evidence of brilliance of Master. Excessive. Zero maturity. This unit loves that part of him, too… Blush.” |
||
| − | "......Mm.♥" |
||
| + | Steph knew those siblings… She’d imagined they’d do something unimaginable. No, she’d known it. So she watched the screen with a sense of resignation, as a shadow desperately ran from the storm falling from the mountain of steel… |
||
| − | "M-messieurs.. M'dame ! ! L-le contrôle... Nous sommes désynchronisés, nous le sommes ! !" |
||
| + | == Partie 5 == |
||
| − | Til, également amélioré au niveau thoracique, hurla par-dessus les gémissements de Shiro, ce dont Sora fut reconnaissante. |
||
| + | At the venue, rain fell from the heap of scrap—torrential rain deep underground where there was no sky. Each drop sliced the wind, pierced the ground, and created a deeper depth below the bottom. |
||
| − | "Reprends tes esprits, Shiro ! Un frère qui enfonce un ballon dans la poitrine de sa petite sœur et le serre en disant "C'est bon, c'est juste un ballon, gweh-heh-heh" est sérieusement atteint dans sa tête ! Et de toute façon, les gens ne vont pas voir ça d'un bon œil, tu sais ?!" |
||
| + | “What a little man you are, Veig!! You talk big, but you’re the one who’s smaaaall!!” |
||
| − | Sora agrippa le joystick profondément fissuré et hurla alors qu'une vision remplissait sa vision nouvellement récupérée - la vision laissée par Veig, désormais lointaine. Shiro et Til, eux aussi, ont blanchi et dégluti. |
||
| + | It was a hailstorm of scrap that accompanied the raucous laughter. |
||
| − | La lame de Veig avait commencé à s'enfoncer dans la poitrine de l'unité de Sora et Shiro, avant qu'ils ne la secouent. Son coup avait activé "l'essence de gros seins" de l'épée - son réécriture conceptuelle - et brisé le tas de ferraille qui les entourait. Mais ce n'est pas sa force brute qui les a fait trembler. C'était Veig lui-même, qui avait produit ce spectacle. Les statues qui roulaient aux pieds de Veig, même les statues de petites filles qui semblaient avoir été mises de côté, montraient toutes des seins proéminents. C'était un pervers. |
||
| + | “You called this stage our hunting grounds?! What puny thoughts—what a tiny imagination!! As would be expected from someone so small-minded as to only appreciate big boobs—ah, it’s a veritable microcosm of your life!!” |
||
| − | "Tch, tu refuses mes seins idéaux. Pointilleux, pointilleux... Tu te prends pour qui, le puceau ?" |
||
| + | “…You said…we could use any machines…and do anything with the venue, didn’t you?♪” |
||
| − | "Je sais qui vous êtes si vous vous acharnez à dire que même les statues doivent toutes avoir de gros seins. Vous êtes un pervers !" |
||
| + | Towering with a sneer on top was a giant mecha of junk—of the unwanted. Of unvalued failures and rejected scrap. |
||
| − | Sora a hurlé au nom de tous, horrifié par Veig. Puis- |
||
| + | This was the gathering place for the things that might have not been mistakes. This was their home turf, they indicated with a sneer. |
||
| − | -...tous les trois frissonnèrent : C'est comme prévu, mais quel jeu redoutable. |
||
| + | “Who’s gonna take the time to hunt their prey after they’ve already lured them in?” |
||
| − | ...Les dégâts ont convergé vers les noyaux - oui, les noyaux qui synchronisaient leurs âmes avec l'orichalque. Ainsi, ils ont littéralement écrasé leurs âmes l'une contre l'autre, et si la sienne l'emportait sur la leur, elle empiétait sur la sienne comme elle venait de le faire. |
||
| + | Sora uproariously exposed the truth that was now assaulting Veig. |
||
| − | Et si leurs cœurs se brisaient, tout comme leurs manettes se fissuraient maintenant, leurs noyaux s'effriteraient... Ah... En effet, c'était une collision d'âmes... ! Le cadre était sûr ; il ne se briserait pas. Mais un faux pas, et les gros seins régneraient en maîtres, statues et tout ! !! |
||
| + | “If you’re gonna lure in your prey, obviously you’re gonna go straight to a trap, aren’t you, you scrub?!” |
||
| − | ... Ils devaient réfléchir un peu pour savoir s'ils préféraient franchir cette ligne ou mourir... !! |
||
| + | It was a cage, a trap. The junk itself, the venue itself, the soul of a girl who had patched failure to error itself— |
||
| − | "...Hff... Qui l'aurait cru... ?" |
||
| + | '''“Ladies and gentlemen—the venue itself is our machine!! How do you like that?!”''' |
||
| − | L'unité de Sora et Shiro se préparait avec une terreur non dissimulée. Mais Veig, qui leur faisait face, semblait plus intéressé par ce dernier moment impensable, qu'il racontait avec un plaisir sincère. Oui- |
||
| + | '''“…We of Blank call it…the Spirit of Mother Til…♪”''' |
||
| − | "Tout d'abord, que ma foutue nièce soit aussi pleine d'esprit que moi... Qui l'eût cru ?" |
||
| + | It literally looked down on Veig, nine hundred seventy times his size. Sora and Shiro cackled, back at the reins for their big counterattack. |
||
| − | Oui- L'unité de Shiro et Sora était un chef d'œuvre d'un talent passé et du seul rival de Veig, Lóni Drauvnir. Même sans "l'essence de gros seins", personne n'aurait pu le déplacer à part Veig. De plus : |
||
| + | —Come, O ye who declare yourselves infallible, those of the righteous world. Now our patchwork heap shall speak with iron and lightning and fire to test our Mother’s spirit. We shall now question the refuse that you have shorn away and discarded in your quest to forge. We ask: On what grounds did you reject us—?! |
||
| − | "Et tu as démultiplié cette grande chose et cette puissance de feu ! Qui l'aurait cru ?" |
||
| + | “Personally, I’m not as into the NEXTs as the Arms Forts built by average schmucks to confront them.” |
||
| − | En effet, tout comme Veig l'avait fait un peu plus tôt, ils avaient eux aussi utilisé un demi-tour pour s'esquiver derrière lui. Et immédiatement après, la Gatling dans les bras de leur unité avait déclenché un torrent de tirs de suppression qui avait traversé les ruines, transpercé le mécha de Veig et l'avait arrêté dans son élan. Un barrage aussi puissant aurait dû être impossible sans des esprits d'une ampleur similaire à celle de Veig. |
||
| + | In fiction, raw size is destined to be overthrown. |
||
| − | "Mais ce que je n'aurais jamais pensé..." |
||
| + | Which is how we know that reality is different!! Indeed—!! |
||
| − | Veig a nommé ce qui était encore plus impensable, sa voix étant teintée à la fois de jubilation et de férocité. |
||
| + | '''“Raw mass is the secret to defeating genius, biiitch!! We haven’t designed this bullet hell with any place to hide! You trap ’em and smash ’em with sheer numbers! There’s no better tactic!! All you gotta do is win, baby, win!!”''' |
||
| − | "- c'est que tu m'esquiverais sans pouvoir réagir, et que tu couperais ma poursuite. Comment t'as fait ça, bordel ?" |
||
| + | In reality—overkill is all the better!! |
||
| − | En effet. Ni Sora, ni Shiro, ni même Til n'étaient capables de réagir aux manœuvres de Veig. En plus de cela, ils n'ont pas réussi à esquiver complètement sa frappe et se sont perdus dans une illusion pendant plusieurs secondes. Donc, en regardant toute cette série d'événements... |
||
| + | Seated in the cockpit, Sora and Shiro controlled the massive body and filled the screen with projectiles. |
||
| − | -Quel était leur truc pour réussir à faire ça sans pouvoir réagir ou même être conscient, demanda la voix ? |
||
| + | «The fock?! How’d you get such a crazy machine?!» |
||
| − | "Ha-ha, quelque chose d'impossible dans un jeu ? Il doit y avoir quelqu'un qui triche, évidemment. ♪" |
||
| + | Veig screeched as he just barely managed to demi-shift from one empty location to another. |
||
| − | "...Si vous pouvez trouver...l'astuce...alors essayez...de la trouver...♪"En effet, tout comme Veig l'avait fait un peu plus tôt, ils avaient eux aussi utilisé un demi-tour pour s'esquiver derrière lui. Et immédiatement après, la Gatling dans les bras de leur unité avait déclenché un torrent de tirs de suppression qui avait traversé les ruines, transpercé le mécha de Veig et l'avait arrêté dans son élan. Un barrage aussi puissant aurait dû être impossible sans des esprits d'une ampleur similaire à celle de Veig. |
||
| + | «What kinda Dwarf has the power to run a barmy monster like that?!» |
||
| − | "Mais ce que je n'aurais jamais pensé..." |
||
| + | Between that and the Heavenly Strike, Veig was sure now there were some spirits involved far outside the regulations. He raged at their perceived violation of the rules. |
||
| − | Veig a nommé ce qui était encore plus impensable, sa voix étant teintée à la fois de jubilation et de férocité. |
||
| + | ……Ha. His opponents laughed in unison. They knew it: Dwarves were the perfect negative examples. After all, they were just half-right. Just as he guessed that the stage itself was their machine, but that wasn’t even close to enough. On Sora’s lap sat Shiro—and on her lap sat a girl whose face was scrunched in pain, but who still sneered with fearless irony— |
||
| − | "- c'est que tu m'esquiverais sans pouvoir réagir, et que tu couperais ma poursuite. Comment t'as fait ça, bordel ?" |
||
| + | “Chieftain… You ask that now? I couldn’t even start up our first machine without boosting, I couldn’t.” |
||
| − | En effet. Ni Sora, ni Shiro, ni même Til n'étaient capables de réagir aux manœuvres de Veig. En plus de cela, ils n'ont pas réussi à esquiver complètement sa frappe et se sont perdus dans une illusion pendant plusieurs secondes. Donc, en regardant toute cette série d'événements... |
||
| + | It seemed he had still overlooked the trick in Shiro’s arms. Yes, it was the murmuring of Til, the real trick, most impossible of all— |
||
| − | -Quel était leur truc pour réussir à faire ça sans pouvoir réagir ou même être conscient, demanda la voix ? |
||
| + | “To begin with…I can’t even use magic without boosting, I can’t.” |
||
| − | "Ha-ha, quelque chose d'impossible dans un jeu ? Il doit y avoir quelqu'un qui triche, évidemment. ♪" |
||
| + | «—Huhhh?!» |
||
| − | "...Si vous pouvez trouver...l'astuce...alors essayez...de la trouver...♪" |
||
| + | —that made Veig cry out in long-delayed recognition. Sora chuckled. Yes, a Dwarf so great as Veig probably couldn’t have imagined such a trick. Til, by nature, couldn’t even use magic, much less operate a supermassive spirit arm. For Til— |
||
| − | "Euh, hum ! Je ne devrais pas vous faire remarquer que vous êtes tous les deux en sueur ?!" |
||
| + | '''—WAS AS SMOOTH AS DOLPHIN—!!!''' |
||
| − | Til a inutilement ruiné le numéro de dur à cuire de Sora et Shiro. |
||
| + | Dwarves used catalysts because of the spiritual overload caused by their mithril—to synchronize externally. But Til didn’t have that mithril!! She wasn’t subject to such overload, or even load for that matter!! That was why she used boosting… Yes…the hidden truth that astonished Jibril when Til used her shift. Til couldn’t use magic without boosting. Conversely, that meant she could if she used boosting… |
||
| − | "Ha !! Le jeu est lancé... Tu ferais mieux de ne pas sortir le chat du sac trop facilement et me laisser tomber." |
||
| + | …It meant she could use boosting. For example: She could chain boost to boost on the chain reaction of explosions of the huge number of demi-shift anchors they’d planted, funnel the spirits into her hammer on which she’d engraved a Rite of Heavenly Smiting, and synchronize it into her body! With the vast amount of spirits thus summoned under her control, she could operate this leviathan assemblage of parts, this scrap on the stage on which she’d engraved seal rites…!! |
||
| − | Veig prit une position de combat suite à cette déclaration audacieuse, et l'atmosphère devint de nouveau tendue. |
||
| + | … Yes, if a normal Dwarf tried this, they’d blow right up. It would be impossible and meaningless. Just as Til said, it would be as perverse an idea as building an underwater breathing apparatus for a fish. But for such an abnormal dwarf, it was both possible and essential. For Til— |
||
| − | En effet... parmi les choses que Veig "n'avait jamais pensé"- |
||
| + | '''—WAS AS SMOOTH AS DOLPHIN—!!!''' |
||
| − | -...c'était qu'ils ne seraient pas du tout capables d'esquiver... |
||
| + | «Wha—? Wait, whoa— Niecey, don’t tell me yours still hasn’t growwwn?!» |
||
| − | La nouvelle tension était claire : comme il l'avait dit, ce n'était qu'un essai. Bien sûr qu'ils devraient être capables d'esquiver ça. Maintenant, les choses allaient devenir réelles. Veig s'est à nouveau jeté sur eux. |
||
| + | “Heh…heh-heh, Ch-Chieftain…I’d like to see you burn in hell! I would…” |
||
| − | "Mais d'abord..." |
||
| + | Listening to their exchange, Sora, to be honest, was fairly sure by now this was not the case. But he still insisted: they had to be talking about beards!! So anyway—! |
||
| − | -ou du moins c'est ce qu'il a fait croire, sans la moindre hésitation- |
||
| + | “Heh, this is the difference in natural gifts… Bow before the absolute wall you cannot overcome, Veig!!” |
||
| − | "Tu pensais que je n'allais pas comprendre, espèce de gros tas ? Tu crois que je suis stupide ?! Tu le crois ?!" |
||
| + | «Fock!! How can a Dwarf’s body endure that shite? You wanna kill my fockin’ niece?!» |
||
| − | -Il a balancé le poing gauche de son mécha avec tout le poids de l'unité, rugissant à l'improviste. Comment a-t-il pu comprendre ? |
||
| + | The transmission to Sora roared full of naked rage. Understandable. One percent of Jibril’s power—the power to run a supermassive machine like that—was as reckless as pouring rocket fuel into an automobile. Therefore… |
||
| − | Le projectile provenait de plus de sept mille mètres de distance, à une vitesse magique proche de celle de la lumière, du puissant canon hissé à l'arrière de l'unité de Chlammy et Fiel, qui s'étaient cachés immédiatement après le début du jeu. Ils avaient utilisé ce bazooka surdimensionné pour l'abattre au moment où il avait baissé sa garde. Il n'aurait jamais pu être capable de sentir leur balle magique. Mais d'une manière ou d'une autre, il a dû avoir un pressentiment. Voyant sa trajectoire aussi claire que le jour, il l'a abattu avec son poing. |
||
| + | “…Didn’t you say no mercy? A man’s word isn’t worth much these days, huh?” |
||
| − | Une poigne de fer interceptant les munitions. Une collision - un flash. Une onde de choc rugissante. Après avoir détruit toutes les ruines qui l'entouraient, Veig se tenait calmement sur place... |
||
| + | «—!!» |
||
| − | "...Oh, je vois... Tout ce temps... J'étais un mangeur de déchets qui ne valait pas la peine de vivre..." |
||
| + | …Sora saw that Veig was thinking of taking a bullet and losing the game for Til’s sake, and Sora stopped him, making a face. If Til died, it would probably spell death for Sora and Shiro, who were holding her, too. Til was barely conscious, but still she held firm to her hammer and smiled. |
||
| − | -et laissa ces mots mélancoliques se répandre sur la ligne de communication... Mais ce n'était que momentané. |
||
| + | —Veig meant to lose intentionally. |
||
| − | "-Hey, bon sang, tête de nœud ! Mais qu'est-ce que tu fais ? Tu m'as presque rendu dépressif pendant une seconde. C'est quoi ce bordel ?!" |
||
| + | This man didn’t seem to understand what a humiliation that would be—!! |
||
| − | Il se ressaisit juste à temps pour esquiver le deuxième tir. Une autre voix répondit au cri clair de peur et de détresse de Veig. |
||
| + | “To hell with your patronizing sympathy!! This is a trap—there’s no place for you to hide and no room for you to choose!!” |
||
| − | "Qu'est-ce que je fais ? Je ne fais que te frapper avec mon âme, en exprimant mes penchants comme prévu.♥" |
||
| + | Sora’s howl what seemed like a signal to that which sat somewhere in the supermassive machine behind the giant cannon that opened its mouth with a roar: another machine. Sora and the operator inside the additional cockpit announced savagely: |
||
| − | La transmission de Fiel, alors que son unité disparaissait une fois de plus, donna un nouveau frisson à Sora, Shiro et Til. |
||
| + | “There’s only one future: Til’s complete victory!!” |
||
| − | Oui... ce... ce jeu redoutable... C'était vraiment un choc des âmes. Et donc... ! |
||
| + | «Whyyy, it’s time for the showwwdowwwn.♥» |
||
| − | Ce que Fiel exprimait, alors qu'elle entraînait momentanément Veig au fond du trou... |
||
| + | That moment, the light of the Holy Forge flashed from the barrel, and suddenly a metal glob blocked the opening. Connected to the muzzle, the object sparkled—and this time, Veig froze, mech and all. It was another legacy of the past that he could not mistake. |
||
| − | "Je ne peux tout simplement pas vous supporter, bande de taupes.♥Vous me prenez à la légère !" |
||
| + | “Can you dodge a bomb? If you know a way, as a gamer, I’d very much like to know!” |
||
| − | -était un rejet profond, pur et simple, une répulsion instinctive... Qu'est-ce que Veig a vu et pensé en particulier ? Ils ne le savaient pas. |
||
| + | A bomb indeed, leaving no place to hide. A bomb called…yes, that’s right: |
||
| − | "Tes goûts ne sont-ils pas un peu démesurés, sorcière ?! Si je perds, on dirait que je vais faire une dépression nerveuse !" |
||
| + | …The E-bomb… |
||
| − | "Pourquoi, ce serait merveilleux. J'avais l'intention de te commaaaander de le faire après ma victoire de toute façoooon.♥" |
||
| + | == Partie 6 == |
||
| − | Mais Veig tremblait et hurlait contre cette âme si intense qu'elle l'avait plongé dans le dégoût de soi jusqu'à ce que... |
||
| + | In the cockpit behind the blazing E-bomb was Fiel, smiling. |
||
| − | ...soudain, il jeta un coup d'œil autour de lui et leva les yeux. |
||
| + | “Why, you’ll note that we’ve followed the rules to a T. And in a most sustainable way, if I might add.♥” |
||
| − | "...Huh. Je suppose que j'aurais dû m'y attendre." |
||
| + | No magic other than seal rites. You lost if your core broke. And the players here were everyone… |
||
| − | Sora, Shiro et le mécha de Til avaient disparu, tandis que Fiel, elle, savait toujours où se trouvait Veig. |
||
| + | “Anyone can very well recycle the unit we lost in, caaan’t theyyy?♥” |
||
| − | "...J'ai dit que vous pouviez venir me voir avec autant de machines que vous le souhaitiez, et je n'ai jamais dit que vous ne pouviez pas vous mêler du lieu, non plus, n'est-ce pas ? Donc si vous dites que le lieu est un secret jusqu'à juste avant, alors oui..." |
||
| + | True, Til could connect and use Fiel’s unit. Also: |
||
| − | Sora, Shiro et Til ont tous eu des frissons en entendant Veig mettre le doigt sur leur plan si facilement. |
||
| + | “Incluuuding the seal of protection of that boorish fire, and incluuuding the seal rites on the unit.♪” |
||
| − | Oui, ils avaient pu esquiver sa première attaque parce qu'ils avaient planté des ancres de téléportation à l'avance. Pour l'instant, ils ont rechargé avec des munitions qu'ils avaient également semées. |
||
| + | Fiel had in mind the seventh player, and their fifth trump card. |
||
| − | "Je suppose que la scène elle-même est votre machine - votre terrain de chasse, hein ? Ha..." |
||
| + | They hadn’t bothered with any seal rites for the specs, but they had bothered with seal rites. |
||
| − | Mais ils étaient bien conscients qu'il avait l'intuition de lire aussi loin. Donc ils ont eu des frissons pas seulement parce qu'il avait révélé un de leurs trucs... |
||
| + | They had implemented an eighty-four-fold rite using the seal of protection of an Old Deus. And they’d used the Holy Forge, the power of Ocain, to enable shifting. |
||
| − | "...Vous êtes bien au-dessus de votre tête en me traitant de proie..." |
||
| + | Til had subsumed Fiel’s unit and commandeered it under the protection of Ocain. And there was no rule that Til couldn’t use that thing shifted from her hideout!! Chlammy asked suspiciously of the merry Fiel, who occupied the same cockpit: |
||
| − | ...C'était parce qu'ils avaient eu la nette illusion de voir son ricanement à dents de sabre pendant qu'il parlait. |
||
| + | “…Fi, I’ve been wondering: Whose idea was it to use the seal of Ocain’s protection?” |
||
| − | == Partie 3 == |
||
| + | She’d heard of the “rites of spirit-breaking” or whatever that they’d used in the War, such as Áka Si Anse—spells that used seal rites to call upon the protection of Kainas, creator of the Elves. But it was said they were no longer usable after the Ten Covenants. In that case, this thing Fiel produced must have been newly compiled, after the War. |
||
| − | Indeed—there was no rule that said you couldn’t prep the battlefield. Nor was there any dictating that players at leisure in their cockpit, like Chlammy and Fiel, couldn’t watch the broadcast that so helpfully relayed throughout Hardenfell their enemy’s movements. And so Chlammy and Fiel observed as the fight of Sora, Shiro, and Til versus Veig ratcheted up. The golem lay concealed in the shadows of the ruins, its propulsion deactivated to forestall spirit detection. But its residents frowned. |
||
| + | …Who would have implemented a seal rite to call upon Ocain, of all gods? For that matter, even having grown up in Elven Gard, Chlammy had never heard of a spell that could un-quasi-shift such a large mass. |
||
| − | They could never stand a chance in terms of machine specs or combat ability. So, when engraving rites on their machine, they hadn’t bothered with the specs at all. They’d put everything into one over-the-top weapon—a sniper rifle specialized in raw projectile power. A magicannon: a cannon whose seal rites Fiel put all her spirits into so it could fire with the greatest force possible. Combined with her undying hatred, Fiel knew her potent soul was enough to overpower Veig. These two trump cards proved successful in impinging on Veig. Yes, just as set out in their deal with Sora and Shiro, they had plenty of chances to win. It was all going according to plan. And for that very reason, Chlammy and Fiel cursed at the screen silently: |
||
| + | “Mmm, I don’t know, myself. It’s been the Nirvalens’ ace in the hole for generations.” |
||
| − | You nonsensical little shits… |
||
| + | Fiel tilted her head. Yes, and they’d said this… |
||
| − | This was bullshit. It was absurdity they could predict but not comprehend. For instance— |
||
| + | “They said trump cards are trump cards because you don’t reveal them until the showdown.” |
||
| − | «Ha!! That’s a powerful shot ya got there—but your soul’s light as a feather!!» |
||
| + | Howeverrr… She gave Chlammy her greatest smile as she continued. |
||
| − | —there was Veig, demi-shifting using the sword he’d struck into the ceiling like lightning as an anchor. Then transforming his giant sword into countless curved blades that traced innumerable arcs through the air. Demi-shifting all over the place as they flew through every nook and cranny of the ruins. Bullshit. |
||
| + | “Why, my ultimate trump card is you, Chlammy.♪” |
||
| − | Or, for instance— |
||
| + | Fiel had gone to such lengths as to reveal her family’s secret. She smiled at her best friend: They had lost—and that therefore was the victory planned. Chlammy beamed and reflexively looked away, embarrassed. |
||
| − | «You can scratch my frame, but you ain’t touchin’ me!! I can’t hear your soul!» |
||
| + | “If you say we can’t win…why, then we can’t win.” |
||
| − | —there was Sora and Shiro, dodging the countless blades flying too fast for the eye to follow. Veig used blades as anchors to demi-shift, and although Sora and Shiro shouldn’t have been able to identify which anchor or how to even react— |
||
| + | Yes…from the moment Chlammy had concluded that they couldn’t win… |
||
| − | «Well yeah, if you’re gonna be screaming about how you’ll only accept uniformly huge boobs, we can’t help but joke around!» |
||
| + | …Fiel had resigned from this game… |
||
| − | «…Brother…! Before, you joke around…shift…!» |
||
| + | So, they had requested of Sora and Shiro a friendly token of appreciation for their friendly cooperation. It was a condition of the deal, in other words: No matter who won— |
||
| − | —they somehow identified it and somehow reacted. Howling a ferocious battle cry, they rained bullets on their opponent as if they’d known he’d appear behind them. |
||
| + | —Veig must be commanded to bear shame for the rest of his life… |
||
| − | How did such absolute bullshit manage to hit him? Even the near-light-speed magic bullet of Chlammy and Fiel’s sniping, while it had hit him when he let his guard down, was dodged the second time— |
||
| + | “Whyyy, it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you win!! Our objective is to convict that thing, the offender! In which caaase, it doesn’t maaatter who uses whose power to win. As long as the crook gets his just deserts, we have wooon!!” |
||
| − | «Did ya know?! Your taste in tits corresponds to the size of your self-confidence, ya mewling kitten!!» |
||
| + | Fiel’s bright demeanor made Chlammy chuckle. |
||
| − | «Is that so? Then you’re one overconfident bitch!! Learn a little humility, little man!!» |
||
| + | “…Well, we do have to regret a little we didn’t make good on our chance to win directly.” |
||
| − | «Ngrah! Hey, I ain’t small! I’m packin’!! You’re the one who’s small!!» |
||
| + | “But we must count ourselves blessed to have been able to pummel you a bit.♪ After allll—” |
||
| − | «I meant little as in small-minded! Are you saying my thing is small?! Th-th-that’s not even true!» |
||
| + | “Yes. We are really perfect outsiders to this matter. We’re not even friends, you know?” |
||
| − | They easily picked out the positions and moments in which Veig wouldn’t be able to dodge. Veig ended up coming up behind the building at Sora and Shiro’s back and slicing it in two. |
||
| + | As they snidely echoed Veig’s remarks, Chlammy had a thought. |
||
| − | «Ha!! Only a small man can’t answer with “It’s big”!!» |
||
| + | —They could win an unwinnable match through someone else’s power. Then how might they answer an unanswerable question? |
||
| − | «…Brother…! …Even, if…he’s right…don’t listen to him!» |
||
| + | “We’ll make others answer for us… In other words, as usual, we win through sophistry.” |
||
| − | «Hey, Shiro, knock off the friendly fire!! He doesn’t know what your brother is capable of—not that we want him to!» |
||
| + | —Having had their past questioned: Have you paid your tab? |
||
| − | How did they dodge that? They couldn’t have seen it. They couldn’t have reacted to it. Even Sora and Shiro were just humans—!! Chlammy at last let out a gasp—Most incomprehensible was that which Sora uttered as Veig’s fist burst out through the crumbling building—an instant too late to feasibly evade—and Sora’s unit shifted just as it connected. |
||
| + | —They answered with their future: I will when I can… |
||
| − | «—Pshhh, no sweat!! Get outta here, ya big-boob fascist!!» |
||
| + | …… |
||
| − | «I—I, too! A-am not done yet, I’m not… I’m fine, I aaam!!» |
||
| + | “…And so the puppet continued building the sky… The sky only they still could not see…” |
||
| − | —How can they endure it? How can they remain so steadfast in their rejection of big boobs—?! My core would have crumbled into dust with the very first strike!! |
||
| + | In the cramped cockpit, Chlammy smiled subtly as she gazed upon the sky before her. They’d opened it for her, for Fi, for Jibril, the Werebeasts, the Old Deus, and Ex Machina… And now… |
||
| − | Their resolute resistance against Veig’s soul was the greatest bullshit against which Chlammy shrieked internally. |
||
| + | “They’re opening up Til’s sky… Going on until they find their own…” |
||
| − | It’s inconceivable. It’s bizarre. And these are mere Immanities? Mere humans?! They couldn’t be human. Normal humans |
||
| + | == Partie 7 == |
||
| − | «…Brother… Why, do you deny, my boobs…?» |
||
| + | At last, brilliant, blinding light. |
||
| − | «Come again? What was that, Shiro?» |
||
| + | Til had gathered things from outside—welded them, forged them, patched them together in one wrong way after another. Now her fire melted them all together, and cast them as ingenuity, which she used to reach the sky. |
||
| − | —Yes…normal humans should behave like this. The sad voice of Shiro, who had buckled under Veig’s whispers, echoed in Chlammy’s mind. |
||
| + | “…Uncle…have I…kept…my promise…?” |
||
| − | —Oh…I almost forgot. Chlammy smiled as Fi restarted their unit at the same moment. That’s right…Sora and Shiro are just humans. Mere humans, who go astray and fail. Chlammy was thus relieved to hear Shiro confronting her brother with the ultimate question. |
||
| + | The spirits raged, and her body ached as if it was about to break. |
||
| − | «…Brother, you’re a, lolicon… You like them, smooth and flat… But when I grow up and grow boobs…will you, not like me anymore? Will you…abandon me…?!» |
||
| + | “Have I…reached a sky…that no one has seen before?!” |
||
| − | The question of: What will you do when she’s not a Loli anymore? Yes, the lolicon’s fateful question. The ultimate question. However… |
||
| + | The heat threatened to burn out her spirit corridor junction nerves. But alas, Til smiled regardless… |
||
| − | «How many times do I have to say it?! I’m not a lolicon! Besides!! You can grow big boobs, or get old and wrinkly, or even turn into a man!! Nothing could make your big brother not like you! '''…Hey, are you crying?!'''» |
||
| + | “…Do you…want…to know…what it’s…like…?!” |
||
| − | …unlike the flustered Sora, Chlammy understood what was in Shiro’s heart as if it were her own. |
||
| + | By now, only one thing entered her muddied consciousness: the distant sky Til was sure she’d never imagined, and that no one else ever had—the feeling of floating in a deep, black sky, Veig too far behind to see, uncertain of whether he could hear the voice she wrung out, or even whether it was coming out at all— |
||
| − | Yes, Shiro had been hit by Veig’s soul and was just temporarily conditioned by it. Her words were not her own., and yet neither were they entirely insincere… Sora was alarmed because he sensed that. Furthermore— |
||
| + | Still, she’d fulfill the promise of that distant day. She’d vowed that she would surpass him—and promised something to the bird of that day. She spelled out the wish she’d held in her heart, that her words, her smile would reach their destination. |
||
| − | «Uh, excuse me—th-the chieftain! The chieftain’s coming, he iiiis!» |
||
| + | '''“You piece of shit, you’ll never understand, you won’t!! Serves you right, it does!! Pft!”''' |
||
| − | —Chlammy got Veig in the crosshairs so they could follow up on the attack of the out-of-sorts Sora and Shiro. That’s right…fake was fake. Whatever you did, it was the same as pads. |
||
| + | «Niecey!! You got to get back at me, huh?! Ain’t ya imitatin’ me?!» |
||
| − | However they might try, the weak could never become the strong…and that was why: If it was impossible to wipe away this feeling of inferiority—if one’s essence would be the same regardless of whether one had big boobs!!! |
||
| + | Veig’s transmission came through at trace volume. Til did hear it, though, and she closed her eyes and grinned. |
||
| − | '''“THEN OBSIOUSLY IT'S BETTER TO HAVE BOOBS, ISN'T IT?!”''' |
||
| + | …Please. I’m about to fall under the delusion that I have become a bird, I do. But I know…that it’s just an illusion, I do. By tomorrow, perhaps even by one second in the future, I’ll be made to know |
||
| − | As she pulled the trigger, Chlammy, having momentarily understood Shiro, was beyond Sora’s own understanding. |
||
| + | Very well then…!! Making mistakes is my only specialty—!! |
||
| − | From 820 meters, the unit that had cloaked itself even from spirit detection fired a shot that ripped through buildings. At almost light speed, the unknowable, unavoidable magic bullet rushed onward. But yet again— |
||
| + | —Assuming I can… Assuming that nothing’s impossible! I’ll fail again, and build up my mountain of mistakes, I will!! |
||
| − | «—Ha!! You think that’ll work twice?! Ya dozy titwad!!» |
||
| + | She’d lose her way, she’d get confused, she’d blunder—and every time, she’d cry and wail and gnash her teeth in vexation! Til would take the long way around like a perfect fool, getting lost repeatedly, pathetically drenched in tears and shame. She might never even know if it had meaning. But there was a sight that could only be seen by taking that foolish path. |
||
| − | —just one other than Chlammy understood—or rather, probably just intuited. Veig, having known the trajectory before the shot was fired, leaped before the trigger went down…and escaped. Evaded the unevadable. But Fiel answered without surprise at his paradoxical transmission: |
||
| + | It could never be seen by those born with natural talent…by the birds that didn’t build airplanes. |
||
| − | «Why, yesss. After allll, that was ooonce.♥» |
||
| + | It could never be seen by the birds that had never felt that obsession: I want to fly anyway. There was such an entertaining sight to see, to be found in a place no one imagined. |
||
| − | Not having known the unknowable, Veig sneered back, while at the same time— |
||
| + | …I’m ready to make as many mistakes as it takes. I can say that now, I can… |
||
| − | «Aaargh! Who gave you permission to enter our lebensraum?! Begone, black devil!» |
||
| + | And so, while Til went limp in Shiro’s arms— |
||
| − | «…Eegh?! Qu-quick, I need a newspaper…or a slipper—or—or bug spray…!» |
||
| + | “…Well, bet this is news to you smart folks. Here’s the common knowledge of the weak. Listen with gratitude, yeah?!” |
||
| − | «I knew it, I diiid! The chieftain is more disgusting than a cockroach, he iiiiis!!» |
||
| + | —Sora howled at the shell of the E-bomb, which glowed like a star to announce it was ready for blast-off. |
||
| − | —his evasion let Fiel’s soul blaze on right into Sora, Shiro, and Til, infringing on theirs in an instant. They screeched as their Gatling gun roared. |
||
| + | “…Generally speaking, things in the world don’t go the way you imagine…” |
||
| − | …Their thoughts temporarily drenched in Fiel’s soul, the three of them rained bullets on Veig. He cried out with the same amount of terror as Fiel’s blast, but more critically— |
||
| + | Just as they had sailed for India and mistakenly arrived in the New World; as they had tried to prove everything with mathematics and mistakenly refuted their mathematics; as they had built rockets to reach the moon and mistakenly dropped them on Earth… |
||
| − | «Biiitch! Ya damn bloody titwad! Just how much do ya hate me?!» |
||
| + | …As far as humans were concerned, perfection was a waste of time. They’d mess it up anyway. To seek mere perfection wasn’t going to do it. Therefore—!! |
||
| − | —he cried out from the heartbreak of being called worse than one of those black beasts by his niece. Undaunted, Chlammy ignored him and turned to go lurk in the darkness once more. |
||
| + | “Your thinking is too damn small!! If you want to fly, you’re not gonna have a chance unless you have the guts to go past the damn moon and crash into Mars by mistake!!” |
||
| − | What sort of trickery were Sora and Shiro using to compete with Veig? Whatever it was, Chlammy and Fiel couldn’t imitate it. So it didn’t matter. If Sora and Shiro were going to act according to their deal, Chlammy and Fiel just had to live up to their end. In other words: exploit it and win! |
||
| + | Well…yes…? |
||
| − | “We shall take the best and leave the rest! You shall be the sacrifice for my sizable dreams, Sora…!!” |
||
| + | “Even if you get up and down backward, you might be able to go through the planet to the sky at the other side, right?♪” |
||
| − | == Partie 4 == |
||
| + | You might end up with a result better than perfect, right? |
||
| − | At the bottom of a dim hole a small distance from the venue, there was a girl calmly watching via broadcast as Chlammy disappeared into the darkness of the ruins, her voice tinged with tragic sobs. |
||
| + | «…You fockin’ with me? Shit—» |
||
| − | “…Um… So basically… Let me go over this, all right?” |
||
| + | A man born with natural talent… A bird that flew by sensibility alone…transmitted back with a sense of awe at the unknown he’d never had before—or not in a long time at least. |
||
| − | It was Steph, in Til’s hideout, where Jibril was watching the monitor, hugging her knees. Emir-Eins had brought Steph here just after the game began, and Jibril had explained the foregoing events. Emir-Eins hungrily fixed her eyes on the monitor, but Steph went on. |
||
| + | Indeed…they couldn’t use the E-bomb. So he didn’t know what it was they were on the verge of launching. He didn’t know what it was to accomplish. He didn’t even know a thing about the heights where his niece floated now. |
||
| − | “Sora and Shiro created a drug that would make another country sell itself for it—a poison, in other words.” |
||
| + | But even so! There was one thing he was sure about. He howled with a longing he’d never felt. |
||
| − | “You archaeological artifact! You can’t even follow so simple a command from your master as to stay home, can you?” |
||
| + | «So you’re saying you don’t know what the hell will happen. You’re bloody daft, aren’t ya?!» |
||
| − | “So they were offered a game they had absolutely no need to play…and they accepted. Am I correct?” |
||
| + | If it might be the case that Til couldn’t take it—!! That instant, Veig’s unit appeared to get blown away and then vanished from sight. One soul raced forth through the air, with maneuvers uncapturable by Sora’s eyes, or by the venue’s cameras. It left no trace; the unit broken down, it raced past its limits, riding the force of a fist. |
||
| − | “Lament: Threatened by woman of unknown name. Critical. Top priority of this unit is securement of master. Therefore, evaded threat. Precedence over command. Flügel should agree… It’s not my fault.” |
||
| + | —I’ll overcome even that— |
||
| − | “—Excuse me, are you listening?! And I do have a name!” |
||
| + | Detecting the single strike to end it, Sora smirked and answered inwardly. |
||
| − | Steph raised her voice at the two who seemed entirely uninterested in her recapitulation. Mumbling TL;DR to herself, she got straight to the main points, screaming as she went over the reasons why they were playing this unnecessary game: |
||
| + | —Yeah. That’s right! That’s how we live, as fools incapable of anything but straying and failing and erring. Bet it’s a breath of fresh air for smarty-pants jerks like you who live with all trial and no error, huh? |
||
| − | '''“Because they say they’ll only let friends run a tab?! And he said that he wouldn’t be friends with someone who didn’t like large breasts?! And this game is about whether women should have large breasts—?! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”''' |
||
| + | What’s gonna happen? How the hell would I know?! |
||
| − | …If the people of Elkia got word of this, it would be past time for a coup d’état and they would be well on the road to a revolution. The people be damned—Steph had half a mind to start one herself! But Jibril and Emir-Eins just looked at her pityingly. |
||
| + | “That’s why you gotta test that shit! That’s what we idiots call science!” |
||
| − | “You are as reliable as ever, little Dora, in failing to see past the surfaces of things…” |
||
| + | Sora sneered and activated the contents of the E-bomb in the muzzle, and a moment later Veig unleashed one soulful strike that pierced the shell. |
||
| − | “Enigma: Woman of unknown name competent in politics and economics, extremely incompetent in similar games. Unsolvable. Fallback: Lack of comprehension of master identified. Not eligible for love. Resignation recommended.” |
||
| + | == Partie 8 == |
||
| − | “I—I will do no such thing—and I said I have a name! It’s S—” |
||
| + | It was a full-on collision of Veig’s and Til’s souls, entangling, stirring, radiating white. No one could tell whose soul it was anymore. Everything raced through the catalysts and through the minds of all present… |
||
| − | Steph tried to change the subject, but Jibril interrupted her with a claim that made her gasp. |
||
| + | …… |
||
| − | “My masters have been called upon to settle with the tab of their old world.” |
||
| + | …The man had been born with outstanding sensibilities. Everyone knew him to be a genius. He too knew this, not as a matter of presumption or conceit, but as a proud matter of fact. He swung his hammer without guile, yet with ferocity. To create a work that was better—no, the best. An unprecedented masterpiece. A divine revelation!! He would enter that |
||
| − | “—!!” |
||
| + | realm only one before in the history of Dwarf, his ancestor, had laid eyes on. His eyes reflected the back of that genius who had laid his fingers on creation—the alteration of concepts. He would reach that extreme none had approached in six thousand years. The man who kept piling up successes was the second coming of that sublimity. Everyone was certain he would be the next chieftain. Amidst all this, the man was hurling invective at a strange kid who was following him around: |
||
| − | Sora and Shiro’s past; their old world, before they came to Disboard. Steph couldn’t say she’d never thought about it. After all, how would she feel if she were suddenly thrown into another world…? |
||
| + | “Hey… Get lost already, would ya, fockin’ brat?! You’re gettin’ in the way of my work!!” |
||
| − | …She’d want to go home. At the very least, she’d feel regret and homesickness. But those two showed no such signs—they never spoke of it all. So Steph always wanted to ask about it. Those two-in-one siblings, who had even toyed with a god… And surely, this past they never spoke of, that of these two who could accomplish anything if they tried… |
||
| + | “I’m not getting in the way, I’m not. I’m seducing my future husband, I am.” |
||
| − | “Of all things, he asked them a most foolish question: Why did they flee? They simply took that as a challenge.” |
||
| + | The one contradicting him as if it was nothing was, at the time, a little girl. The one who called herself his future wife. |
||
| − | “—A…a most foolish question?” |
||
| + | “If you think I’m getting in your way, that just proves you have feelings for me, doesn’t it, Uncle? Doesn’t it?!” |
||
| − | Steph was grateful to Jibril for cutting off her impertinent conjectures, but she did ask what was supposed to be so obvious. Jibril answered as if that very question were absurd. |
||
| + | “Niecey, you’re gonna stand there winkin’ and blowin’ kisses at me like some bloody fool? I’ve feelings, harsh feelings!” |
||
| − | “In the first place, under what conditions can one say that one has ‘reconciled one’s past’?” |
||
| + | She was the precocious daughter of one of his older stepsisters, and she’d taken an inexplicable shine to him. |
||
| − | “Truth: Our debts. Our sin. To reconcile. Does not change past events… Cannot.” |
||
| + | “I ain’t got no interest in some kid who ain’t even got any hair grown in yet—can’t bear to look at ya. Piss off,” he commanded. |
||
| − | “The past in which we killed each other, all the things which may have been wrong…all led to this day.” |
||
| + | The child shuddered at the man’s sharp one-eyed glare. |
||
| − | “Acknowledgment: Accept past. Proceed. Lesson of Master to Ex Machina.” |
||
| + | That was that. Everyone kept their distance from him. His eye had the gift of ending the conversation. Even children always grasped the point that he lived in a different world…until then… |
||
| − | Yes…Steph listened to those placid words, desperately holding back tears as she felt something well up in her chest. |
||
| + | “H-how do you know that I’m smooth?! Have you seen it?!” |
||
| − | These two were members of Flügel and Ex Machina…who, in fact, had each lost something irreplaceable at the other’s hands. A past too enormous for Steph, born after the Covenants, to presume to understand… Still feuding, still at odds, even so, here they accepted the past, acknowledged it—and allowed for it… They shared that same hope. |
||
| + | But this child shuddered because she suspected he had looked at her naked. Incidentally, this was the fifth time this exchange had occurred. In other words— |
||
| − | “And then to ask why my masters fled their past? It is as foolish as a question can be.” |
||
| + | “You peeped on me?! You licked me all over with your eyes, how can I get married now, you should take responsibility, and then I’ll be the wife of the chieftain, what a way to marry up, it is! Come, come, come, Mr. Sir? If you’ll marry me, I can show you my body aaany—” |
||
| − | “Conclusion: Masters accept their loss. Redundant explanation. Calculation probability—zero.” |
||
| + | “I can see from your face you ain’t got no beard, all right?! Don’t blush. Why are ya strippin’?!” |
||
| − | So. Hopefully. The two servants continued together. |
||
| + | “Ah!! No, I don’t want to be the wife of some pervert who lusts after children, I don’t!!” |
||
| − | “Just as I can now accept my past as all for the sake of meeting my masters…” |
||
| + | “Listen to me, will ya?! Wait, didn’t you just say you were seducing me? What do you want?!” |
||
| − | “Vow: Masters fled in order to meet this unit. Past assigned meaning. Unit will assign.” |
||
| + | No matter how he tried to get rid of her, she kept coming. The man clutched his head. |
||
| − | Their words were like prayers. At last a tear ran down Steph’s cheek. Then Jibril once more gestured to the monitor. |
||
| + | —The hell’s with this fockin’ brat? His niece had a strange way with words. But more than anything, it was his own sense of discomfort that confused him. Never having experienced failure or discouragement, the feeling was altogether unfamiliar to him. It would be a while before he realized it was his first experience of anger. |
||
| − | “From this perspective, the significance of this game is great indeed.” |
||
| + | “…Listen, Niecey. I’m a fockin’ genius. And that makes me a bloody fine man. You followin’ me?” |
||
| − | «Enough of your bloody claptrap! You’re runnin’ from tits ’cos you ain’t got confidence, ain’t it?! Ain’t it that right?!» |
||
| + | “Ah! S-so you mean, when I marry you, I’ll be a fine woman?!” |
||
| − | «Shut up!! You scrubs who think any game that’s not a triple-A sucks can kiss my ass!!» |
||
| + | “Argh, that ain’t it at all. This is the problem. You ain’t good for me, is what I’m sayin’.” |
||
| − | “……This…argument is over whether they like large bosoms…?” |
||
| + | Back then, he had concluded thus: |
||
| − | The sentimentality-destroying repartee made short work of her tearful emotions. However: |
||
| + | “You’ll never be a fine woman.” |
||
| − | “Sigh: Explanation. Central point of contention of masters in this game is not value of large breasts.” |
||
| − | “Oh, little Dora? Has my master ever said that he rejects large bosoms?” |
||
| − | Hearing the two, Steph looked back at the screen—That’s right! |
||
| + | “…Uh-huhhh… What is a fine woman…?” |
||
| − | The reactions of those invaded by the souls of Veig and Fiel were easy to recognize. However—what was the reaction from Sora’s and Shiro’s souls? Wait, in the first place…! |
||
| + | “First of all, she’s an adult with hair. You’re out of the question. And she’s a woman who fits me. Let’s see… So first, she has big boobs. And then, if her spirit-arm craft ain’t at least on my level, I ain’t messin’ with that, either. Otherwise, hmm, she’s damn beautiful and damn chaste and damn sexy as far as I’m concerned. That’s what it means to be a fine woman.” |
||
| − | “You’re right…!! In the first place—it’s not the case that Sora despises large breasts!” |
||
| + | “…Uncle, that’s just a fantasy woman, it is.” |
||
| − | Yes, Sora was a lolicon. This was more indubitable than the existence of Tet. But Steph herself had almost forgotten that unforgettable day on which she had first met Sora—!! |
||
| + | “Rngh?” |
||
| − | '''“He, uh, um…groped mine!”''' |
||
| + | “I-I—I mean, there are no Dwarves with big boobs, there aren’t! And everything after the ‘Otherwise, hmm’ is exactly what my aunts told me virgins fantasize about, it is! Uncle, are you a virgin? By the way, what is a virgin?!” |
||
| − | Steph interpreted the racing of her heart and the heat in her cheeks as anger as she screamed out. Yes…Steph knew what kind of man he was: a virgin who would take what he could get, who would boldly announce that he was recording the goings-on in the bath for his own, shall we say, self-gratification! In that case, what, in the end, was his contention? Steph asked with a look. But— |
||
| + | “Shut up! What’s wrong with an outta-this-world man wanting an outta-this-world woman? Those fockin’ sisters of mine!!” |
||
| − | “……Goodness? That is news to me, Dora.” |
||
| + | And then: |
||
| − | “Confirmation: Inferred to be boast regarding size of own chest. Also—” |
||
| + | “Heh, you’re hopeless, you are. I’ll just have to become a fine woman for you, I will.” |
||
| − | —right then, two voices continued emotionlessly and instantly rendered Steph’s reddened face white. |
||
| + | ……Suddenly… |
||
| − | “You intend to advertise that you have been used by my master, do you?♥” |
||
| + | “In another thirteen, I’ll be an adult, I will. I’ll be downright bushy, I will!! I’ll be beautiful, and oh so chaste, whatever that means, I will! Then you just have to get me sexy, and that’s that, it is!!” |
||
| − | “Command: Disclose context of humblebrag immediately. Rejection not recommended. It will hurt.” |
||
| + | …the child whose pale blue eyes sparkled as she spoke started to feel extremely dissatisfied. |
||
| − | —When he hasn’t even used me…? |
||
| + | “I’ll do my best to make spirit arms like you, I will. If you just give up on the big boobs, I’ll be such a fine woman, right in front of you! And I’ll help you stop being a virgin, I will!!” |
||
| − | Steph felt as if their words and gazes were physically stabbing her and almost passed out. |
||
| + | She smiled as if to ask: So what is a virgin? He thrust back feelings he didn’t understand himself— |
||
| − | “Reserved: Matter at hand has priority. Master rarely speaks of own past.” |
||
| + | “It ain’t happening. Such a good-for-nothin’ ain’t ever gonna get how to make spirit arms.” |
||
| − | “And thus, this game has greater significance in terms of my master’s present.” |
||
| + | …And that— |
||
| − | Behind their words, Steph felt just as if she could hear what their eyes were telling her. |
||
| + | was the man’s first misreading… |
||
| − | …Has it really not occurred to you, Stephanie Dola? Look at that Sora—that virginal young man surrounded by so many women. But in only one case has he spontaneously, voluntarily, of his own will… |
||
| + | “……A good-for-nothing…? …What? You mean me…?” |
||
| − | …groped someone’s boobs. |
||
| + | …What? What’s with those teary eyes like you can’t believe what you just heard?! The man felt ever more uncomfortable. |
||
| − | Yours, bitch!!!! |
||
| + | “Wh-why nottt? I-I’ll d-do my best, I will.” |
||
| − | “I had taken it to mean that he preferred little girls and wondered only about his position on breasts, but…” |
||
| + | “Your best ain’t gonna do it…!! Why can’t you see?!” |
||
| − | “Recalculation: Irregular data added. Master preferences. Mature body observed as compatible in one instance. Reanalyzing.” |
||
| + | Ah—the child truly didn’t understand. |
||
| − | Jibril started scribbling in her book, while Emir-Eins’s head made scratching noises. I see… Steph swallowed. If Sora really would go for any female, then why hadn’t he touched any of them? No, why was it that, even as of now—he’d only touched Steph? It was, indeed, a question of his present situation, his preferences!! |
||
| + | Dwarf was a race that created exactly what it imagined. But she didn’t see that she didn’t see what he saw. She’d never even imagined she might not have talent. The man stood bewildered as to why that was so uncomfortable for him. |
||
| − | “In any case, this is a test of my master’s ideals. His soul will speak to them. The answer is at hand.” |
||
| + | “…I…I just don’t—understand, I don’t… A-after all…” |
||
| − | “Critical: Remaining Ex Machina cluster attempted to identify master preferences, failed. Revelation imminent.” |
||
| + | She rebutted between sobs. |
||
| − | If he liked small boobs, they would remake themselves at once with small boobs. |
||
| + | “…Uncle, you don’t understand why I don’t understand, you don’t!” |
||
| − | If it was confirmed that he liked little girls, they would remain little girls for eternity, they vowed resolutely. |
||
| + | And at last the man had his answer. |
||
| − | Yes—for a future that would prove the past all to have been to bring them together—! Today, they would prepare for that day of reckoning, they declared with conviction. |
||
| + | '''“U-Uncle—you can’t overcome the limits of your own imagination, you can’t!!”''' |
||
| − | Steph had her own thoughts on the matter: |
||
| + | “R-really…I’ve already surpassed your imagination, by being unimaginable to you, I have. I’ll make a spirit arm that surpasses you easily… S-see, I’ve won the argument, I have!” |
||
| − | —I doubt that revelation will come… |
||
| + | …Indeed…the man himself did not understand the child. He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what…she was crying about… The man she admired over all others had told her she was good for nothing. But she argued against that absolute pronouncement and declared that she’d yet overcome it, weeping and despairing while her eyes burned with blue fire. It was that paradox that baffled the man who never strayed or erred: |
||
| − | Actually, as Steph summed it all up in her brain, her suspicion turned to conviction. Sora, indeed, would go for anything. Or, put more simply—he didn’t even really care. |
||
| + | …He feared that unimaginable child… |
||
| − | But in that case—if it was impossible to make peace with the past, if it was unacceptable even to justify it—if, just as these two had declared, the past would be proven to exist for the sake of their meeting—then what about the present? What sort of answer would those two offer for their victory…? |
||
| + | …The man had been born with outstanding sensibilities. They grasped even that divine realm only his ancestor had seen. And thereby he became the first in history to reach the extreme that in over six thousand years no one had been able to approach. |
||
| − | Steph swallowed quietly and followed the others’ lead in staring at the screen seriously. |
||
| + | And then? What next? |
||
| − | —Why, in fact, had only her breasts been squeezed? Not even realizing that that was where her attention lay, alas…she watched in perfect earnest…… |
||
| + | The man could only imagine following in the footsteps of his ancestor, but still he had a hunch. Given all this, what was it that his ancestor had seen before he reached this realm? |
||
| − | == Partie 5 == |
||
| + | He couldn’t have been a normal Dwarf. He must have been different, something unreadable, incomprehensible, unimaginable… Rather like that well-endowed lady his ancestor was said to have loved…or— |
||
| − | However, on the other side of the screen—in the cockpit, responsible for controlling the mech as it raced across the stage—Til, more than anyone, was wheezing with questions. The backs of the two competing neck and neck with Veig seemed distant. How? |
||
| − | + | “I—I promise I’ll make a spirit arm that surpasses you, I do.” |
|
| + | —like the paradoxical child declaring this irresolute resolution— |
||
| − | «Heh, I’m finally startin’ to see it…! The secret of how you do the impossible!!» |
||
| + | “…Arright then. Go make a spirit arm that surpasses mine and bring it back here.” |
||
| − | His strident laughter filled the cockpit… Ah… How could a grubby little mole like Til, with neither the spiritual amplitude of Veig nor the rite-compiling chops of Fiel, accomplish this? These bullets fast enough to catch Veig, this curtain fire solid enough to stop him— |
||
| + | —to overcome six thousand years of Dwarven stagnation…and the limits of sensibility— |
||
| − | «I know how you get that impossible firepower. It’s by intentionally overloading catalysts and discarding them, ain’t it?!» |
||
| + | “I’ll be here waiting for the damn fine woman who can beat me. It’s a promise.” |
||
| − | Yes—under the storm of Sora and Shiro’s Gatling gun, Veig had seen through this. |
||
| + | —to become a damn fine woman. |
||
| − | “What, you’re talking about that?! D00d, that should go without saying. Of course we’d do that!!” |
||
| + | The man and the child joined pinkies in a solemn oath. He didn’t understand what was meant by her eyes, which looked up at him holding back tears. But he decided that, until he understood, until he was surpassed—he’d be the finest man imaginable…to be a good match for such a fine woman. |
||
| − | “…Using magic to accelerate bullets… Laughing…at Newton’s, third law of motion…” |
||
| + | But the child fled… |
||
| − | Smiling, they declared it the basic principle of otherworldly artillery. |
||
| + | She was still a paradox, while he still did not understand her at all, running even as he chased. The days and months passed idly—until one day… |
||
| − | …Til had lamented the fact that she didn’t have the spirits to pull off a single spell without spirit-arm boosting, nor could she control a booster sufficiently to prevent explosion. |
||
| + | …the man fell right into the trap of two strange Immanities. The otherworlders were winning while running from their past. The contradiction made the man sure: These two would know why the child ran. |
||
| − | Sora and Shiro had laughed. |
||
| + | …And his hunch was proven right. However— |
||
| − | —Why bother controlling it? |
||
| + | “…A damn ham-fisted resolution… I was the one running, huh?” |
||
| − | —It’s gonna blow up? Excellent. Blow it the hell up. |
||
| + | —as their consciousnesses melded and the man touched the soul of the child from back then, he laughed at himself. He’d been called out on his limits—and he himself had run from overcoming them. |
||
| − | And so their projectiles fired from their cartridges by means of intentional failure and runaway. They careened toward Veig at twenty-four times the speed of sound, difficult even for him to follow. However… |
||
| + | And from trying to imagine why the child had cried that day. Her eyes, heavy with unease, had sought— |
||
| − | «Oh, sorry ’bout that. Okay—the really impossible part.» |
||
| + | —someone to be her place of belonging, to take her fumbling hand as she looked up to that sky where she knew she couldn’t fly…in that darkness as deep as her will. That was all… The man shouldn’t have waited to be surpassed. He should have sought with the child a way to surpass his limits. |
||
| − | …just as Veig’s ironic voice boomed through, their bullets, which had been striking him with relentless accuracy, whiffed for the first time. And Veig’s slash flashed with movement even Til couldn’t follow: |
||
| + | “… Really? Is that really how it is? You were running? Are you sure?” |
||
| − | «Can ya own up to your trick for responding without reacting?» |
||
| + | In their melding consciousnesses, the sarcastic laughter of a young man interrupted their thoughts. |
||
| − | Sora and Shiro’s mech demi-shifted to evade and open up the distance with ease. Veig darted through their immediate return fire. The wild cycle of evasion and engagement continued. |
||
| + | “You think falling into the junk heap with Til and becoming like Shiro and me is not running? You think that’s being right? Yeah, maybe it is. But maybe it isn’t.” |
||
| − | Feeling Sora’s and Shiro’s backs grow ever farther away, Til pondered, her expression growing increasingly gloomy. |
||
| + | Was the man running from his tab? From the paradoxical child who hoped for what he couldn’t imagine? From his paradoxical self who tried to understand a child he couldn’t? Chasing after the child who fled against his sensibilities that told him it was impossible, going so far as to put us on the hook… |
||
| − | —How did they dodge these attacks? |
||
| + | So, what’s the difference between running and running from running…? |
||
| − | —How did they land these shots? |
||
| + | == Partie 9 == |
||
| − | They couldn’t see what was going on. They couldn’t even react. Even Sora and Shiro were just humans. But Til could answer her own question. She knew all the answers. |
||
| + | And so…the impact that shook to the surface left the cave. The force that connected the parts of the massive body ceased, and pieces of metal fell like hail. Through the whirlwind of dust walked a man who carried an unconscious girl. A rusty man. His mithril had lost its luster due to spiritual overload, his hair and his beard now rusted over… But strangely it seemed to be the true form of a man with the surname Drauvnir. It seemed proof of the way of life of a fool, using and abusing himself to overcome himself, not knowing what would happen, unafraid of overload—the only one to overcome the limits of his race… |
||
| − | —They weren’t dodging. They just weren’t where Veig would attack. |
||
| + | I won’t let her die. The man had sacrificed his frame and overcome his limits to save his niece. But then suddenly—seeing her unconscious in his arms yet unwilling to release her hammer, looking genuinely happy, her chest rising and falling dramatically in sleep, smiling— |
||
| − | —They weren’t landing shots. Veig just happened to be where their bullets would fly. |
||
| + | “……Ha…ha…! Haaa—ha-ha-haaa…!!” |
||
| − | It was more or less sophistry, playing with words—but that was the nature of their trick. They couldn’t act or react fast enough. So Til had fulfilled their order. |
||
| + | —the man at last collapsed, like his broken soul sword, spread-eagled over the ground laughing. |
||
| − | «—Damn you… You’re movin’ before you move, aren’t ya?» |
||
| + | “…Ahh… My fockin’ niece beat me good… The future is hers… I’ve lost…” |
||
| − | Yes—a paradoxical feeling had led that arrogant voice to point it right out. |
||
| + | Yes: Veig recognized his defeat. He looked up to the heavens—and at last, he and all the Dwarves watching the broadcast— |
||
| − | Til had built them joysticks that let them input commands in advance. So how had they evaded Veig’s first strike? |
||
| + | —saw…the sky… |
||
| − | Veig had announced he’d attack. As of the moment before that, they’d already performed the input to shift out of the way, turn to where Veig would be, and fire… That was all. But even now, they remained toe-to-toe with the strong, continuing to anticipate the future again and again. They saw a different future from that which Veig saw only as a hunch, a superior future. No, they didn’t just see it—they remade it every time. |
||
| + | An unknown sky, inconceivable underground…yet they saw it. That of which Til had spoken—just as that which had closed off the sky before had broken, for the first time in six thousand years, it was pried open—that which lay beyond the high blue sky… |
||
| − | Was that just a trick? Were they just weak humans…? She couldn’t see what they saw. She couldn’t even imagine it. Most of all— |
||
| + | “…You feel that, Veig Drauvnir? You see how small you are, how shitty your taste?” asked one of the shadows peering down at him. The shadowy figure glanced at the group that Jibril had saved the moment Veig’s core had broken. |
||
| − | «In that case, all I have to do is move with the assumption you’ll read me, yeah?!» |
||
| + | [[Image:NGNL V10 12.jpg|thumb]] |
||
| − | “Spoken like an OP scrub, all right!! Damn it—shit’s gonna get real now. You ready, Shiro?!” |
||
| + | “You gotta fight with people on your level. Sorry, man. You’re just not up to playing me yet.” |
||
| − | “…Mm…! Cancel that move…! Brother, use…your adrenaline dodge!” |
||
| + | Ah, what a small man he had been. Veig looked up at Sora, seeing in him a very different kind of man. |
||
| − | —their input queues drew on Shiro’s calculation and Sora’s finesse, prediction and leading, tactics and strategy. With all of these working together, they were just barely able to stay ahead of the game. But now that the cat was out of the bag, if they ever lost the initiative…it would be too late for them to do anything. But Til most of all found herself unable to understand the emotions of Sora and Shiro that came through the catalysts as she gazed at their backs… |
||
| + | “…Small boobs, big boobs, even humongous boobs; fake boobs and real boobs… They are all boobs…” |
||
| − | In the midst of the utmost tension and panic, they seemed to be having the time of their lives. Their hearts burned with a joy that was above all that, played on top of all that. |
||
| + | A big man… Such a big man. Sora eyed him calmly. |
||
| − | …Suddenly, Til felt their backs getting away from her. And there, in what was supposed to be a small cockpit— |
||
| + | “If you claim to love boobs, how can you speak of right or wrong? Speak of love.” |
||
| − | —she saw it…the high, blue sky. That very sky…she’d seen as a child. That…very sky…she’d stopped seeing, at some point… At that sky…where the two in the same cockpit, with the same cores, controlling the same machine were not…Til finally looked down…with a smile of resignation…and grasped it. |
||
| + | The big, big man’s voice was so clear you could hear him all the way to nirvana. |
||
| − | Just as Sora said, she wasn’t even the lowest… Those two really had flown… That white-winged bird in that black sky. If to be able to do such things, to be able to reach such heights was what it meant to be weak, then it was true that natural gifts could never be overcome…including the natural gift of being weak. |
||
| + | “To reject boobs other than those of the uniform ponderous size you favor as fake, and to impose this view on others…” |
||
| − | She grasped that the top and the bottom alike…lay far, far away from her… |
||
| + | No censure, no blame, no scorn or spite could be heard in his voice…only the sound of a man who had obtained enlightenment and imparted to the world the truth. |
||
| − | «Well—that leaves just one more impossible, don’t it…?» |
||
| + | “To speak to such a soul is less than my soul is worth.” |
||
| − | The resounding transmission continued, and the feeling of the crack running through her core, too, felt far away…as did the mech which, hit by the iron fist that had finally caught up |
||
| + | …Dost thou find it wonderful? Then may it be wonderful. No one can violate thy freedom to so find it. Then why, in speaking thy feelings, shalt thou denigrate others’? Indeed… |
||
| − | with Sora and Shiro’s piloting, fell to the ground. |
||
| + | “Ideal tits? They’re perfect if you work on them? Ahh, how small, how small!!” |
||
| − | “Aaagh… Neverrr… I’ll never accept your boobular fascismmm!!” |
||
| + | It was he, Veig, who had lacked confidence. Whereas this immeasurable man, as vast as the sky, had stood from the beginning far beyond Veig, on a higher plane. |
||
| − | “…B-Brother…I—I…really…can’t have…boobs?!” |
||
| + | …He was one truly great virgin. Yes… |
||
| − | As did the voices of Sora and Shiro, resisting Veig’s glandular ideology. Everything, even the cockpit screen showing Veig’s machine looking down at them, even the question he asked…seemed far away… |
||
| + | “If ya want ideal boobs, you’re not gonna have a chance unless you have the guts to go for the woman who goes way the hell past your ideals, are ya?!” |
||
| − | «…If you can do that much…why’d ya run…?» |
||
| + | Ah…it was just as his fockin’ niece had said. The child that day had already surpassed him…and now she’d become a fine woman who surpassed his imagination. Sora smiled at this, too. |
||
| − | …His question was clear-cut, free of rebuke or blame or even despair. But Til certainly couldn’t answer that, nor could anyone else— |
||
| + | “…Yeah. It was my limit to pursue mere perfection.” |
||
| − | Then. |
||
| + | Veig felt he’d seen for the first time what that child kept yearning for. She hadn’t been looking at the birds. From the very start, she’d been looking at the sky in which they flew… |
||
| − | «Damn you… We were havin’ a moment there. Ain’cha ever heard of tact, ya bloody…» |
||
| + | “…Ah, finally I can see what my fockin’ niece saw.” |
||
| − | Again with a hunch—Veig anticipated the blast that hurtled forth at almost light speed. Grumbling at that soul which made him depressed just to remember it, that soul which therefore had to be dodged, he slid one small, unruffled step to the side. |
||
| + | That sky one wished for and longed for and pined for and yet could never imagine: that which he’d always pursued…the ideal big tits that surpassed the perfect… Ah, yes… |
||
| − | «Anyway, you ain’t even got anything to do with this… I get what you’re trying to say— Wha…?!» |
||
| + | Bwoing… |
||
| − | Or he tried, but it came anyway, leaving behind sound, light, everything. Undeniable—infinite in speed—it transcended space and arrived with a shock wave that flattened the surroundings. It was a direct hit, right in his mech’s chest, knocking him hundreds of meters— |
||
| + | Veig gazed innocently at Til as she slept, her rising and falling chest—her humongous boobs. Tits of such excess as to look a little unbalanced, allowing statuesque beauty to crumble. He smiled at this ideal he’d finally found, an ideal beyond limits. He was happy…… |
||
| − | «…Oh.♥ I see, a demi-shift shot… Right, an Elf can demi-shift without an anchor… Yeah, a grub like me could never come up with ideas like— Hey, whaaa…?!» |
||
| + | == Partie 10 == |
||
| − | —and yet it didn’t seem to be enough to break his core, his spirit. |
||
| − | |||
| − | «Damn bitches, gimme a break, will ya?! I’ll beat ya to a pulp, ya shiiits!» |
||
| − | |||
| − | Veig recovered from his depression in a moment and dodged the second shot. He blew his top high enough to bust through the ceiling, and then glanced at Sora and Shiro’s machine, which had managed to get up in the brief interval. |
||
| − | |||
| − | «……Oh… That’s how it is…? You bitches are a decoy…» |
||
| − | |||
| − | His voice— |
||
| − | |||
| − | «Guess I gotta go crush them before I listen to your soul, huh?» |
||
| − | |||
| − | —sounded as if he had seen through everything. He scoffed. |
||
| − | |||
| − | «All right. You can play with these babies. I’ll be back in a minute.» |
||
| − | |||
| − | Leaving behind countless curved blades to attack Sora, Shiro, and Til as well as blue light, Veig leaped away. |
||
| − | |||
| − | == Partie 6 == |
||
| + | Indeed… Only two in history had seen that divine realm. A third who had opened the door without being able to see it was responsible for this by-product of a successful failure. In the E-bomb shell had been placed two false ethers to conceptually resonate. |
||
| − | And far, far, away, the golem decorated with countless flowers by now was not bothering to hide. The Holy Forge that pierced the skyless heavens at her back, the pilot, Chlammy, tutted once and pondered. |
||
| + | “Hey—th-these are heavy; I can’t even stand! ‘Big’ doesn’t even describe these!” |
||
| − | The demi-shift shot… That had been their third trump card—and a very risky one, the kind that had to finish the opponent off if one were to survive afterward. Of course. The moment the opponent knew they had a shot that was more or less undodgeable, they themselves would become the top-priority target… And then— |
||
| + | “You see, Dora, this is the conceptual rewrite of ‘big boob(?) essence’—” |
||
| − | —this is what would happen. Just as the blades flew, the sleek silver frame appeared from thin air, an enemy superior to them in both specs and technique. |
||
| + | “Analysis: Bust value of woman of unknown name. Provisionally categorized under handle ‘megatits.’ Very niche support.’” |
||
| − | «…Ho there, fockin’ titwads. I got a promise to be back in a minute, so, sorry—die right here, right now.» |
||
| + | “What are you talking about?! These are going to turn back, aren’t they? I can’t live like this!” |
||
| − | Chlammy chuckled to her backseat companion. |
||
| + | “Why, I’m fine if we don’t turn back, insofar as I’ve happened to match Chlammy. ” |
||
| − | “…Fi? If we go head-to-head with that thing…how much chance do we stand?” |
||
| + | “You must be joking! Why do I have even less now?! I won’t tolerate having no boobs! Hey, Fi, saying your small boobs match me, are you indirectly dissing me?! Give me back my boobs!” |
||
| − | “Why, it’s not even a conteeest. We’re trapped, true to the deal…” |
||
| + | “Query: This unit’s bust provisionally categorized under ‘ample bosom’… Questioning conceptual rewrite of ‘big boob essence.’” |
||
| − | They’d rather it not be the case, but it was a cold, hard fact. Fi answered despondently, and Chlammy nodded back. Yes—trapped. Checkmate. They’d known: That silver frame, that monster—was some bullshit that spelled doom if they let it close. That was why Sora and Shiro had agreed to provide a diversion until they lost… |
||
| + | “You see, it is not ‘big boob essence’ but ‘big boob(?) essence’—” |
||
| − | That was the condition of cooperation. That was the deal. And Sora and Shiro, believe it or not, had actually followed through. Now Chlammy and Fiel’s chance had crumbled. They had lost. And that was what would lead to Sora and Shiro’s victory…!! |
||
| + | And there the ladies cavorted, their boobs changing randomly. Exactly as in the experiment four days earlier, except that this time it worked without an explosion. The conceptual rewriter used Lóni Drauvnir’s “big boob essence” along with one other false essence. Yes, just the same thing had happened as four days ago—instead of an explosion, it was its by-product. In other words: |
||
| − | ……But— |
||
| + | “To summarize, it seems to be as in the experiment of four days ago, when, according to the sublime teachings of my masters, I engraved on unprocessed essence a seal identical to that for the big boob essence and activated this unidentified essence,” Jibril rehashed for the two who hadn’t been there. “I posit that a two-way reaction with the big boob essence |
||
| − | “Fi… It’s all right… I won’t lie to myself anymore…” |
||
| + | has generated a composite conceptual rewrite.” |
||
| − | —Chlammy uttered something so contrary to reason. Yes—the two who had said they could go for the win had made it so much fun… |
||
| + | Indeed…the principle was unknown. No one even understood how conceptual falsification worked. Thus, even Jibril was unable to explicate or elucidate this incomprehensibility. But she described it in words in such a rough manner as was possible. So: |
||
| − | All right then. With that, they had no regrets!! |
||
| + | “In short—the conceptual rewrite is in the form of a question: ‘Are these big boobs?’” |
||
| − | “I won’t make you lie anymore, either. From now on—I won’t fear you, Fi…” |
||
| + | “These clearly cannot be described as big boobs!” |
||
| − | Yes—after all, Fi had told her that any Chlammy was the real Chlammy whom she loved. |
||
| + | “Yes, you see, it is ‘big boob(?) essence,’ such as to make everyone ask, ‘These are big boobs?’” |
||
| − | “Any Fi…is the Fi I love!! So—answer with your heart!!” |
||
| + | …… |
||
| − | Fi opened her eyes wide and smiled from ear to ear. It wasn’t too late— |
||
| + | == Partie 11 == |
||
| − | '''“—If we go at it with all we’ve got—we’re not done yet, are weeee?!”''' |
||
| + | “For the record, this is the first and last time I’m gonna play Cupid for anyone, all right?!” |
||
| − | '''“Why, of—course—nottt! It’s the showdown—let’s see what we have!” |
||
| − | ''' |
||
| − | They called a little early—as their fourth trump card raced through their bodies. |
||
| + | Sora paid no attention to the commotion. He took the hand of his sister, apparently the only one unaffected: Big boobs? Where? |
||
| − | …Yes…Fi released the power from the two rites she’d been expending on sealing off her emotions so as not to scare Chlammy— |
||
| + | “For God’s sake, I’m still updating my years alive and without a girlfriend!! And now I’m supposed to help some d00d land a heroine?! And not just any heroine, but the one and only—the real thing—the brown legal Loli monster girl!” |
||
| − | «—?!» |
||
| + | “…I hope you find…happiness.♪ That’s one heroine…out of the running…” |
||
| − | —and right then, from the machine before Veig’s eyes, Fi’s feelings expanded in the manner of a detonation. That instant, Veig lost his composure and reflexively jumped backward into a defensive stance. |
||
| + | The siblings walked away. Veig heard them loud and clear. He grinned softly at the sleeping face of his niece, who still smiled happily in his arms. |
||
| − | …Meanwhile, link tattoos glowed all over Chlammy’s and Fiel’s bodies. They sped up time within their bodies so that Veig’s movement felt to them terribly slow as their golem positioned its sniper cannon at its hip. |
||
| + | “…Ho… Bitches, I’ve heard your answer… I feel your soul…” |
||
| − | The feeling unleashed like a vortex was not malice, not bloodlust, and certainly not malignance. It went over a line that should not be crossed—a third line, which should never be crossed. It was a pure offering, gushing forth from every corner of Fiel’s heart. |
||
| + | There was something the otherworldly siblings had never spoken of to the end. They hadn’t put that answer into words, or even returned it in their souls. Indeed… |
||
| + | “I was wrong to question you. Thanks for showin’ me…the sky…” |
||
| + | He got the sense that if they could beat this game world, they could say they’d fled to win… So: |
||
| + | “Lemme help ya build the sky of your future. Let’s be bosom buddies.” |
||
| + | They’d overthrow this game world, its rules, everything. They’d beat the world. Just you wait. |
||
| + | We’re coming for you next, friggin’ Earth… |
||
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|- |
|- |
||
| − | | Revenir au [[No_Game_No_Life_: |
+ | | Revenir au [[No_Game_No_Life_:_Tome_10_Chapitre_4|Chapitre 4]] |
| Retourner au [[No_Game_No_Life_-_Français|Sommaire]] |
| Retourner au [[No_Game_No_Life_-_Français|Sommaire]] |
||
| − | | Passer |
+ | | Passer à l' [[No_Game_No_Life_:_Tome_10_Épilogue|Épilogue]] |
|- |
|- |
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Latest revision as of 20:18, 28 September 2022
Chapitre 5 : Pour répondre (Pragmatisme)[edit]
Et donc,
la marionnette s'enfuit vers le ciel que l'oisillon désirait tant,
vers ce monde étroit et sombre.
Oui...
Un ciel pour que la marionnette soit à l'abri du mal, pour sourire du cœur.
Un endroit où personne ne les piétinerait, où personne ne les blesserait,
aucune force ne les contraint, aucun besoin de changer.
Un nouveau monde où ils pourraient voler.
Ce jour-là,
L'oisillon savait très bien que ça ne serait probablement jamais le cas.
L'oisillon implora la marionnette, qui jura de se battre :
Aucun ciel ne vaut la peine de te voir souffrir.
Alors la marionnette, elle aussi, s'enfuit dans cette même cage.
Jusqu'à ce que nous trouvions un moyen de créer ce ciel,
c'est ce que pensait la marionnette dans ce monde étouffant.
Pensée et seulement pensée...
Doutant et vacillant, ne trouvant rien à chercher,
la marionnette pensait toujours à cette promesse :
Ce jour-là,
dans un nouveau pays, regardant les cieux,
voyant le bébé oiseau déployer ses ailes et sourire,
la marionnette vide - le ciel - Sora -
Traduit avec www.DeepL.com/Translator (version gratuite)
Partie 1[edit]
...Une scène remplie de l'écho de l'éruption de la Forge Sacrée... le site d'élimination des déchets.
Une gigantesque machine humanoïde argentée avance à pas lourds dans les ruines souterraines ensevelies sous les déchets métalliques. Des larmes coulent dans les yeux ardents de Veig qui marmonne avec désolation le premier souci de sa vie.
"... Ai-je vraiment fait quelque chose de si mal... ?"
Il se souvint des deux âmes qu'il avait fracassées après une lutte inattendue - l'âme de cette petite herbe étrangement coriace aux seins excellents, et l'âme de cette vipère incompréhensiblement toxique qui avait fait craquer son épée pour la première fois. Se balançant sombrement, vacillant en avant, il pensait :
...Que diable ai-je fait... ?
Veig se souvenait avoir été remercié, mais jamais blâmé. Pourtant, tout ce qu'il ressentait maintenant était un mystérieux sentiment de culpabilité gravé dans son âme trop profondément pour le nier. Maintenant, il se tenait là, devant la masse métallique tombée, la machine gisant sur le sol avec ses membres totalisés.
"...Ho... J'ai bien dit que je serais en retard, mais pour faire une sieste, tu as du cran, hein ?"
Veig a regardé attentivement le cadre cassé. Par le biais du système de communication, il a accusé ses pilotes de faire les morts.
Dans ce jeu, les attaques ne causent aucun dommage direct à la machine adverse. Par conséquent, tout dommage doit provenir d'une défaillance du rite ou d'une erreur de tir - ou être auto-infligé. Et honnêtement, c'était les deux. L'intuition de Veig lui a dit. Il a soulevé le corps brisé et a hurlé.
"Hey, je te parle !! Ton adversaire, c'est moi. Ne te retourne pas et ne meurs pas. Tu n'as aucun sens ?!"
En effet... Sora et Shiro n'ont jamais eu la moindre chance contre Veig dans une bataille d'armes spirituelles. Il était donc inévitable qu'ils perdent. Mais quand même...
"Tu n'as pas l'intention de te taire sans dire un mot sur ton âme, n'est-ce pas ? !"
Oui, ils avaient tenu tête à Veig avec une tempête de balles impensable. Mais ils n'ont rien emporté de leur âme, le barrage était trop fragile. Tout ce qu'il a fait c'est rejeter l'attaque de Veig et dire non à son âme...
Il n'a rien dit. Il n'a rien admis. Leur âme avait seulement rejeté la sienne et était restée inébranlable. Veig a serré les dents. S'ils pouvaient faire autant, alors pourquoi ?
Il souleva le cadre en ruine comme s'il le tenait par le col et se mit en colère :
“Quand allez-vous répondre à ma question ?!”
Et il a enfin obtenu une réponse.
"...Tout de suite, je le ferai. Je vais vous donner votre réponse, je vais le faire."
... Une voix a murmuré à travers la porte.
"Whuh ?!"
L'épave a soudainement répliqué en explosant, libérant un torrent d'âme fou. Elle lui répondit par une puissante imagerie qui lui vola momentanément sa conscience.
—……
Il était au fond d'un petit trou, sombre et exigu. Veig connaissait la fille qui pleurait en regardant le ciel, seule. Il la connaissait bien... la fille incapable de voler, qui plus que quiconque admirait les oiseaux qui volaient si haut.
Une fille paradoxale, elle savait qu'elle ne pouvait pas voler et pourtant elle levait les yeux au ciel... Elle pleurait même si elle avait abandonné... Le monde l'interrogeait avec des questions sans réponse - pourquoi elle avait fui, pourquoi elle n'avait pas essayé - puis lui demandait pourquoi elle pleurait... et la méprisait pour cela. Il l'a laissée dans ce trou... sans rien vouloir...
La fille solitaire... balançant son marteau à travers les larmes...... Il-
—……
Veig a essayé de tendre la main... mais blam, l'explosion a secoué la grotte et l'a tiré de sa rêverie. Dès qu'il a jeté un coup d'oeil autour de lui, peut-être plus tôt, il a deviné ce qui se passait. Il grimaça et hurla d'impatience.
"Quelle blague... Vous n'avez jamais eu personne là-dedans depuis le début ? C'était télécommandé... ?!"
Maintenant que tu le dis, il n'y avait aucune règle qui disait que tu devais piloter la machine... si ? S'ils le contrôlaient depuis un cockpit à l'extérieur du cadre, ils pouvaient le balancer sans problème.
Mais même si c'était télécommandé, ils devaient être connectés à leurs bras spirituels. Ce qui signifiait que faire exploser leur propre cadre si négligemment aurait des répercussions. Et en effet, le sol a tremblé avec une réaction en chaîne d'explosions l'une après l'autre dans toute la décharge.
Les esprits générés ont dessiné des lignes de lumière comme si elles circulaient dans des circuits gravés sur la scène. Le circuit de lumière convergeait pour le montrer :
La véritable unité !
Désireux de voir où se trouvait le vrai cockpit, Veig a suivi la lumière de l'esprit jusqu'à sa destination. Il s'est avéré qu'il se trouvait au centre de la scène tremblante, si loin que sa fonction zoom était tout juste suffisante pour le distinguer. Au sommet d'une plante particulièrement haute, ses yeux ont trouvé leur cible et se sont ouverts en grand. Il s'agissait d'une fille qu'il connaissait bien, debout sur le siège d'un cockpit ouvert.
"Vous demandez pourquoi j'ai fui ce monde sanglant, n'est-ce pas... ? ...C'est une question stupide, en effet."
Mais c'est une fille qu'il ne connaissait pas qui lui a murmuré. Ses yeux, embrasés d'un feu inextinguible, regardaient sa machine au loin. La fille, avec un morceau de ferraille en forme de marteau dans sa main, a parlé comme si elle déposait une déclaration de guerre. De son cœur, elle a dit son âme... pas des faits objectifs, mais ses sentiments :
"C'est parce que je méprise ce monde, vraiment."
Partie 2[edit]
Til’s voice, resolute, was yet like her limbs…jittery. She couldn’t help but tremble, because of what she saw down there from the open cockpit—Veig standing there in the venue that still quaked from the blasts—and because of the sparkling hammer in her right hand. Regardless—
“Don’t worry. We’ll blast off with you. We promised, didn’t we?”
“…Brother…always…keeps, his promises… Trust us, okay?”
—Sora’s and Shiro’s voices intoned from the seat in front of her, joyful but firm. And Til felt them holding her left hand tight. She broke into a smile to realize her trembling had somehow stopped…and she continued with her eyes fixed straight ahead on Veig’s machine, all the way through to the man inside.
“…I hate this country. I hate Hardenfell, I do.”
She reaffirmed her feelings—her belief. This arrogant world told her not to run. This
oppressive world told her not to be ashamed. Til looked up at its tireless way of life and sneered at it.
“I love the sky, I do… In this country…the sky is closed off, it is.”
The cave’s ceiling reminded her; lost and confused, she’d ended up in this dump before she knew it, and the world asked her, Why did you run? Now, Til knew the feeling of a hand in hers. Now, she knew another world—that of those two. Now, she could say it:
Ah…there never was a place for me here.
—Screw this place—!!
So—!
“I also hate the chieftain of this country. I hate you, I do…!”
The hammer sparkled ever brighter as Til’s words spilled out uncontrollably, with the pain that burned her up. What came back was a lonely, sorrowful chuckle. Til ground her teeth.
…She’d known—no, she’d had a hunch—that he’d say that. What he was saying. As if it was everything—
“I hate that…how everything’s just as you expected… I hate iiit!!”
Her voice impulsively swelled with the pain that only grew:
“I hate how you act like you’re so great, I do! I hate even more that you actually are, I do!!”
The dam had burst, and her feelings could no longer be contained.
“I hate how you advertise yourself as a genius, I do! I hate how I can’t argue because you actually are a genius, I do!! I hate how you look down on me, I do! I hate so much that it’s only natural because you’re above me, I do!! I hate how you’re so hairy!! You shaved too much, you say?! So what? Are you trying to rub it in? I wish you’d go to hell, I do!! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you—U-Uncle, you’re a pervert!! I hate you very, very, veeery much, I do!!”
«Whoa!! Come on, stop already or I’m really gonna cry! Goddamn!»
The momentum had flushed out everything Til wanted to say. Inattentive to the tearful begging over the comm system, Til caught her breath. As the shaking of the stage and the sparkling of her hammer and her pain all grew in speed, she wiped her tears. With a sharp, firm voice, she mulled over her words carefully and gave her answer:
“I hate you. That’s why I run. If that’s not enough for you to understand—”
Then in the spirit of the game:
“—I’ll sock it to you like this—and then I think you will understand, I do.”
Yes—seeing behind her eyelids the place the feeling of those two had taken her as they held her left hand, that black sky with a white bird, Til laid down the gauntlet sonorously.
“I fled to win—to honor my promise, I did.”
…A tactical withdrawal was made when one had a chance of victory… She had been just lost, but now it would be redefined—no. Each time another explosion went off, the spirits converged into her hammer, and it was that pain.
And now it had been redefined—!!
That pain had turned her conviction into that of the past. Til savagely swung her hammer as she—
—bellowed forth her soul with the stirring of a power beyond all normal conception throughout the venue.
“I fled for the sake of this day, when I’d surpass you, I diiid!!”
Partie 3[edit]
It was a power that all feared instinctively. The memories sleeping deep in their blood awakened. An outrageous power of a whole different rank, a whole different status, a whole different order of magnitude—quite literally a different level. The future brought on in the next few moments by this power beyond reason didn’t take someone like Veig to foresee. It was a strike from the heavens that sneered at every one of heaven’s gifts crawling atop the earth, judging them likewise of null value. No one could mistake that power. It was
a Heavenly Smite……
“Hey, whoaaa! I thought the Flügel wasn’t—hey, isn’t that against the rules?!”
From his machine—his cockpit—Veig screeched, blanching. Someone who wasn’t in the game—with magic that wasn’t even a seal rite!! His one eye searched in a panic for the Flügel, but in the next moment—
—he realized that the center of the crawling power…was Til’s hammer. And his one eye was opened by the roar over the comm system and the unheard-of shock that followed… Yes:
«Ultra-large-scale spirit-arm expansion—connect all!! Ariiiise!!!»
Til’s face wrenched in agony as she brought down the hammer. There was a flash as it bore through the cockpit…and through the plant below. With that, there came a moment of silence to the blast-stricken venue. And then…
“—?!!”
…a vertical oscillation unlike anything that had gone before tossed them. A heavy shock came from behind Veig. He dodged instinctively on the spot, but from the mass of metal that had only grazed him flowed a tempestuous soul.
……
A girl who wanted to imagine things that could not be imagined. A girl who wanted to fly though by no effort could she fly. Saying she could do nothing, she chased the bird in the sky for which there was nothing to do…
They said she was just running. They mocked that it was impossible. Her soul…
«I…knew it! …I knew it!! Better than anyone, I did…!!»
The transmission helped Veig crawl back to reality. But another—no, ten more—no, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand—innumerable storms of metal whipped through the stage and assaulted his unit like squalls.
Just scraps, they hadn’t much in the way of force or even speed. But every time the fierce soul contained in them scratched by his frame, it left residue. As Til’s voice, wheezing in agony, continued to come through, it pounded at Veig’s will, hard, so hard—
«So…you wanted me to live like you…? Fa-kew!!»
To live like them. Like a Dwarf. Without giving up. Without going astray or tiring. To try to overcome natural gifts. To live without shame or retreat. Indeed… Putting themselves on pedestals, though they couldn’t overcome Veig!! Looking as if they understood, talking as if they knew!! They’d called her rubbish, and then!! They’d all said it. They’d basically said this…
—Everyone else is doing it, so you should, too.
—You can dream you’ll be rewarded. Just do it—
—just shut up and do your work!!—
«I don’t like a world that tells me what to do… I hate it, I do!!»
I’ll never give in…
I’ll overcome the chieftain and destroy those dictates—!!
I’ll use measuring instruments and Elven theory. I’ll use anything to find a different way!
I’ll show him… So she thought…
«But…no matter what I did…I just…couldn’t find anything!!»
Just piling up failures. Bathed in error, lost, confused, making one mistake after another. At last surrendering to a false resignation, as paradoxical as ever. Unable to say anything in return… At some point…she came to think she’d forgotten those feelings, and just wandered, pathetically.
«…But—hee-hee… Now I know what to say—I do…»
Weeping, sobbing, yet the two souls grinned. At last Veig realized the true nature of the maelstrom of metal pounding his unit. And for the first time in his life, he said, It couldn’t be—he doubted his own intuition.
“……Hey… Ho. I must be hallucinating, ain’t I?”
He saw the whirlwind of metal converging. Not the ground shaking, but the stage moving. Not the metal flying, but just gathering. The parts, the catalysts were joining and coupling and assembling. The majestic waste disposal site was rising as one. The stage itself was wakening—and standing up. That was his impression. It was confirmed by Til’s announcement to everyone watching in Hardenfell, I’ll tell you, and the thing that towered before his eyes—a thing inconceivably gargantuan.
«You forge ahead without shame…as you will—but I, too…will do as I will, I will!!»
She’d led a life of shame—failing, contradicting herself, getting lost without end. Today, this moment, was what it had all been for, and for that she was proud. She trumpeted to all the world that had rejected her, just as they were taught:
«Shut up!! Your stupid world can eat shit, it can!! Pft!»
Having asserted her freedom to rebel, the girl crumpled. The siblings embraced her and kept her from falling. Veig gaped at last.
It wasn’t from finally observing the giant object towering over him. It was the girl held by the siblings in the now-empty cockpit at the top…the girl weeping tears of heartfelt joy that she was not alone—a girl beyond his knowledge, who looked down at a bird from heights beyond its knowledge…with a dazzling smile…beyond all knowledge.
«…Uncle, did you…ever imagine…this…?»
She asked him whether this was a sight that effort and sensibility could get to—and that moment, a torrent of violence descended upon Veig’s unit…
Partie 4[edit]
Neither Veig nor any of the Dwarves watching through all of Hardenfell had ever imagined it, most likely. However, aside from Dwarves…the three who were watching at Til’s hideout did not seem all that surprised. Their eyes still on the monitor, they spoke admiringly…
“…Wow… A city can walk, can it…? Oh, is that also a spirit arm?”
“To be more precise, it is a spirit-arm expansion connected to her hammer, on which she engraved my one-percent Heavenly Smite.”
“Observation: Height 9,700 meters. Length 74,200 meters. Cannon count 982. Definition: High-maneuver fortress class. Evidence of brilliance of Master. Excessive. Zero maturity. This unit loves that part of him, too… Blush.”
Steph knew those siblings… She’d imagined they’d do something unimaginable. No, she’d known it. So she watched the screen with a sense of resignation, as a shadow desperately ran from the storm falling from the mountain of steel…
Partie 5[edit]
At the venue, rain fell from the heap of scrap—torrential rain deep underground where there was no sky. Each drop sliced the wind, pierced the ground, and created a deeper depth below the bottom.
“What a little man you are, Veig!! You talk big, but you’re the one who’s smaaaall!!”
It was a hailstorm of scrap that accompanied the raucous laughter.
“You called this stage our hunting grounds?! What puny thoughts—what a tiny imagination!! As would be expected from someone so small-minded as to only appreciate big boobs—ah, it’s a veritable microcosm of your life!!”
“…You said…we could use any machines…and do anything with the venue, didn’t you?♪”
Towering with a sneer on top was a giant mecha of junk—of the unwanted. Of unvalued failures and rejected scrap.
This was the gathering place for the things that might have not been mistakes. This was their home turf, they indicated with a sneer.
“Who’s gonna take the time to hunt their prey after they’ve already lured them in?”
Sora uproariously exposed the truth that was now assaulting Veig.
“If you’re gonna lure in your prey, obviously you’re gonna go straight to a trap, aren’t you, you scrub?!”
It was a cage, a trap. The junk itself, the venue itself, the soul of a girl who had patched failure to error itself—
“Ladies and gentlemen—the venue itself is our machine!! How do you like that?!”
“…We of Blank call it…the Spirit of Mother Til…♪”
It literally looked down on Veig, nine hundred seventy times his size. Sora and Shiro cackled, back at the reins for their big counterattack.
—Come, O ye who declare yourselves infallible, those of the righteous world. Now our patchwork heap shall speak with iron and lightning and fire to test our Mother’s spirit. We shall now question the refuse that you have shorn away and discarded in your quest to forge. We ask: On what grounds did you reject us—?!
“Personally, I’m not as into the NEXTs as the Arms Forts built by average schmucks to confront them.”
In fiction, raw size is destined to be overthrown.
Which is how we know that reality is different!! Indeed—!!
“Raw mass is the secret to defeating genius, biiitch!! We haven’t designed this bullet hell with any place to hide! You trap ’em and smash ’em with sheer numbers! There’s no better tactic!! All you gotta do is win, baby, win!!”
In reality—overkill is all the better!!
Seated in the cockpit, Sora and Shiro controlled the massive body and filled the screen with projectiles.
«The fock?! How’d you get such a crazy machine?!»
Veig screeched as he just barely managed to demi-shift from one empty location to another.
«What kinda Dwarf has the power to run a barmy monster like that?!»
Between that and the Heavenly Strike, Veig was sure now there were some spirits involved far outside the regulations. He raged at their perceived violation of the rules.
……Ha. His opponents laughed in unison. They knew it: Dwarves were the perfect negative examples. After all, they were just half-right. Just as he guessed that the stage itself was their machine, but that wasn’t even close to enough. On Sora’s lap sat Shiro—and on her lap sat a girl whose face was scrunched in pain, but who still sneered with fearless irony—
“Chieftain… You ask that now? I couldn’t even start up our first machine without boosting, I couldn’t.”
It seemed he had still overlooked the trick in Shiro’s arms. Yes, it was the murmuring of Til, the real trick, most impossible of all—
“To begin with…I can’t even use magic without boosting, I can’t.”
«—Huhhh?!»
—that made Veig cry out in long-delayed recognition. Sora chuckled. Yes, a Dwarf so great as Veig probably couldn’t have imagined such a trick. Til, by nature, couldn’t even use magic, much less operate a supermassive spirit arm. For Til—
—WAS AS SMOOTH AS DOLPHIN—!!!
Dwarves used catalysts because of the spiritual overload caused by their mithril—to synchronize externally. But Til didn’t have that mithril!! She wasn’t subject to such overload, or even load for that matter!! That was why she used boosting… Yes…the hidden truth that astonished Jibril when Til used her shift. Til couldn’t use magic without boosting. Conversely, that meant she could if she used boosting…
…It meant she could use boosting. For example: She could chain boost to boost on the chain reaction of explosions of the huge number of demi-shift anchors they’d planted, funnel the spirits into her hammer on which she’d engraved a Rite of Heavenly Smiting, and synchronize it into her body! With the vast amount of spirits thus summoned under her control, she could operate this leviathan assemblage of parts, this scrap on the stage on which she’d engraved seal rites…!!
… Yes, if a normal Dwarf tried this, they’d blow right up. It would be impossible and meaningless. Just as Til said, it would be as perverse an idea as building an underwater breathing apparatus for a fish. But for such an abnormal dwarf, it was both possible and essential. For Til—
—WAS AS SMOOTH AS DOLPHIN—!!!
«Wha—? Wait, whoa— Niecey, don’t tell me yours still hasn’t growwwn?!»
“Heh…heh-heh, Ch-Chieftain…I’d like to see you burn in hell! I would…”
Listening to their exchange, Sora, to be honest, was fairly sure by now this was not the case. But he still insisted: they had to be talking about beards!! So anyway—!
“Heh, this is the difference in natural gifts… Bow before the absolute wall you cannot overcome, Veig!!”
«Fock!! How can a Dwarf’s body endure that shite? You wanna kill my fockin’ niece?!»
The transmission to Sora roared full of naked rage. Understandable. One percent of Jibril’s power—the power to run a supermassive machine like that—was as reckless as pouring rocket fuel into an automobile. Therefore…
“…Didn’t you say no mercy? A man’s word isn’t worth much these days, huh?”
«—!!»
…Sora saw that Veig was thinking of taking a bullet and losing the game for Til’s sake, and Sora stopped him, making a face. If Til died, it would probably spell death for Sora and Shiro, who were holding her, too. Til was barely conscious, but still she held firm to her hammer and smiled.
—Veig meant to lose intentionally.
This man didn’t seem to understand what a humiliation that would be—!!
“To hell with your patronizing sympathy!! This is a trap—there’s no place for you to hide and no room for you to choose!!”
Sora’s howl what seemed like a signal to that which sat somewhere in the supermassive machine behind the giant cannon that opened its mouth with a roar: another machine. Sora and the operator inside the additional cockpit announced savagely:
“There’s only one future: Til’s complete victory!!”
«Whyyy, it’s time for the showwwdowwwn.♥»
That moment, the light of the Holy Forge flashed from the barrel, and suddenly a metal glob blocked the opening. Connected to the muzzle, the object sparkled—and this time, Veig froze, mech and all. It was another legacy of the past that he could not mistake.
“Can you dodge a bomb? If you know a way, as a gamer, I’d very much like to know!”
A bomb indeed, leaving no place to hide. A bomb called…yes, that’s right:
…The E-bomb…
Partie 6[edit]
In the cockpit behind the blazing E-bomb was Fiel, smiling.
“Why, you’ll note that we’ve followed the rules to a T. And in a most sustainable way, if I might add.♥”
No magic other than seal rites. You lost if your core broke. And the players here were everyone…
“Anyone can very well recycle the unit we lost in, caaan’t theyyy?♥”
True, Til could connect and use Fiel’s unit. Also:
“Incluuuding the seal of protection of that boorish fire, and incluuuding the seal rites on the unit.♪”
Fiel had in mind the seventh player, and their fifth trump card.
They hadn’t bothered with any seal rites for the specs, but they had bothered with seal rites.
They had implemented an eighty-four-fold rite using the seal of protection of an Old Deus. And they’d used the Holy Forge, the power of Ocain, to enable shifting.
Til had subsumed Fiel’s unit and commandeered it under the protection of Ocain. And there was no rule that Til couldn’t use that thing shifted from her hideout!! Chlammy asked suspiciously of the merry Fiel, who occupied the same cockpit:
“…Fi, I’ve been wondering: Whose idea was it to use the seal of Ocain’s protection?”
She’d heard of the “rites of spirit-breaking” or whatever that they’d used in the War, such as Áka Si Anse—spells that used seal rites to call upon the protection of Kainas, creator of the Elves. But it was said they were no longer usable after the Ten Covenants. In that case, this thing Fiel produced must have been newly compiled, after the War.
…Who would have implemented a seal rite to call upon Ocain, of all gods? For that matter, even having grown up in Elven Gard, Chlammy had never heard of a spell that could un-quasi-shift such a large mass.
“Mmm, I don’t know, myself. It’s been the Nirvalens’ ace in the hole for generations.”
Fiel tilted her head. Yes, and they’d said this…
“They said trump cards are trump cards because you don’t reveal them until the showdown.”
Howeverrr… She gave Chlammy her greatest smile as she continued.
“Why, my ultimate trump card is you, Chlammy.♪”
Fiel had gone to such lengths as to reveal her family’s secret. She smiled at her best friend: They had lost—and that therefore was the victory planned. Chlammy beamed and reflexively looked away, embarrassed.
“If you say we can’t win…why, then we can’t win.”
Yes…from the moment Chlammy had concluded that they couldn’t win…
…Fiel had resigned from this game…
So, they had requested of Sora and Shiro a friendly token of appreciation for their friendly cooperation. It was a condition of the deal, in other words: No matter who won—
—Veig must be commanded to bear shame for the rest of his life…
“Whyyy, it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you win!! Our objective is to convict that thing, the offender! In which caaase, it doesn’t maaatter who uses whose power to win. As long as the crook gets his just deserts, we have wooon!!”
Fiel’s bright demeanor made Chlammy chuckle.
“…Well, we do have to regret a little we didn’t make good on our chance to win directly.”
“But we must count ourselves blessed to have been able to pummel you a bit.♪ After allll—”
“Yes. We are really perfect outsiders to this matter. We’re not even friends, you know?”
As they snidely echoed Veig’s remarks, Chlammy had a thought.
—They could win an unwinnable match through someone else’s power. Then how might they answer an unanswerable question?
“We’ll make others answer for us… In other words, as usual, we win through sophistry.”
—Having had their past questioned: Have you paid your tab?
—They answered with their future: I will when I can…
……
“…And so the puppet continued building the sky… The sky only they still could not see…”
In the cramped cockpit, Chlammy smiled subtly as she gazed upon the sky before her. They’d opened it for her, for Fi, for Jibril, the Werebeasts, the Old Deus, and Ex Machina… And now…
“They’re opening up Til’s sky… Going on until they find their own…”
Partie 7[edit]
At last, brilliant, blinding light.
Til had gathered things from outside—welded them, forged them, patched them together in one wrong way after another. Now her fire melted them all together, and cast them as ingenuity, which she used to reach the sky.
“…Uncle…have I…kept…my promise…?”
The spirits raged, and her body ached as if it was about to break.
“Have I…reached a sky…that no one has seen before?!”
The heat threatened to burn out her spirit corridor junction nerves. But alas, Til smiled regardless…
“…Do you…want…to know…what it’s…like…?!”
By now, only one thing entered her muddied consciousness: the distant sky Til was sure she’d never imagined, and that no one else ever had—the feeling of floating in a deep, black sky, Veig too far behind to see, uncertain of whether he could hear the voice she wrung out, or even whether it was coming out at all—
Still, she’d fulfill the promise of that distant day. She’d vowed that she would surpass him—and promised something to the bird of that day. She spelled out the wish she’d held in her heart, that her words, her smile would reach their destination.
“You piece of shit, you’ll never understand, you won’t!! Serves you right, it does!! Pft!”
«Niecey!! You got to get back at me, huh?! Ain’t ya imitatin’ me?!»
Veig’s transmission came through at trace volume. Til did hear it, though, and she closed her eyes and grinned.
…Please. I’m about to fall under the delusion that I have become a bird, I do. But I know…that it’s just an illusion, I do. By tomorrow, perhaps even by one second in the future, I’ll be made to know
Very well then…!! Making mistakes is my only specialty—!!
—Assuming I can… Assuming that nothing’s impossible! I’ll fail again, and build up my mountain of mistakes, I will!!
She’d lose her way, she’d get confused, she’d blunder—and every time, she’d cry and wail and gnash her teeth in vexation! Til would take the long way around like a perfect fool, getting lost repeatedly, pathetically drenched in tears and shame. She might never even know if it had meaning. But there was a sight that could only be seen by taking that foolish path.
It could never be seen by those born with natural talent…by the birds that didn’t build airplanes.
It could never be seen by the birds that had never felt that obsession: I want to fly anyway. There was such an entertaining sight to see, to be found in a place no one imagined.
…I’m ready to make as many mistakes as it takes. I can say that now, I can…
And so, while Til went limp in Shiro’s arms—
“…Well, bet this is news to you smart folks. Here’s the common knowledge of the weak. Listen with gratitude, yeah?!”
—Sora howled at the shell of the E-bomb, which glowed like a star to announce it was ready for blast-off.
“…Generally speaking, things in the world don’t go the way you imagine…”
Just as they had sailed for India and mistakenly arrived in the New World; as they had tried to prove everything with mathematics and mistakenly refuted their mathematics; as they had built rockets to reach the moon and mistakenly dropped them on Earth…
…As far as humans were concerned, perfection was a waste of time. They’d mess it up anyway. To seek mere perfection wasn’t going to do it. Therefore—!!
“Your thinking is too damn small!! If you want to fly, you’re not gonna have a chance unless you have the guts to go past the damn moon and crash into Mars by mistake!!”
Well…yes…?
“Even if you get up and down backward, you might be able to go through the planet to the sky at the other side, right?♪”
You might end up with a result better than perfect, right?
«…You fockin’ with me? Shit—»
A man born with natural talent… A bird that flew by sensibility alone…transmitted back with a sense of awe at the unknown he’d never had before—or not in a long time at least.
Indeed…they couldn’t use the E-bomb. So he didn’t know what it was they were on the verge of launching. He didn’t know what it was to accomplish. He didn’t even know a thing about the heights where his niece floated now.
But even so! There was one thing he was sure about. He howled with a longing he’d never felt.
«So you’re saying you don’t know what the hell will happen. You’re bloody daft, aren’t ya?!»
If it might be the case that Til couldn’t take it—!! That instant, Veig’s unit appeared to get blown away and then vanished from sight. One soul raced forth through the air, with maneuvers uncapturable by Sora’s eyes, or by the venue’s cameras. It left no trace; the unit broken down, it raced past its limits, riding the force of a fist.
—I’ll overcome even that—
Detecting the single strike to end it, Sora smirked and answered inwardly.
—Yeah. That’s right! That’s how we live, as fools incapable of anything but straying and failing and erring. Bet it’s a breath of fresh air for smarty-pants jerks like you who live with all trial and no error, huh?
What’s gonna happen? How the hell would I know?!
“That’s why you gotta test that shit! That’s what we idiots call science!”
Sora sneered and activated the contents of the E-bomb in the muzzle, and a moment later Veig unleashed one soulful strike that pierced the shell.
Partie 8[edit]
It was a full-on collision of Veig’s and Til’s souls, entangling, stirring, radiating white. No one could tell whose soul it was anymore. Everything raced through the catalysts and through the minds of all present…
……
…The man had been born with outstanding sensibilities. Everyone knew him to be a genius. He too knew this, not as a matter of presumption or conceit, but as a proud matter of fact. He swung his hammer without guile, yet with ferocity. To create a work that was better—no, the best. An unprecedented masterpiece. A divine revelation!! He would enter that
realm only one before in the history of Dwarf, his ancestor, had laid eyes on. His eyes reflected the back of that genius who had laid his fingers on creation—the alteration of concepts. He would reach that extreme none had approached in six thousand years. The man who kept piling up successes was the second coming of that sublimity. Everyone was certain he would be the next chieftain. Amidst all this, the man was hurling invective at a strange kid who was following him around:
“Hey… Get lost already, would ya, fockin’ brat?! You’re gettin’ in the way of my work!!”
“I’m not getting in the way, I’m not. I’m seducing my future husband, I am.”
The one contradicting him as if it was nothing was, at the time, a little girl. The one who called herself his future wife.
“If you think I’m getting in your way, that just proves you have feelings for me, doesn’t it, Uncle? Doesn’t it?!”
“Niecey, you’re gonna stand there winkin’ and blowin’ kisses at me like some bloody fool? I’ve feelings, harsh feelings!”
She was the precocious daughter of one of his older stepsisters, and she’d taken an inexplicable shine to him.
“I ain’t got no interest in some kid who ain’t even got any hair grown in yet—can’t bear to look at ya. Piss off,” he commanded.
The child shuddered at the man’s sharp one-eyed glare.
That was that. Everyone kept their distance from him. His eye had the gift of ending the conversation. Even children always grasped the point that he lived in a different world…until then…
“H-how do you know that I’m smooth?! Have you seen it?!”
But this child shuddered because she suspected he had looked at her naked. Incidentally, this was the fifth time this exchange had occurred. In other words—
“You peeped on me?! You licked me all over with your eyes, how can I get married now, you should take responsibility, and then I’ll be the wife of the chieftain, what a way to marry up, it is! Come, come, come, Mr. Sir? If you’ll marry me, I can show you my body aaany—”
“I can see from your face you ain’t got no beard, all right?! Don’t blush. Why are ya strippin’?!”
“Ah!! No, I don’t want to be the wife of some pervert who lusts after children, I don’t!!”
“Listen to me, will ya?! Wait, didn’t you just say you were seducing me? What do you want?!”
No matter how he tried to get rid of her, she kept coming. The man clutched his head.
—The hell’s with this fockin’ brat? His niece had a strange way with words. But more than anything, it was his own sense of discomfort that confused him. Never having experienced failure or discouragement, the feeling was altogether unfamiliar to him. It would be a while before he realized it was his first experience of anger.
“…Listen, Niecey. I’m a fockin’ genius. And that makes me a bloody fine man. You followin’ me?”
“Ah! S-so you mean, when I marry you, I’ll be a fine woman?!”
“Argh, that ain’t it at all. This is the problem. You ain’t good for me, is what I’m sayin’.”
Back then, he had concluded thus:
“You’ll never be a fine woman.”
“…Uh-huhhh… What is a fine woman…?”
“First of all, she’s an adult with hair. You’re out of the question. And she’s a woman who fits me. Let’s see… So first, she has big boobs. And then, if her spirit-arm craft ain’t at least on my level, I ain’t messin’ with that, either. Otherwise, hmm, she’s damn beautiful and damn chaste and damn sexy as far as I’m concerned. That’s what it means to be a fine woman.”
“…Uncle, that’s just a fantasy woman, it is.”
“Rngh?”
“I-I—I mean, there are no Dwarves with big boobs, there aren’t! And everything after the ‘Otherwise, hmm’ is exactly what my aunts told me virgins fantasize about, it is! Uncle, are you a virgin? By the way, what is a virgin?!”
“Shut up! What’s wrong with an outta-this-world man wanting an outta-this-world woman? Those fockin’ sisters of mine!!”
And then:
“Heh, you’re hopeless, you are. I’ll just have to become a fine woman for you, I will.”
……Suddenly…
“In another thirteen, I’ll be an adult, I will. I’ll be downright bushy, I will!! I’ll be beautiful, and oh so chaste, whatever that means, I will! Then you just have to get me sexy, and that’s that, it is!!”
…the child whose pale blue eyes sparkled as she spoke started to feel extremely dissatisfied.
“I’ll do my best to make spirit arms like you, I will. If you just give up on the big boobs, I’ll be such a fine woman, right in front of you! And I’ll help you stop being a virgin, I will!!”
She smiled as if to ask: So what is a virgin? He thrust back feelings he didn’t understand himself—
“It ain’t happening. Such a good-for-nothin’ ain’t ever gonna get how to make spirit arms.”
…And that—
was the man’s first misreading…
“……A good-for-nothing…? …What? You mean me…?”
…What? What’s with those teary eyes like you can’t believe what you just heard?! The man felt ever more uncomfortable.
“Wh-why nottt? I-I’ll d-do my best, I will.”
“Your best ain’t gonna do it…!! Why can’t you see?!”
Ah—the child truly didn’t understand.
Dwarf was a race that created exactly what it imagined. But she didn’t see that she didn’t see what he saw. She’d never even imagined she might not have talent. The man stood bewildered as to why that was so uncomfortable for him.
“…I…I just don’t—understand, I don’t… A-after all…”
She rebutted between sobs.
“…Uncle, you don’t understand why I don’t understand, you don’t!”
And at last the man had his answer.
“U-Uncle—you can’t overcome the limits of your own imagination, you can’t!!”
“R-really…I’ve already surpassed your imagination, by being unimaginable to you, I have. I’ll make a spirit arm that surpasses you easily… S-see, I’ve won the argument, I have!”
…Indeed…the man himself did not understand the child. He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what…she was crying about… The man she admired over all others had told her she was good for nothing. But she argued against that absolute pronouncement and declared that she’d yet overcome it, weeping and despairing while her eyes burned with blue fire. It was that paradox that baffled the man who never strayed or erred:
…He feared that unimaginable child…
…The man had been born with outstanding sensibilities. They grasped even that divine realm only his ancestor had seen. And thereby he became the first in history to reach the extreme that in over six thousand years no one had been able to approach.
And then? What next?
The man could only imagine following in the footsteps of his ancestor, but still he had a hunch. Given all this, what was it that his ancestor had seen before he reached this realm?
He couldn’t have been a normal Dwarf. He must have been different, something unreadable, incomprehensible, unimaginable… Rather like that well-endowed lady his ancestor was said to have loved…or—
“I—I promise I’ll make a spirit arm that surpasses you, I do.”
—like the paradoxical child declaring this irresolute resolution—
“…Arright then. Go make a spirit arm that surpasses mine and bring it back here.”
—to overcome six thousand years of Dwarven stagnation…and the limits of sensibility—
“I’ll be here waiting for the damn fine woman who can beat me. It’s a promise.”
—to become a damn fine woman.
The man and the child joined pinkies in a solemn oath. He didn’t understand what was meant by her eyes, which looked up at him holding back tears. But he decided that, until he understood, until he was surpassed—he’d be the finest man imaginable…to be a good match for such a fine woman.
But the child fled…
She was still a paradox, while he still did not understand her at all, running even as he chased. The days and months passed idly—until one day…
…the man fell right into the trap of two strange Immanities. The otherworlders were winning while running from their past. The contradiction made the man sure: These two would know why the child ran.
…And his hunch was proven right. However—
“…A damn ham-fisted resolution… I was the one running, huh?”
—as their consciousnesses melded and the man touched the soul of the child from back then, he laughed at himself. He’d been called out on his limits—and he himself had run from overcoming them.
And from trying to imagine why the child had cried that day. Her eyes, heavy with unease, had sought—
—someone to be her place of belonging, to take her fumbling hand as she looked up to that sky where she knew she couldn’t fly…in that darkness as deep as her will. That was all… The man shouldn’t have waited to be surpassed. He should have sought with the child a way to surpass his limits.
“… Really? Is that really how it is? You were running? Are you sure?”
In their melding consciousnesses, the sarcastic laughter of a young man interrupted their thoughts.
“You think falling into the junk heap with Til and becoming like Shiro and me is not running? You think that’s being right? Yeah, maybe it is. But maybe it isn’t.”
Was the man running from his tab? From the paradoxical child who hoped for what he couldn’t imagine? From his paradoxical self who tried to understand a child he couldn’t? Chasing after the child who fled against his sensibilities that told him it was impossible, going so far as to put us on the hook…
So, what’s the difference between running and running from running…?
Partie 9[edit]
And so…the impact that shook to the surface left the cave. The force that connected the parts of the massive body ceased, and pieces of metal fell like hail. Through the whirlwind of dust walked a man who carried an unconscious girl. A rusty man. His mithril had lost its luster due to spiritual overload, his hair and his beard now rusted over… But strangely it seemed to be the true form of a man with the surname Drauvnir. It seemed proof of the way of life of a fool, using and abusing himself to overcome himself, not knowing what would happen, unafraid of overload—the only one to overcome the limits of his race…
I won’t let her die. The man had sacrificed his frame and overcome his limits to save his niece. But then suddenly—seeing her unconscious in his arms yet unwilling to release her hammer, looking genuinely happy, her chest rising and falling dramatically in sleep, smiling—
“……Ha…ha…! Haaa—ha-ha-haaa…!!”
—the man at last collapsed, like his broken soul sword, spread-eagled over the ground laughing.
“…Ahh… My fockin’ niece beat me good… The future is hers… I’ve lost…”
Yes: Veig recognized his defeat. He looked up to the heavens—and at last, he and all the Dwarves watching the broadcast—
—saw…the sky…
An unknown sky, inconceivable underground…yet they saw it. That of which Til had spoken—just as that which had closed off the sky before had broken, for the first time in six thousand years, it was pried open—that which lay beyond the high blue sky…
“…You feel that, Veig Drauvnir? You see how small you are, how shitty your taste?” asked one of the shadows peering down at him. The shadowy figure glanced at the group that Jibril had saved the moment Veig’s core had broken.
“You gotta fight with people on your level. Sorry, man. You’re just not up to playing me yet.”
Ah, what a small man he had been. Veig looked up at Sora, seeing in him a very different kind of man.
“…Small boobs, big boobs, even humongous boobs; fake boobs and real boobs… They are all boobs…”
A big man… Such a big man. Sora eyed him calmly.
“If you claim to love boobs, how can you speak of right or wrong? Speak of love.”
The big, big man’s voice was so clear you could hear him all the way to nirvana.
“To reject boobs other than those of the uniform ponderous size you favor as fake, and to impose this view on others…”
No censure, no blame, no scorn or spite could be heard in his voice…only the sound of a man who had obtained enlightenment and imparted to the world the truth.
“To speak to such a soul is less than my soul is worth.”
…Dost thou find it wonderful? Then may it be wonderful. No one can violate thy freedom to so find it. Then why, in speaking thy feelings, shalt thou denigrate others’? Indeed…
“Ideal tits? They’re perfect if you work on them? Ahh, how small, how small!!”
It was he, Veig, who had lacked confidence. Whereas this immeasurable man, as vast as the sky, had stood from the beginning far beyond Veig, on a higher plane.
…He was one truly great virgin. Yes…
“If ya want ideal boobs, you’re not gonna have a chance unless you have the guts to go for the woman who goes way the hell past your ideals, are ya?!”
Ah…it was just as his fockin’ niece had said. The child that day had already surpassed him…and now she’d become a fine woman who surpassed his imagination. Sora smiled at this, too.
“…Yeah. It was my limit to pursue mere perfection.”
Veig felt he’d seen for the first time what that child kept yearning for. She hadn’t been looking at the birds. From the very start, she’d been looking at the sky in which they flew…
“…Ah, finally I can see what my fockin’ niece saw.”
That sky one wished for and longed for and pined for and yet could never imagine: that which he’d always pursued…the ideal big tits that surpassed the perfect… Ah, yes…
Bwoing…
Veig gazed innocently at Til as she slept, her rising and falling chest—her humongous boobs. Tits of such excess as to look a little unbalanced, allowing statuesque beauty to crumble. He smiled at this ideal he’d finally found, an ideal beyond limits. He was happy……
Partie 10[edit]
Indeed… Only two in history had seen that divine realm. A third who had opened the door without being able to see it was responsible for this by-product of a successful failure. In the E-bomb shell had been placed two false ethers to conceptually resonate.
“Hey—th-these are heavy; I can’t even stand! ‘Big’ doesn’t even describe these!”
“You see, Dora, this is the conceptual rewrite of ‘big boob(?) essence’—”
“Analysis: Bust value of woman of unknown name. Provisionally categorized under handle ‘megatits.’ Very niche support.’”
“What are you talking about?! These are going to turn back, aren’t they? I can’t live like this!”
“Why, I’m fine if we don’t turn back, insofar as I’ve happened to match Chlammy. ”
“You must be joking! Why do I have even less now?! I won’t tolerate having no boobs! Hey, Fi, saying your small boobs match me, are you indirectly dissing me?! Give me back my boobs!”
“Query: This unit’s bust provisionally categorized under ‘ample bosom’… Questioning conceptual rewrite of ‘big boob essence.’”
“You see, it is not ‘big boob essence’ but ‘big boob(?) essence’—”
And there the ladies cavorted, their boobs changing randomly. Exactly as in the experiment four days earlier, except that this time it worked without an explosion. The conceptual rewriter used Lóni Drauvnir’s “big boob essence” along with one other false essence. Yes, just the same thing had happened as four days ago—instead of an explosion, it was its by-product. In other words:
“To summarize, it seems to be as in the experiment of four days ago, when, according to the sublime teachings of my masters, I engraved on unprocessed essence a seal identical to that for the big boob essence and activated this unidentified essence,” Jibril rehashed for the two who hadn’t been there. “I posit that a two-way reaction with the big boob essence
has generated a composite conceptual rewrite.”
Indeed…the principle was unknown. No one even understood how conceptual falsification worked. Thus, even Jibril was unable to explicate or elucidate this incomprehensibility. But she described it in words in such a rough manner as was possible. So:
“In short—the conceptual rewrite is in the form of a question: ‘Are these big boobs?’”
“These clearly cannot be described as big boobs!”
“Yes, you see, it is ‘big boob(?) essence,’ such as to make everyone ask, ‘These are big boobs?’”
……
Partie 11[edit]
“For the record, this is the first and last time I’m gonna play Cupid for anyone, all right?!”
Sora paid no attention to the commotion. He took the hand of his sister, apparently the only one unaffected: Big boobs? Where?
“For God’s sake, I’m still updating my years alive and without a girlfriend!! And now I’m supposed to help some d00d land a heroine?! And not just any heroine, but the one and only—the real thing—the brown legal Loli monster girl!”
“…I hope you find…happiness.♪ That’s one heroine…out of the running…”
The siblings walked away. Veig heard them loud and clear. He grinned softly at the sleeping face of his niece, who still smiled happily in his arms.
“…Ho… Bitches, I’ve heard your answer… I feel your soul…”
There was something the otherworldly siblings had never spoken of to the end. They hadn’t put that answer into words, or even returned it in their souls. Indeed…
“I was wrong to question you. Thanks for showin’ me…the sky…”
He got the sense that if they could beat this game world, they could say they’d fled to win… So:
“Lemme help ya build the sky of your future. Let’s be bosom buddies.”
They’d overthrow this game world, its rules, everything. They’d beat the world. Just you wait.
We’re coming for you next, friggin’ Earth…
Références[edit]
| Revenir au Chapitre 4 | Retourner au Sommaire | Passer à l' Épilogue |
