No Game No Life:Volume 5 Bagian 2

Bagian 2: Gagal

Part 1

Di saat yang sama - di ibukota Elkia, di dalam perpustakaan raja terdahulu.

“…Kou…Steph-kou, Aku lapar, des.”

Steph perlahan-lahan sadar begitu dia digoyang-goyangkan oleh seseorang.

Dia yang tadinya terkapar di meja dan ngiler, tiba-tiba berdiri dan dengan panik mengamati sekitarnya.

“- Eh!? Huh? Aneh, kapan aku tidur!?”

“Kamu jatuh dengan muka dulu ke meja begitu kamu selesai makan, des. Aku pikir kamu mati, des.”

- Jadi dia tampaknya telah makan dan mengisi perutnya, kemudian – 「Pingsan」.

“J-jam berapa sekarang…?”

Steph melipat mantel - yang kelihatannya ditaruh disana oleh Izuna - di atas punggungnya, dan bertanya sambil masih mengantuk.

Setelah itu dia mendengar suara gemuruh lucu.

Izuna menaruh tangannya di perutnya, kemudian memandang ke atas ke arah Steph dan berkata terus terang:

“Sekitar enam jam setelah kamu makan, des.”

“…Sungguh jam yang lucu.”

Terakhir kali mereka makan adalah sekitar jam dua malam - yang berarti sekarang sudah pagi?

Tidak ada jendela di perpustakaan, sehingga matahari tidak dapat masuk, tapi pada saat itu kemungkinan jalanan sudah mulai dipenuhi oleh aktivitas.

“Steph-kou, Steph-kou, ayo makan, des.”

Izuna menarik satu lengan baju Steph dan meminta makan, sambil Steph menjawab:

“Ah…Kamu benar…jadi aku akan membuatkan sarapan…huh?”

Tiba-tiba Steph menyadari ada segunung buku-buku di sebelah tempat Izuna duduk.

“Izuna, apa itu?”

“…? Bukankah itu buku, des.”

“Tidak, buka itu maksudku - kenapa semua itu ada disana?”

“…Jelas-jelas karena aku membacanya, des.”

“- Huh? Aku pikir Izuna tidak bisa membaca bahasa Imanity…!?”

“Aku bilang bahwa aku akan mempelajarinya, des. Jadi aku pelajari, des.”

Tidak mungkin - Steph terbelalak.

Steph telah memberikannya buku berisi permainan membandingkan bahasa Werebeast dan Imanity - sebuah buku pelajaran untuk bahasa Werebeast.

Bergantung pada buku itu saja, dia belajar bahasa Imanity selama dia tertidur, dan bahkan membaca begitu banyak sekali buku -?

- Dia buruk di hal apapun selain permainan, jadi sebaliknya, asalkan itu sebuah permainan –

Saat menyadari bahwa dia tidak hanya telah mempelajari bahasa dalam waktu yang sangat singkat, tapi juga dia telah membaca banyak buku melebihi dirinya, rambut Steph langsung kaku dalam kekagetan.

“…Tidak heran dia selalu dekat dengan Sora dan Shiro.”

Sora dan Shiro telah membuatnya melupakan fakta ini, dan sekarang Steph mengingatnya.

Hatsuse Izuna, anak ini, gadis Werebeast ini yang bahkan lebih muda daripada Shiro.

- Dia bertarung melawan Kuuhaku「」, dan bahkan kalah hanya setipis kertas, jadi kemampuan jelas kemampuan yang sebenarnya.

Bagaimanapun…

“…Izuna, kapan terakhir kamu tidur?”

“…Huh? …A-aku makan lima kali, jadi… hmm~… des?”

Izuna mulai menghitung dengan jarinya, kemudian tiba-tiba terlihat kebingungan.

Kantung mata hitam telahh berkumpul di bawah matanya, yang berarti bahwa dia belum tidur dalam waktu yang cukup lama.

- Saat dipikir lebih dalam, hal itu masuk akal.

Bahkan jika itu adalah 「Kemampuan sebenarnya」, hal tersebut tidak dapat datang secara natural.

Izuna telah berjuang tanpa tidur untuk - belajar bahasa Imanity, dan dia telah membaca buku sebanyak ini pula.

“…Maaf, Izuna, Cuma aku saja yang tidur.”

“Steph-kou, tidak apa-apa, des. Seonggok sampah tetap saja seonggok sampah, jika sampah itu mau tidur, tidur saja, des.”

Steph tersunyum pada kelakukan Izuna yang berlebihan.

Dia telah menemukan secercah harapan diantara tugas yang tak-ber-akhir ini dan Steph menepuk pipinya untuk membangunkan dirinya sendiri.

Omong-omong, dia harus menyiapkan makan, dan kemudian - saat dia keluar dari perpustakaan -

“…? Izuna, sesuai urutan apa kamu membaca buku-buku ini?”

Dia menyadari buku-buku di lantai kemungkinan dipilih karena suatu alasan atau semacamnya.

“Aku memilih buku yang berbau harum, des.”

- Izuna menyatakan pernyataan yang diluar nalar ini dengan ekspresi sudah-jelas di mukanya.

Tiba-tiba, Steph tertarik dengan judul-judul pada buku-buku di lantai, jadi dia mengambil satu untuk dilihat.

Karena buku-buku tersebut adalah - buku-buku yang berhubungan dengan posisi Sora dan Shiro sekarang.

“-「Para Flügel, senjata milik Master yang sudah meninggal」… mengapa kamu membaca ini?”

Steph melafalkan kata-kata yang tertulis dalam tulisan kakeknya - raja terdahulu.

Izuna membaunya dan membalas:

“Ada bau Sora dan Shiro di situ, des. Mereka membacanya sekitar sebulan lalu, des.”

“Mereka berdua membaca ini…?”

- Di pantai setelah mereka kembali dari Oceande.

Sora mengumumkan bahwa dia akan melanjutkan ke Avant Heim dan mendapatkan tiga ras.

Untuk metode yang dia gunakan - seperti biasa - Steph tidak pernah mendengar dia menyebutkannya. Dia membuka buku.

Sebulan lalu - yang berarti, mereka membacanya sebelum mereka menyerang Serikat Timur -

Steph membaca isi buku tersebut yang ditulis, dan untuk semua buku lain di ruangan ini, oleh kakeknya.

「Para Flügel – saat perang besar dahulu kala, mereka adalah spesies pembunuh-dewa diciptakan oleh sang 【Dewa Perang Artosh】 -」

「Para Flügel – mereka tidak mengumpulkan pengetahuan karna ketertarikan mereka sendiri.」

Itu adalah catatat yang dikumpulkan oleh kakeknya - raja terdahulu dari pengamatannya pada Flügel.

Yang berarti, mereka mengamati Jibril, paling tidak seharusnya mereka… tapi…

「Tindakan tersebut agar mereka bertahan hidup - tidak, agar mereka tidak mati.」

Dalam mata batin Steph, sesulit itu untuk memahami orang muncul.

「Senjata hidup milik Master yang telah meninggal… Mereka hanyalah seonggok daging kosong berjalan.」

Dia mengingat orang itu dengan senyum yang seperti menyembunyikan emosinya, orang yang akan melakukan apapun untuk rasa ingin tahunyua dan Master-nya, orang yang dapat terlalu antusias suatu waktu.

「Alasan mengapa mereka hidup, tidak, apa bukti untuk menyimpulkan mengapa mereka masih hidup?」

- Mengapa?

Jibril dalam pengamatan kakeknya benar-benar berbeda dengan Jibril yang dia tahu.

Ketakukan ini menyebabkan Steph tanpa sadar berhenti setelah hanya membaca beberapa halaman, dan dia tenggelam dalam pikirannya.

…Sora dan Shiro telah pergi ke Avant Heim setelah membaca buku ini.

Apa yang mereka berdua pikirankan -

“Steph-kou, sekarang mungkin bukan waktunya untuk membacanya, des.”

“Huh? Ah, benar, ya.”

Apa yang penting bukanlah Flügel, tapi informasi mengenai para Seiren - Steph memadukan sendiri.

Saat ini, suara gemuruh mulai lagi.

“Kita sebaiknya makan sekarang, des.”

Izuna berbicara dengan mata membara.

Steph tersenyum pahit, dan saat dia menempatkan buku kembali ke rak - kemungkinan karena kerja berlebihan, dia merasa pusing.

“Ah…”

Buku-buku mulai berjatuhan dari rak yang dia tempatkan buku tadi.

Buku-buku yang mereka telah baca dan yang belum tercampur aduk - saat dia akan roboh dan mulai menangis -

- Sebuah hembusan angin melewatinya.

Itu adalah batas apa yang dia dapat rasakan, karnanya itu adalah kecepatan yang Steph tidak dapat bereaksi terhadapnya.

Izuna melesat dari pintu dalam sekejap ke ujung ruangan, dan di dalam mulutnya - adalah sebuah buku.

“…? Apakah ini, des?”

“…B-bukankah itu pertanyaanku? Ada apa denganmu.”

Menghiraukan Steph yang membelalakkan terkejut, Izuna dengan penasaran mengendus buku dalam mulutnya.

“Ini adalah bau ikan, des…? Tidak, des…ah!”

Dia melempar buku tersebut, tak tertarik, dan berkata:

“Buku ini berbau Seiren, des. Aku tidak bisa makan ini, des.”

- Dalam sekejap, sebuah lampu menyala dalam otak kacau Steph.

Mengenai urutan buku yang dia baca sebelumnya, Izuna berkata dia membacanya berdasarkan seberapa enak baunya.

Mengapa dia memilih buku yang Sora dan Shiro telah baca - tidak, pertanyaan sebenarnya adalah -

“M-mengapa buku kakekku berbau Seiren?”

“Siapa yang tahu, des. Mungkin seorang Seiren menyentuhnya, atau mungkin seseorang yang menyentuhg seorang Seiren menyentuh buku ini juga, des.”

Izuna berbicara dengan kepalanya sedikit miring.

“Apakah itu Sora atau Shiro… atau kita!?”

“…? Tidak, des. Semua buku-buku disini berbau seperti orang tua, des.”

Itu bukan bau Steph, bukan pula bau Sora dan Shiro.

Omong-omong, karena Sora dan dan lainnya pergi ke Oceande, mereka tidak seharusnya berada disiini - jadi -!?

“K-kamu tahu kapan orang ini menyentuh bukunya?”

Steph bertanya sambil condong kedepan, sembari Izuna memulai menghitung dengan jarinya sekali lagi dengan kesulitan dan membalas:

“Tidak cukup jari, des.”

- Namun hal itu cukup untuk menyimpulkan bahwa bau itu berasal lebih dari sepuluh tahun lalu.

“…T-tunggu dulu, bagaimana kamu bisa bilang begitu?”

“Tidakkah Steph-kou tahu, des? Ada bau yang tertinggal, des.”

Siapa yang akan tahu hal aneh semacam itu, walaupun dia berteriak hal ini pada dirinya sendiri, tapi - teka-teki telah terpecahkan.

Alasan mengapa Sora ingin Izuna untuk membantu, dan alasan mengapa mereka memilih buku yang Sora dan Shiro telah baca, dan - semua ini membuktikan bahwa sepuluh tahun lalu kakeknya melalukan kontak dengan para Seiren!

Sekarang apa yang kurang adalah -!

“Dapatkah kamu menemukan buku yang ditulis setelah itu?”

Izuna mengendus sekitaran kemudian memiringkan kepalanya dan berkata:

“…Baunya lemah, des. Tapi jika aku berusaha sangat keras… Aku kemungkinan bisa melakukannya, des.”

- Dunia telah dipenuhi oleh cahaya.

Jika begitu, cakupan pencarian akan dipersempit secara signifikan!

“Baru sekarang~ jika kamu memiliki kemampuan yang berguna semacam itu, kamu harusnya menggunakannya dari tadi-aaaah tapi terima kasih-aaaaaahhhh akhirnya menemukan jalan keluar dari neraka –“

Steph memeluk Izuna dalam emosi yang tiba-tiba meluap dan mulai membelainya tanpa henti, namun Izuna tiba-tiba loncat ke belakang.

“- Uuuuuugghhhhhhhh!!”

Rambutnya berdiri seperti dia akan menggiggit kapanpun, dan dia mendesis pada Steph.

“Eh? U-um…m-maaf, apakah aku melakukan sesuatu yang salah?”

“…Steph-kou, kemampuan membelaimu sungguh buruk, des!”

Steph mengamati sekitarnya dalam kepanikan saat dia menyadari bahwa Izuna masih dalam siaga penuh.

Apa yang dia lihat adalah –

“Ah, b-benar, i-ini untukmu, dapatkah kamu memaafkanku?”

“- What is that, des?”

“I-it’s a biscuit I made for myself, h-here.”

Steph ate one to prove to her that they were safe to eat – and then she nervously passed some to her.

Izuna sniffed the biscuits she passed her.

“…Not bad, des. But I want to eat rice, des. And fish, des.”

- She took a biscuit in her mouth, and her mood instantly turned better.

Izuna shook her bushy tail like a hamster and began gnawing on the biscuit.

“Ah, s-so I’ll go make food! Grilled fish, steamed fish, sashimi… which would you –“

“All, des.”

“Huh?”

“All, des.”

Izuna began drooling with a longing expression on her face, and Steph –

“~Fine then! I have a reliable companion now anyway, so I’ll do my best to prepare all the fish dishes I know how to!! In the meantime, could you please search for all the books my grandfather wrote around that period!?”

“OK, des!”

Izuna stood up after answering energetically.

Finally, she saw the exit! As Steph was about to exit the library, behind her –

She heard an explosion.

“What?”

- The reason why Steph knew it was the sound of Izuna breaking the sound barrier was because –

It was because her heart uttered a low roar, and began beating so fast that it seemed it would burst from her body. She held almost ten books in her hands, and her shoulders rose and fell along with her breathing – Izuna who was dyed completely blood-red from using「Blood Devastation」, reported her status.

“- Hah, hah – I found all of them, des -! Is the fish not prepared yet? Des!”

…If she tried really hard…she could probably do it.

Izuna did try really hard as she had announced earlier.

- She had tried hard enough to challenge the laws of physics, and she had used her physical abilities to overcome those very laws…

She saw Izuna with her blood vessels bulging, with her mouth drooling and her eyes having the gaze of a predator looking at its prey –

“…C-could you please help me go out and get groceries?”

Steph chose「Delaying tactics」…

Part 2

- On top of Avant Heim that was engulfed in the night sky.

Only the faint glows emitted from the cubes and the moonlight itself lit up the scenery of countless cubes scattered about.

Sora and others flew about shakily and clumsily in that scenery itself – no, they floated.

“U-um…can we really win…?”

“Please don’t talk to me right now, you’ll mess up my concentration!”

“…Nii…like this…a bit more…”

They looked as if they would fall and crash at a single mistake, appearing extremely dangerous.

Plum who was connecting the two as their wings mumbled to herself upon seeing their antics:

“T-the opponent are the Flügel! Even if you borrow my power, um, both of you have never flew before…it’s impossible to contest against the Flügel in speed…”

Sora’s tone remained relaxed even despite struggling to control his wings.

“Relax, it’s definitely an advantage to be able to run away fast in a game of red light, green light – but it won’t guarantee you victory.”

“That’s true…but even if so…”

Plum in scarf form sighed upon looking at them.

- The Flügel, even disregarding their ability to teleport, their existence itself was already defying all laws of physics.

Although Plum had never seen any of them flying at full speed, she could easily imagine it from their physical ability.

If they used their full strength – don’t even mention the speed of sound, they might even be able to travel faster than that.

Even though red light, green light wasn’t a contest of speed, it would be impossible for a turtle to race against a horse anyway.

No matter what, with their crass flying skills –

To achieve victory – wouldn’t be -?

“…Huh? S-strange?”

As Plum thought to herself, she felt a sudden sense of apprehension.

Sora and Shiro’s posture as they flapped their wings had stabilized and she hadn’t noticed.

Their speed began increasing slowly, and the scarf – the winds attacking Plum became stronger.

“…Um, why did you want me to allow each one of you to control one wing?”

Plum asked them this as she suddenly remembered.

The siblings had in an instant slowly changed the wings she had woven for them to their own wings.

They looked at each other and smiled.

“Of course – because if we didn’t do so, our victory wouldn’t be guaranteed.”

Conversely, if they were to do it they would definitely win, and they both said this while holding each other’s hands.

- As long as our hands are holding onto each other.

- We won’t lose to anyone.

Part 3

Empty-shelled weapons – merely objects – merely puppets – the Flügel.

They were originally tools created by their master to exterminate gods.

But it has been over six thousand years since they lost their master – why does the Flügel race continue to exist?

In order to search for that 「Answer」, they had roamed about with Avant Heim for an extremely long period of time until today.

And – Jibril who had left alone herself but had returned just as suddenly – seemed to have changed visibly.

It was just as if…yes – it was as if she had found the 「Answer」.

…

Azrael used her hands to cup her cheeks and looked up at the night sky.

In concurrence with Sora’s conditions, on the balcony earlier – the hundred Flügel that had been waiting there for five minutes were looking in the same direction as well.

The images that appeared in the night sky – Sora and Shiro’s figures.

“…Jii-chan, the final order that Artosh-sama ever gave me – if there’s anyone who can find the 「Answer」, I believe it can only be the「Final Unit」 Jii-chan, nyan.”

“…”

- She had a reason for that.

However that wasn’t the real question, and Azrael continued with that very question in mind.

“If Jii-chan’s 「Answer」 was implanted in your head through the Pledges by the Imanity –“

- They had discussed the matter in their native Flügel language so as to not allow Sora and Shiro to know what was going on.

As though attempting to warn her again, Azrael smiled a smile so fake that it made it look like she was wearing a mask, and she said to Jibril:

“I will use my 「Special Right」- you do know what this means right?”

“Yes, but -! Only stupid people ask questions to which they already know the answers! Senpai.”

Upon hearing these words, the Flügel that were looking up into the night sky suddenly tensed up, making the atmosphere much heavier in an instant.

- The 「Representative of the Winged」- the head of the 「Council of Eighteen Wings」, Azrael –

The only special right Azrael possessed for not being the full representative of the Flügel was…

It was something that was agreed over six thousand years ago with an unanimous decision from everyone.

“-「The right to order all the Flügel to commit suicide」...is there something wrong?”

Azrael’s gaze sharpened instantly at Jibril’s dismissive tone.

“It was a right originally created by Azrael-senpai while we were still discovering our purpose to continue living after our master was killed in order to prevent us from committing suicide, so if you think that we have no reason to continue to exist – please feel free.”

At this point the emotion that swept through the crowd was not fear – the Flügel did not fear death in the first place.

They were a race created as weapons, so to them death would even be considered an honour.

Despite this, the reasons why the participants felt tense was because they were 「Anticipating」.

- For something to start, or possibly for something to end.

That was the only difference, but –

Everyone only felt anticipation at that sort of prediction.

“…It’s good that you know-nyan…”

While the only one present that didn’t seem to understand what had happened was Azrael.

Jibril looked at her somewhat disappointedly upon realizing so.

- Her gaze slowly corroded Azrael.

“Azrael-senpai, you of all people should know, we – the Flügel have a very basic misunderstanding.”

- Sora and the others didn’t know.

But it was because Jibril had met them – after which she had changed significantly.

Before losing to Sora and the others, Jibril – even if she was the type to act immediately after something went amiss, she was pretty much the same as Azrael.

Turning the unknown into known – that was the only thing that was meaningful to her.

She had to reverse the unknown, and there was no ulterior motive behind it, all she meant was – it was an 「Enemy」 she had to exterminate.

Jibril was probably hungrier for combat than any other unit against that 「Enemy」.

- However, her views changed on the very day she lost to Sora and Shiro.

“The knowledge that we spent thousands, tens of thousands of years gathering was completely obliterated by the Masters who have barely walked ten years upon this earth, and the meaning behind this, the very significance of it – Senpai, you just don’t understand.”

“…”

Her face was filled with a passion that Azrael had never seen before.

According to her memory, she had never seen Jibril do that, not even to Artosh.

“It’s a perplexing feeling, even more intense than the passion of eliminating the unknown. It’s a way of life, continuously reversing into unknowns that led me to follow my Masters by my own will – it’s completely unrelated to the pledges.”

Azrael remained speechless at Jibril’s words.

Because to be honest, she had no idea what they meant.

Turning the known to unknown? – Wouldn’t that sort of thing cause a person to feel horrified?

- But...

Maybe because they were moved by Jibril’s words…

Upon hearing her brief speech, the hundred Flügel that couldn’t wait to get moving had a tint of excitement in their eyes – and their wings trembled.

- Azrael couldn’t understand why that was, and she once again cupped her cheeks with her hands.

At least that wasn’t the 「Answer」.

She looked up into the empty skies just like that – at the clumsily flying pair.

“I know Azrael-senpai cares more than anyone about the future of the Flügel, but –“

“…”

She glanced to the side, only to see Jibril with an expression of utmost determination on her face, and she spoke in an almost begging fashion:

“The answer you’re seeking for isn’t where you think it is.”

Part 4

“Hnnnnnnnnggg~……hnnnnnnnnnnnnngggg~~…. I-I’m at my limit…too tiring, I wanna give up…”

“Hey, it’s not even been three minutes! Even Ultr*man is tougher than you, you know!?”

Plum (scarf form) was complaining since almost the very beginning, while Sora provided her with words of encouragement.

“I’m different from those Flügel monsters! Overcoming the force of gravity and your weights combined is harder than both of you can imagine!! I even have to lend you my wings as well – please spare me –“

“If you’re gonna talk about sweat, I’ve sweated a lot already, so you can lick it off for all I care!”

“For you two, how could I possible give up! – Right, let’s continue on!!”

“You’ve completely ruined the atmosphere!!”

The sensation of his neck being licked sent an unpleasant tingle down his spine.

The scarf that Plum was disguising as …

It was a disguise on her 「Physical appearance」, in order to give others the impression that she was connecting Sora and Shiro in the form of a scarf.

The two ends of the scarf moved along with Sora and Shiro’s wills, and they served the same purposes as a pair of wings.

“Hey, to us this looks like a scarf with wings, but what does it actually look like?”

“Lick…ah, how blissful ♥ - huh, what? Um~ I’m currently hugging Sora-dono’s neck and licking it…and using my foot to hook onto Shiro -dono’s neck.”

“Heh, isn’t this a perverted way to fly!”

“…Nii, that joke was bad, you’re noisy…and it’s lame…”

“I was just saying, did you really have a need to go that overboard!?”

A streak of tears flashed past Avant Heim’s night sky.

However Plum rebutted impatiently:

“Let me make this clear, it’s the special right of the Elves to cast multiple spells at once! A magic such as turning myself into a flying scarf while allowing you both to fly at your own will is extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely worthy of praise, OK!!”

Plum uttered this extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly long sentence.

“Also, this is more tiring than I expected…if my supply of energy gets cut, I’ll probably die within a few seconds.”

“…I’m surprised you’d agree with something this dangerous.”

“Huh? Because if I do this I can lick Sora-dono’s neck to my heart’s content…slurp~ delicious, delicious.”

“AHHHH! I’M TAKING THIS SCARF OFF RIGHT NOW!!”

As Sora was considering ignoring the consequences and stripping off the scarf altogether –

“…Nii, the time.”

Five minutes had passed – Sora’s gaze sharpened upon hearing Shiro’s warning.

Which meant at this time, the Flügel that had a late start would begin attempting to catch them.

“- Right, Plum, our lives are in your hands now, so don’t you go running out of energy halfway!”

“No problem. Our fates are tied, so if I do run out of energy halfway we’ll just die together at most.”

“We don’t need to think about that!! Let’s go already!”

As he said this, Sora and Shiro immediately began flapping their wings mightily and simultaneously – dropping their altitude at once.

“Kyaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!”

They accelerated in that instant so quickly that even Plum had to cry out.

The speed of their descent and the power of the wings caused them to accelerate endless, and the strong winds rushed to meet them –

As they were about to hit the ground – the back of Avant Heim, they began flying laterally.

(They’re attempting to shake off our pursuers with the momentum from our descent…probably.)

Plum didn’t say anything but merely thought to herself, after which she grumbled: But –

A presence came up from behind, as the Flügel that had just left were already catching up to them.

Sora and Shiro really had completely mastered control over their wings with an astounding speed.

But – no matter how they were to commandeer the wings woven by Plum, they would still be unable to overcome the laws of physics.

It was already a blessing that they could reach two hundred kilometres per hour, however the Flügel on the other hand were an existence that simply threw the laws of physics out of the window.

(A-at this rate they’ll catch up to us in no time aaaahhhh what do we do now!?)

Plum began yelling to herself, however Sora and Shiro merely turned around to look calmly –

“Four of them, no formation.”

“…Letters, one, three…”

“Direction, recover?”

“…One bottom of the wing 「ナ (na) 」…three left side of stomach 「ア (a) 」.”

“- Shiro three, let’s move!”

- They had a brief conversation which Plum completely couldn’t understand, as they had completed their discussion within a minute –

Huh? As Plum let out this curious expression, Sora and Shiro had already veered their courses slightly.

- In an instant.

“Hehe~ I’ll be the first~!”

“I’ll take that!”

As they expected, the five minutes of waiting time had meant nothing to them, as two Flügel were already approaching.

Their hands closed in on Sora and Shiro – but missed.

“”- Huh!?””

The two that were unable to catch Sora and Shiro couldn’t seem to comprehend how they managed to vanish from their eyes in an instant, causing them to utter a confused exclamation. At that time –

“”Ah!!””

- Behind them.

On the bottom of the wing and the left side of the stomach respectively – the characters inscribed there were touched, and both of them let out a gentle moan.

The other two behind them were slightly late and ended up losing their quarry, and they began surveying their surroundings frantically.

That was no surprise, as by then Sora and Shiro were already flying towards the connected cubes in a spiral pattern.

They darted and wove through the cracks – through the streets of Avant Heim – towards the connected cubes.

The two 「Characters」 were already on their respective hands.

“…Huh? Just now…what was that!?”

It happened in such a short instance that even Plum who was wrapped around their necks couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

On the other side of the disguising magic, Plum widened her eyes in surprise, and Sora said to her:

“Barrel roll – isn’t this one of the basic techniques to avoid a flying unit that is faster than you and is flying in a straight direction?”

- As Sora and Shiro noticed that they had company, they drew them in as close as possible then slightly veered their course, in order that among the four of them – the two inscribed with characters would take the lead, and they merely had to turn slightly.

And in the instant as they were about to be caught, they spread their wings, and merely – rolled over in a diagonal fashion.

So, with their general direction remaining the same, Sora and Shiro decelerated as they spun spirals in the air. On the other hand, the Flügel thought that Sora and Shiro had simply disappeared as they were too fast – simply speaking, they merely 「Overshot」.

They were still unused to their wings, and they would never be able to reach the speeds of that of a Flügel’s no matter how hard they tried, so –

“Since we can’t control our wings we just have to stop in our tracks, and for the Flügel who completely ignore aerodynamic studies at the like – they are merely fighter planes flying along a fixed path…”

“…Even if they know…they never bothered about it…”

Both of them smiled mischievously, and on their hands were exactly what Shiro had declared earlier – the characters 「ナ (na) 」and「ア (a) 」 were swirling about there.

Plum was speechless, having just realized what had happened.

“…Don’t tell me – you memorized the positions of all the characters!?”

Sora smiled bitterly and replied:

“Plum, are you underestimating my glorious sister?”

This sentence alone made even one such as Plum feel pressured, and she shut her mouth.

“Anyway…Shiro, the words we really need…you should know them right?”

“Of course.”

“So we need to get hold of those people, also our opponents aren’t exactly dimwits, so our aerial strategy won’t work all the time.”

“…Mm, understood…”

- Get hold of. Those two declared that naturally as if it was bound to happen, causing Plum to widen her eyes in shock.

They were clearly playing a game of red light, green light against the Flügel, however they themselves acted as if they were the pursuers.

Sora and Shiro flew about in the city of Avant Heim just like 「Passing through cracks」.

Part 6

- On the floor where only two people remained after the rest of the Flügel had left.

Jibril and Azrael stood together and watched the events unfolding in the air before them.

The feelings within Jibril’s chest – turned into 「Shock」 extremely quickly.

Shiro had memorized all the characters and the people who possessed them, and even where they were.

That was why they could pull off the avoid and recover maneuver so flawlessly earlier – however, what shocked her even more was that they knew the city like the back of their hands, as they were flying about as if it was their own backyard. Jibril couldn’t hide her shock at her two Masters.

The city of Avant Heim with countless cubes stacked up in complex formations was lit up extremely dimly under the moonlight in the surrounding darkness, however they could still duck and weave throughout the spaces between the cubes like skilled weavers passing threads through needles.

They were still lacking in speed, however in this case if their pursuers were to go too fast they would lose them instead.

The narrow, dark alleyways and cracks that were formed between the cubes –

Even the cracks that could barely fit a single person through were easily overcome by the flying two, so if their pursuers were to go too fast – if they were to let down their guard they would crash into the cubes, leaving them a clear escape route.

(…They’re really something…but if so -)

There was one part she couldn’t explain, and Jibril began questioning it.

Jibril couldn’t deny the fact that the Flügel as a race – did have the tendency to achieve victory through brute force.

But despite this, they could still 「Coordinate」. If they couldn’t, they wouldn’t deserve the right to be called 「Weapons」.

Even if they didn’t have 「Speed」 , they would switch to a 「Surrounding」 strategy – and –

“Huh!? Huh, why -!?”

A Flügel female uttered a lamenting cry, as they were all standing guard by the crack Sora and the others flew into which had only one exit – however both of them flew out through a way they hadn’t expected.

Sora and Shiro avoided their grasp easily.

They had only caught an extremely short glimpse of the map, and they had gotten such a deep understanding of the entire city (Avant Heim) within that period of time?

- Impossible. If it was one of the Masters – Shiro, there was a possibility that she could memorize the map within seconds.

However the city was built from various, countless complexly stacked cubes of different structures and heights, so it would be impossible to truly master the alleyways and shortcuts of the city with the map alone, if so how did they do it –

Just like that, even Jibril who was observing them for the longest time finally realized that she suspected her own explanation more than anyone else.

Part 7

(Huh? Y-you’re joking right?)

Sora and Shiro’s tightly interlocked hands – Plum saw that their fingers were moving about intricately.

Plum was resisting the urge to moan pitifully as hard as she could since earlier, and as for her theory behind how those two could duck and weave between all those narrow caves and alleyways – it could even be called fallacy – and this fact made Plum so shocked she was unable to say a word.

Which meant, possibly, probably, although somewhat unbelievable – it could be the case.

Shiro would fly along the streets according to her memory, and confirm the average size of the cubes.

After which she would calculate mentally to decipher the order of the patterns of the stacked cubes, then find the small passageways created due to those height differences.

And she transmitted that information to Sora not through words, but instead through hand signals.

While Sora would reply with ways to shake off, trick, bait, and deceive their pursuers.

- What other response could Plum have other than remaining speechless?

To Plum, no, possibly to anyone, that would be beyond comprehension.

Communicating using finger movements, but it wasn’t information on a mere level of 「Move here」 or 「Go there」.

From the touch of their hands, they could decipher each other’s intentions, as these two Imanity that had a wing each flapped their wings in the air and moved seamlessly, without any form of hesitation, as though their clutched hands were a combined part of their reflexes.

There was no doubt about it that they still weren’t completely used to the procedure.

Their flying still carried a slight hint of jerkiness – and because of that.

Plum was even more surprised at this unbelievable sight.

Holding each other’s hands – the two formed a pair of wings.

When a wing on one side were to master the wing woven by Plum more efficiently and overcome the forces of gravity.

The other wing would simply master the other half’s movements and play along just before being thrown off.

Throughout the span of each flap, they learnt from each other and passed down their knowledge between them as well, without any mistakes nor hiccups.

- They were endlessly improving at a stunning speed.

Upon seeing this, Plum sensed a chill rolling down her spine, those two – were more than she imagined –

- At this time, the previously silent two spoke.

“Left four, four pull.”

“…Left サ (sa) と (to) オ (o) ス (su), right カ (ka) マ (ma) ヌ (nu) ク(ku) missing one.”

“Return, top, twelve?”

“…Character five, complete…but dangerous.”

Both of them conversed in a code-like manner, however Sora finally replied cheerfully in a normal fashion.

“Even if it’s dangerous we still have to do it -! Let’s begin our attack!!”

“…Understood! Shiro left Nii right, left shoulder right wing left hip left arm!”

Immediately as she finished –

“Yaaaahhhh!!”

They spun about a breakneck speeds as if their wings – which meant Plum – had split into two, and they flew into a narrow hole –

“-! We’ve finally got them cornered!”

“Pincer attack, this is my time to shine!!”

Sora and Shiro accidentally – according to Plum’s point of view – stumbled into a wide road.

What awaited them was four Flügel on their left and right respectively – and as they had said, it was a perfect pincer attack.

However Plum suddenly remembered what they had said earlier.

- 「Left right four, four pull」…Draw them out – then attack?

The Flügel which were a total amount of eight were closing in at an extremely rapid pace, but – if so –

“Let’s move, Shiro!!”

“…OK!”

- Who exactly were the ones driven into a corner –

Sora and Shiro clapped their open palms together, forming a 「Word Spirit」.

The characters that were originally on their respective hands combined – and emitted light.

Facing the onslaught of the eight Flügel, the two – yelled with their palms facing opposite directions:

“”- 「Hole (アナ ana) 」!””

- In an instant.

The eight Flügel that were charging towards Sora and Shiro –

“--…Huh?”

Passed through them, and them appeared on opposite sides.

“Ah!”

Leaving behind eight moans, Sora and Shiro once again flew into the cracks between the cubes.

In a narrow passageway that could just about fit one person, Sora flew horizontally and laughed.

“サ (sa) と (to) オ (o) ス (su) – what do you think, Shiro, I got all of them!”

“…カ (ka) マ (ma) ヌ (nu) ク(ku)…now we have eight…”

The both of them confirmed the four glowing characters that were spinning around on their respective palms in a matter-of-fact fashion.

- Plum asked them fearfully.

“…Um, just now…what was that…”

“What else, it was a 「Hole」, a 「Word Spirit」 that would take effect on anyone it comes into contact with – which is the rule of this game.”

“…So…we opened a hole…in 「Reality」.”

Plum began recalling what had happened.

They had opened holes on their left and right using themselves as the center, then connecting them together in order to avoid the Flügel.

Once they were to emerge from it they would of course be facing Sora and others with their backs – and to return the 「Characters」- however more important than that…

“…Could it be, you’re only baiting the people that have characters on them!?”

“Of course, but we haven’t got all the ones we want yet.”

Sora admitted nonchalantly, and he looked up in satisfaction after looking at his wrist that had various letters strung up around it like beads.

- Plum looked up along with him.

…After which four, five, eight – twelve Flügel began darting at them at an astonishing speed.

“Waaaah what are we going to do-aaaahhhhh!”

“Return, from the top, pull twelve – everything’s going according to plan, don’t panic.”

“…Nii, can you make it?”

Sora and Shiro flew at high speeds through a crack that could just about fit one person.

Which meant, when they were to reach the next open space, the amount of Flügel that would be swarming them at once would be – twelve.

While Sora smiled cockily –

“Yep, no prob-lem-aaaaahahahhhhhhhhh!?”

Sora’s body lost its balance as his neck was being licked by Plum all of a sudden.

They reached the open space – and in front of twelve oncoming Flügel, Sora had lost his balance, and because of that his center of gravity –

“…Nii!?”

“….Waaaaahhh!?”

As he was about to be thrown off, Shiro frantically flapped her wing in an attempt to maintain their balance.

However Sora who almost crash-landed had no time to properly capture the figures of the oncoming Flügel.

“Shiro, gooooooo!”

- Sora immediately made a decision, as he had no time to get back in position.

Sora stretched his hand out to Shiro – he trusted that Shiro could understand his intentions, and passed his 「Word Spirits」 to her.

Shiro grasped Sora’s hands, allowing the characters to move, after which she let them go and threw them into the sky –

“- 「No entry (トオサヌ toosanu)」…!”

- As she said this, the twelve approaching figures, just as they were about to come into contact with Sora and Shiro, suddenly –

“Ouch!”

“Ah!”

Pitter-patter – no, it wasn’t such a gentle noise.

A huge, cannon-like explosion was heard, and the Flügel all violently slammed into an invisible wall.

But the problem was -!

Shiro looked over at Sora, and according to the plan – they were supposed to spiral upwards rapidly.

- 「No entry」. She was forced to create a barrier with these four words in order to prevent their enemies from passing through.

And in the instant when that would occur, they would only act on the five that had characters inscribe on them, or at least that was the plan –

“Heh-aaaaaahhhh!”

- He made it, Shiro thought while appearing immensely relieved.

While he left the activation of the 「Word Spirits」 to Shiro, he spent that time to regain his composure and turn to his original position.

Sora even began sweating cold sweat, and he flapped his wing while Shiro cooperated –!

As the twelve Flügel slammed into the invisible wall and were stopped in their tracks, the two passed through the Flügel crowds –

“Dammit, Shiro – it’s up to you!”

“Mm!”

Shiro didn’t manage to tell Sora which one of them had characters on them.

Shiro stretched out her hand, and then –

Since it still wasn’t enough, she used her two legs – and even her wing to gather up all the characters.

“Uggghhhhhh~~~ don’t think about running –“

“Dream on!”

Shiro’s wing was nearly grabbed onto, however Sora flapped his wing and shifted their centre of gravity.

They had avoided a death trap extremely narrowly, and the two landed below the invisible wall – flapping their wings just as they were about to hit the ground – then flew into another narrow corridor…before they could say they were safe.

“…Phew….phew!”

Sora’s shoulders convulsed violently as he breathed, and he finally managed to regulate his breathing, just as Shiro was about to ask about his condition –

“A-about that… are both of you alright?”

- The culprit that had brought this crisis upon them (Plum) did it before her.

Sora bit onto the scarf and yelled with his voice muffled.

“- Plum~~~! Do you want us to die together!?”

“I-I-I-I-I’m sorry! It was because of that sudden spiral, my mouth left Sora-dono’s presence – and I even previously said that if I were to lose a source within a few seconds I would die!! So of course if we’re going to die we might as well die together, see you all in hell!!”

This fellow must have a huge amount of courage to say things like that.

While Shiro managed her own violently breathing heart – and spoke while looking the characters on her hand:

“…Nii…ソ (so) ワ (wa) ケ (ke) ユ (yu) ラ(ra)…we have them…so now…”

“Yep, we’ve finally completed it.”

「ラ（ra）ユ（yu）ス（su）マ（ma）ク（ku）ケ（ke）ソ（so）カ（ka）ワ（wa）」- the two chuckled upon thinking of the 「Word Spirits」 those characters could create.

As they exchanged glances and nodded at each other – they flapped their wings mightily.

The two who were darting through the cubes earlier, were now – climbing up into the skies.

“- Ah, found it!”

“Hmm…are they changing their strategy again?”

They were spotted immediately. However their pursuers reacted more vigilantly this time at Sora and Shiro’s appearance.

They didn’t travel in a straight line, and instead approached their circuit in a circular formation as if to surround them.

- No one had probably thought of it.

Because Plum didn’t manage to predict it either.

In front of the Flügel that surrounded them, the two clasped their open palms together to form a 「Word Spirit」.

- As three characters disappeared, they touched them and yelled:

“- 「Accelerate」-!!”

Part 8

Not only the pursuers.

Even Plum and Jibril who was spectating the entire thing were speechless.

From the beginning of the game, from the time they got their wings, barely fifteen minutes had passed.

They were merely two Imanity each with a single wing created by Plum.

- They merely left behind a shockwave while they themselves were already long gone.

- They had charged straight through the oncoming Flügel, who could have predicted that?

Although, if it was an acceleration created by the 「Word Spirits」, it could actually happen.

That was why they could overcome the limitations of physics upon their wings.

Acceleration, speed, light speed – the two had planned to collect and form those 「Word Sprits」 before the game had even began. If not, facing an enemy that could adapt to and change their strategy according to Sora and Shiro’s actions – essentially an opponent that could 「Learn」 and 「Adapt」, they wouldn’t be able to survive for an hour. Thus they flew about between the cubes at a speed, focusing more on baiting and collecting – as Jibril saw this, her eyes narrowed as if she had just seen the light

- Because it meant that the two trusted in the Flügel.

“Hah! This is fun!”

“…Mm!”

Both of them soared and spun about in the air like dancers, and their laughter – spread across Avant Heim.

- Lovebirds.

This term sprung up from Jibril’s mind.

However – this term didn’t seem quite right, and she shook her head.

What she was looking at wasn’t the figurative kind of lovebird.

She was sure that it was the true, original meaning of the 「Lovebird」.

The males and females each had one eye and one wing and would fly together with their bodies combined, a fictional organism.

(…And a being just like that is flying happily right over there.)

Jibril watched them closely and seemingly proudly – but…

“…”

Azrael who was gazing from them afar, appearing rather bored and disinterested, still didn’t seem to manage to grasp the meaning of it.

- Upon seeing her like that, Jibril said silently:

“Senpai, do you know the reason why I’m against the 「Equality Law」?”

“…Because Jii-chan is close minded and doesn’t like other people touching her books-nyan?”

“No, it’s because – I enjoy reading the same books over and over.”

- It was the first time Azrael had heard of such a thing, and she stared at her in shock.

“…Why is that so-nyan? Wouldn’t it be fine if you just memorize them?”

“Yes, I knew you would say that, which is why I never said it previously…”

Jibril sighed, and she continued again in a fit of determination:

“Even if you’ve read a book once before, after you gather more knowledge, you’ll learn even more things even after reading them again.”

“…”

“So if you want to read them again you can’t, wouldn’t that be annoying – don’t you get it?”

“...Don’t get what-nyan?”

“- Once you memorize it, it’s over.”

Jibril bent her head low while giving her this painful piece of advice – however…

- Azrael still seemed extremely confused.

Ignoring Jibril’s opinion for now, what she didn’t understand the most was –

“- What does have to do with what’s going on now-nyan?”

…

…Jibril looked into her eyes – extremely sadly.

Her gaze wasn’t that of underestimation, nor was it a mocking one.

It was one of betrayal at her anticipation being ignored, a gaze of gradually increasing disappointment and sadness at having her anticipation being betrayed every single time.

- She couldn’t understand her sister’s anticipation, which pierced her heart even more than anything else.

“What is it-nyan…what did I do wrong-nyan…!”

Part 9

Above Avant Heim, a single silver trail cut through the night sky.

The sound barrier had been left behind long ago, and the flying Sora and Shiro – couldn’t be caught by anyone.

“Now as long as we don’t get too careless, we won’t get caught.”

Sora and Shiro held each other’s hands and sped through the night sky, and although Sora said this, but –

“…But, the collecting…of the 「Characters」…”

“Yes, I know, although we want to play, we definitely have to collect all the characters to finish this level perfectly, and…”

Sora agreed with Shiro’s words, after which he continued solemnly:

“- I’ve already figured out a 「Word Spirit」 to retaliate that person.”

“That person…? Who are you referring to?”

Plum asked a question, however Sora ignored it and turned around.

Relying on speed to increase their distance between them was good – but in order to collect the 「Characters」 they had to get close, and that always came with the risk of being caught, not to mention that their opponent was the Flügel. Also – Sora thought to himself in a cautious tone:

- Don’t forget, this game was something we didn’t expect – it was a game on their home turf.

No matter how much they kept their guard up, it was impossible to completely avoid it.

“…Huh, interesting.”

Sora mumbled to himself, very good - this is truly a game that deserves to be played!

So let’s decrease the risk as much as we can – so we had better collect as many characters as we can.

That was sort of their insurance policy, which was increasing their 「Word Spirits」, so even if they get into an unpredictable situation - and Sora who was facing behind – suddenly had a glint in his eye.

“…Huh?”

Shiro let out a curious mumble upon seeing that glint, but –

“- Cheh~~!?”

This was the 「Unpredictable Situation」 Sora was thinking about earlier, and to this Sora had reacted in advance.

He took himself as a pendulum and swung downwards – and while still going along the same direction, he shifted their 「Axis」, and spun around in a curve.

“U-um, what are you doing – kyaaaaaahhhhh!?”

A burst of light shot through the 「Position」 they were in previously, cutting off Plum’s words.

- Shiro was just about to praise her brother’s unbelievably fast reaction speed and judgement time, however before that –

“Jibri~~~llll!! What is that! I never heard you mentioning anything about that! We can attack!?”

…His composure earlier had completely disappeared, and Sora yelled suddenly, and above his head – with a small poof…

A tiny Jibril of about four heads tall appeared to explain the situation.

“No, Masters, that wasn’t an attack, it’s a 「Capturing Magic」 that stalks its target.”

“Are you telling me that wasn’t a 「Bullet」?”

“No, that thing does no damage at all, as it’s just a magic that binds the enemy and pulls him to yourself, it doesn’t have any potential for destruction as its aim is merely to capture its target. So it’s different from the 「Bullets」 in the Masters’ world –“

Sora scratched his head and roared in response to Jibril’s chatter:

“So let me rephrase my sentence, you never mentioned that long-distance tools could be used! Don’t we have any? Plum!!”

“Don’t go so hard on me! Double casting is a talent natural only to the Elves, also if I continue to use another spell, I’m actually going to shrivel up and die! I’ve licked Sora-dono’s neck so much that it’s starting to swell!”

“I don’t care whether it’s swelling or not! I’m covered in cold sweat anyway, so why don’t you just lick my back!”

“Really!? Let’s eat~! Ah~ mm ♥”

Her wails suddenly turned into groans of pleasure, and Sora turned around, speechless at Plum’s actions.

Being a match on the Flügel’s home turf, Sora was just thinking about unforeseen circumstances – and as he thought about that they occurred immediately!

The opponent did say they would 「Ban teleportation」- but…

- They never said to 「Ban magic」-

“Dammit – I realized it too late!”

“…We should have expected it…!”

- Regarding the 「Word Spirits」, the rules would be too much in their favour if they could win through the 「Word Spirits」 alone.

When they realized their mistake of not realizing that earlier, Sora and Shiro – no, Shiro gnawed on her fingernails, feeling extremely frustrated.

Rules to attack the opponent… this language loophole was her responsibility to discover since she was the one that would memorize everything word for word.

Sora stroked Shiro’s head and said:

“It’s normal for games like these that we couldn’t anticipate, so there’s no use crying over spilt milk, what’s important now is –“

“…Mm.”

- Being a surprise game that they didn’t have complete knowledge about, it was reasonable to think that unpredictable things like that could happen.

Despite this they could still win – because adapting to their opponent’s actions extremely quickly was the true ability of Kuuhaku「」- there was no time to regret!

“- Jibril, how many shots can that thing fire?”

“Let me think…it varies for the abilities of different people, but about six shots I guess?”

“- It’s hard to handle, but since there are only six shots our opponents won’t waste their ammunition, thus –“

“Ah, it’s not like that, Master.”

At this point Sora who was facing behind saw multiple shadows land on the cubes – the Flügel.

They raised their palms – and the night sky turned so bright it was like daylight.

“It’s that 「Up to six shots can be fired at once」, there’s no limit to the amount of shots!“

“I actually thought that monsters like you would have such things as 「Limitations」 for a moment there, I’m so stupid!”

“…Nii, over here -!”

This time Shiro was the faster one to react, and she flapped her wing vigorously.

Sora immediately left behind the mini-Jibril and followed Shiro without reply, and they accelerated together.

The 「Binding Light」 drew a complex pattern in the air as it approached – although if it was homing as Jibril had said –

“…Mm!”

Shiro flapped her wing once as hard as she could, and Sora played along, having understood her intentions from her hand motions.

Countless streaks of light approached them, and even Sora and Shiro who had used the acceleration 「Word Spirit」 from earlier couldn’t escape their clutches.

And as the light approached their backs - 「Chandelle」.

They turned diagonally upwards at a forty-five degree curve from flying straight, turning their speed to altitude, and climbed upwards – since the 「Binding Light」 would probably activate its proximity fuse as it reached a certain distance away from them – a flash of light burst from behind them as their sharp ascent caused their speed to decrease which allowed the 「Blinding Light」 to approach – and it triggered.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

Ignoring Plum’s cries, Shiro immediately cancelled their original sharp ascent with a slight flip of her wing.

She didn’t turn around, instead she flapped her wing again and once again began their ascent, distancing themselves from the exploding lights behind them.

- They dodged it. Just as they were catching their breath, streaks of light once again surged at them, and Shiro attracted them all to her then swapped her direction.

She baited them with the exact same method from earlier, however this time she darted diagonally downward, changing altitude to speed. As for the countless lights that exploded behind them, she escaped them with the same momentum, and she acquired speed from this –

“Yaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Plum who was still in wing form let out a cry, as being in a state of ultra-high speeds had caused the wings to stop flapping.

They spiralled about in the air, drawing circles with their bodies, dodging the countless lights that exploded within close proximity of them.

However this time they spun about in the other direction while flapping furiously to avoid the remaining lights.

Sora and Shiro flew together in a horizontal fashion, and they flew into the cracks between a slightly larger cube – after which –

Countless explosions and flashes of lights occurred at the opening of the crack.

- Since it was a 「Homing device」, they just had to 「Lure」 it.

It was Shiro’s responsibility to calculate the paths of the lights they had to avoid –

“Phew…phew…”

However Shiro was sweating cold sweat and panting uncontrollably as if she had just survived an Itano Circus.

It was as if she had these words written on her face: I must do all I can in repentance for not realizing that they never prevented the usage of magic.

And that sense of responsibility caused her to still appear unsatisfied even after that glorious display of skill from earlier.

“- Shiro, I’m really proud to have you as my sister.”

Sora fondled his sister’s head while flying through the narrow cracks, and he complimented her, after which –

“I can’t take this anymore, I want to withdraw from this game, if this goes on my body won’t be able to take it!!”

In order to keep up with their movements, the wings – Plum was extremely exhausted.

That pressure caused her to cry out like that, and from her teary tone it was evident that she was at her limit.

And – Sora pondered with cold sweat running down his back as well - after they were to get out of the alleyway…

There would definitely be a large amount of Flügel lying in wait.

From the way the Flügel were able to adapt that Sora had observed, he was sure that they wouldn’t pass up this chance.

“-…Nii…Shiro is…”

- They would definitely account from their previous evasion method as well.

The 「Binding Lights」 would undoubtedly come in multiples and with slight time differences between them.

If so even someone like Shiro wouldn’t be able to avoid all of them, not to mention that Plum was at her limit.

So – Sora and Shiro looked down at their wrists.

- They had only the 「Word Spirits」 to save them, but the characters they had were - 「ラ（ra）ユ（yu）ス（su）マ（ma）ケ（ke）ワ（wa）」

All of them were characters extremely hard to use in a word game -!

Sora cursed to himself anxiously. They had only a few more seconds in the passageway before the exit.

In a few seconds, he had to think of a word that could allow them to avoid or shield them from the oncoming countless flashes of light -!

“「Defeat」! No... Nii, I’m sorry –“

Shiro unconsciously uttered the first word she thought of, after which she immediately corrected herself.

Although in reality, it was the 「Word Spirit」 that was the most likely to take effect.

How could they use the characters to block the attacks? Barrier, shield, reflect, avoid – they lacked the characters needed for all of those.

(A way to reverse this situation – to reverse it -!)

Sora clenched his jaw and worked his brain at a speed that as if it was going to overheat, they had six characters, and all of them were extremely hard to use.

The 「Word Spirit」 needed to reverse the situation – reverse… no.

“- Reversing the situation… that’s my job -!”

“…Huh?”

Shiro replied curiously to Sora’s mumblings.

In an instant – in Sora’s mind, gears began whirling and meshing together, and multiple thoughts began overlapping.

- As Jibril had said, it was a capturing magic that would activate in extremely close proximity to its target like a proximity fuse.

- At a speed even faster than the Flügel, which Sora and Shiro definitely wouldn’t be able to avoid.

And as the light was about to be fired, what Sora saw was – as those memories combined into one, Sora smiled.

“Why do we have to avoid it – isn’t this a great opportunity!! Shiro, ascend.”

“What~~!?”

If they were to ascend they would be hit by the 「Binding Light」, however Plum was the only one that let out a cry of agony at Sora’s words.

“…Understood.”

Shiro flapped her wing and rose upwards – since her brother had reached that conclusion, she needed no other evidence.

They continued to ascend at high speeds, and flew upwards along the tunnel – then exited it.

As expected –

A rain of light that dyed the night sky bright white fell upon them.

“Waaaaaaaaaaahahahhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

It didn’t have any destructive power, however it was still a magic of the Flügel.

If they were caught the game would be over, and the only way they could gather information regarding the conditions to awaken the Empress would be –

- Plum cried out once again as she was worried about these two things.

Although in reaction to this, Sora fearlessly allowed three characters from his wrist to disappear to form 「Word Spirits」.

And as he was about to be hit by the 「Binding Light」, what happened instead was…

What happened was – the Flügel that shot out the light had collapsed.

While the ones that had left the passage as well and had fired the lights coming at them collapsed as well.

Leaving no exceptions – everyone was standing on the cubes.

- They couldn’t shoot without being on the ground, so – there was no need to evade.

Amongst the oncoming beams of light, Sora climbed onto the exit of the passageway.

He threw the 「Word Spirits」 he formed onto the ground with all his might – and yelled.

“- 「Flip」-!!”

- After a short delay –

Ignoring all the laws of the physical plane, suddenly –

- Avant Heim’s entire horizon 「Flipped over」.

“””Aaaaaaahahhh -!?”””

Not only Plum, but the Flügel who had fired the 「Binding Lights」 as well – even the people watching from afar, Jibril yelled out in surprise.

What would happen if the entire arena (Avant Heim) were to flip over?

Everything in the skies - the 「Binding Lights」 moving about in the air and the Flügel there would remain the same.

Even their high-pitched yells followed the Doppler Effect, and the ones that stood on the arena – the people on the floor – which were the Flügel, Sora and Shiro.

- Their positions were swapped and reversed.

“””Yaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”””

“Even the ones that fired the lights won’t be able to evade them since they’ll appear in front of them in an instant!”

Sora spoke while smiling, and only Shiro saw the corner of his mouth curl up ever so slightly.

「- Spin Avant Heim」…

If they didn’t spin it from the position they did, the light would merely come over in a different direction.

Sora’s smile was that of a gambler who had just won an extremely risky hand – although if the 「Binding Light」 as Jibril said it would –

“- Shiro!!”

Her brother called upon her without hesitation, and Shiro having immediately understood his intentions, replied:

“…Twenty-five characters…!”

Yes - the 「Binding Light」 did work as Jibril had explained.

- It captures its target, and pulls it back to the source of the shot, however if the position of the source is reversed!

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

“W-wait a minute, eek~~!!”

- The massive amounts of Flügel were pulled over to Sora and Shiro.

“It’s all up to you, Shiro!!”

- All this was in accordance to Sora’s plan – and it was a risk they could only take once.

From the 「Thirty-eight」 Flügel they dragged over – they acquired twenty-five characters.

タ（ta）•ホ（ho）•シ（si）•テ（te）•キ（ki）•メ（me）•ヤ（ya）•ル（ru）•エ（e）•イ（i）•モ（mo）•ツ（tsu）•へ（he）•レ（re）•ヨ（yo）•ネ（ne）•セ（se）•二（ni）•フ（hu）•ノ（no）•ム（mu）•ン（n）•ウ（u）•リ（ri）•コ（ko） - But…

“…B-but, Nii!”

Shiro called out in confusion.

- It was a stunning result, as thirty-eight Flügel were pulled over in various positions.

However only Shiro knew the positions of the words, not considering the time limit.

In such a short period of time, to collect characters from twenty-five people, for one person alone it would be – although Sora immediately smiled and –

“First we need to consider the ratings! 「Steam」!!”

Billows of steam began covering the area extremely quickly, covering all the Flügel that had been drawn there.

After which – Sora smiled from cheek to cheek, and used another 「Word Spirit」.

He splashed it at everyone in front of him – Shiro still didn’t bother reading her brother’s actions, and she had her eyes half open.

At the same time, Sora and Shiro flapped their wings mightily and flew away as fast as they could – and then –

“- Since everything’s in place - 「Naked」!!”

The Flügel that were jumbled and tied together in various positions by the 「Binding Light」…

- Their clothes all vanished at once, thus Sora could now tell where the positions of the characters were.

Sora had an expression of – absolute glee on his face – and he closed his eyes and said:

“Ah, I can see it, Shiro, I can see so many things!!”

“…Nii take the left, Shiro… the right.”

“Ah! Leave it to me, my sister! Hahahahahah! Roar, my left hand!”

The sister glanced at him with a gaze so cold that even the atoms around hit absolute zero temperatures, while the brother had a gaze so fiery that the magnetic fields around them would evaporate.

- If the temperature of people’s gazes could cause effect, the entire planet would probably be engulfed in a typhoon.

But luckily –

“Ah!”

“Yah!”

- The only thing the scene was engulfed with was the chorus of twenty-five Flügel’s moans.

Although he wanted to continue listening to that chorus, Sora and Shiro could only pass through them quickly and leave them behind.

After which they accelerated up high into the skies once again.

“- How should I put it, your actions were so fast that even I was amazed.”

“Heheheh, you can compliment me more, Plum! Heheheh.”

“…Nii, your pervertedness is as long as a parsec…”

“Did I just get scolded with an astronomical unit!? Your brother worked very hard for all this!!”

- Sora had collected twelve characters, and Shiro thirteen.

Also, Sora had enjoyed some unnecessary skin-on-skin contact and had made some disgusting noises, to which Shiro scolded him outright.

The brother was rather upset at the sister scolding him with a unit that represented about 3.26 light years, however Shiro didn’t stop there.

“…Nii, 「Steam」 and 「Naked」…you wasted…three characters…”

“Hey, my dear younger sister, stop fooling around, how was that a waste? Imposible.”

Sora smiled a smile so exaggerated even an American would be proud, and he rebutted Shiro’s words:

“There were three glorious aims to that action: collecting the characters; preventing them from chasing us again since they will now have an aversion to flying naked; and most importantly –“

Sora stopped for a while – and continued with an incredibly solemn expression…

He declared determinedly:

“It was the choice of Steins;Gate.”

“…More like the Gate of Nii’s desires…”

Shiro continued to comment in an icily cold tone, while Plum detected presences behind them and she yelled out:

“Waaaaahahh~~ they’re coming at us from behind without shame!!”

“What~!? I didn’t think of that!! ...They’re coming from in front too, Shiro?”

“…No words.”

Shiro replied somewhat unpleased, as multiple completely naked Flügel who had escaped the binding lights as well as three others were approaching from the back and front respectively.

Sora intentionally faced the oncoming Flügel, prepared his camera and constructed a 「Word Spirit」.

After which the two gracefully dodged their outstretched hands – and threw the 「Word Spirit」 over.

“- 「Fondle breasts」”… they yelled.

After which they did a backflip in the air, and Sora used his wing to cover Shiro’s eyes and activated his camera.

“Now these people will help me trip up our pursuers…phew…”

The clothes-wearing Flügel began to fondle the breasts of the naked Flügel, slowing down their pace.

“Phew – I finally saw Nirvana with my very own eyes… what a glorious sight, but sadly it’s at night so I wonder whether the camera did get those shots?”

“…I’m speechless to the point where I don’t know whether to feel awed by Sora-dono anymore…”

Part 10

- The Masters who were dancing about in the skies appeared so cheerful and energetic, and they could even smile in the face of danger.

However looking at those shadows projected in the night sky, Azrael still couldn’t seem to understand.

“-…”

Jibril didn’t know how many times she had sighed at Azrael who merely had her brow furrowed in confusion.

…At this rate the Masters would win – although there would be no meaning in that.

Azrael would betray the Masters’ expectations without knowing anything -!

“…Senpai, why can’t you just understand…”

“-…”

“You want to order everyone to commit suicide just like that? To die just because of you?”

Azrael still couldn’t understand the heavy undertones of worry within Jibril’s voice.

- Why should the Flügel fear death?

The Flügel shouldn’t even possess that emotion.

And she wasn’t afraid of her own death – she was afraid of those brats?

“You saw the Masters’ faces, those children’s faces, and you still don’t understand a thing? If you seal those children’s potential just because of your own stupidity and stubbornness, and waste this six thousand years –“

- Please, please understand.

“The one that wasted these six thousand years – is you!!”

Tears were almost appearing in Jibril’s eyes, and her voice sounded as if she was trying her hardest to squeeze it out.

But Azrael still couldn’t understand, what was it that she didn’t understand? What is it? What is it…!

- …

“Ugh~ I can’t catch them!!”

“Go around the other way and surround them! Fire the binding magic in a cross shape! As long as we make them waste their words, we have a chance!”

“Huh~? But they’ll still avoid it anyway.”

“Just try it, if we can’t we’ll just think of another way, let’s go!”

The Flügel began dancing about in the air after a brief discussion, and for some reason –

On their faces were pure, unadultered – smiles.

- …What made them so happy?

Sora and Shiro once again spiralled downwards as they realized they were firing at them in a cross shape, and avoided the shots entirely as expected.

“Really, look, they did dodge it.”

“Heh, so let’s fire at them simultaneously from above and below! Everyone scatter and fire at my signal!”

“Understood!!”

- …What made them so happy?

How could they possibly smile like that while chasing an enemy they couldn’t beat?

- …

Azrael seemed frustrated at herself for not understanding, while Jibril spoke softly to her:

“Senpai, do you remember my battle record?

“…I remember all of it-nyan, I remember everything my cute little sister has done.”

She bent her head down and appeared to look into the horizon – somewhere that wasn’t where she was – and smiled with a faraway gaze.

“Gigants, you helped to take down nineteen of them, and killed one of them by yourself; and the Dragonias, you helped to take down three of them, and killed one of them by yourself -!”

- The severed heads of the Dragonias that were hanging on the humongous tree on the outskirts of the city were Jibril’s trophies.

And that skull was to celebrate her results, Azrael had put it there intentionally – it was a decoration, and –

“Phantasma, you helped to kill three – and killed one by yourself, nyan.”

Just the same, Jibril was the only one that had managed to kill a Phantasma alone.

Azrael smiled while recalling their past – that smile had nothing sinister to it, nor was it fake.

“The final unit had had such amazing results in combat merely throughout two hundred and forty-five campaigns, and survived…how could I possibly forget?”

…That was in the distant past, where all their cherished memories were – when they still had a future.

Seeing Azrael talking about their past with a pure smile on her face, Jibril tipped her head slightly and asked:

“…So, do you remember how many times I got injured so badly that I needed emergency spell repair?”

“A hundred and forty-six times, nyan.”

Her reply was instant.

Jibril had always returned from the brink of death, which worried her to no end.

“…And all those were caused by your solo campaigns-nyan…”

- The Gigants, Dragonias and Phantasma – she had killed one of each.

Jibril had killed three members of high-ranking species alone.

Although the times she had failed to do so were twenty-nine times more than that.

And what that signified – why couldn’t she just understand, Jibril clenched her jaw.

“So – do you know why I insisted on campaigning solo all the time?”

- That was the final hint, and Jibril’s tone carried a strong indication to this.

Amongst her determined tone, there were slight dashes of fear of betrayal and anticipation.

However… Azrael could only shake her head.

“…To be honest, I’ve never understood Jii-chan’s actions, and speaking of which –“

“Yes, speaking of which they were unconquerable enemies.”

- Yes, they were all high-ranking beings that they could never hope to conquer alone.

Because when the Flügel were created, they were never given that ability.

- This was the last chance, if she still couldn’t understand –

“That’s why – I wanted to break that mind-set.”

--….

“…I don’t understand, nyan, why is that so-nyan? What did Jii-chan see in those two-nyan?”

“…”

Jibril was speechless.

- It was as though she was saying she had given up all her anticipation.

- If she could understand it, it was impossible that others couldn’t – that thought slowly crumbled.

And her heart bled for Azrael, harder than she could bear, and –

“…Jii-chan, Jii-chan is special-nyan…”

“…?”

“Jii-chan doesn’t know it, but Artosh-sama gave Jii-chan a 「Special Ability」, so what Jii-chan understands, everyone else might not-nyan.”

“…”

Jibril remained silent, while Azrael spoke as though a confession:

“I want to know the 「Answer」 as well, I don’t want everything to end like this!! If that happens, what would these six thousand years have been to us!? But I just don’t understand – I’m at my limit, I just can’t lie to myself any more-nyan!!”

- The first unit, Azrael.

Being the first Flügel to have been created, she was created by Artosh in search of 「Perfection」.

She didn’t possess the ability to cry, but maybe because they were the only two there…

Azrael cried out in an almost pleading fashion, and her first truly truthful words carried an almost moist undertone to them.

- Someone please tell me.

- What are we living for?

- Why do we survive?

- What are we searching for?

- What do we have to find to prove that we have truly lived – please tell me.

Jibril looked at her speechlessly.

- However she intentionally spoke in an icily cold tone, as if pushing her away heartlessly.

- Just like that, she spoke words that her Masters would probably use.

“…That’s how you’re making use of me – making use of your limits as an excuse.”

“-------!!”

“No matter you or me, the ones that survived are all losers, and we have lived as losers for six thousand years.”

Azrael bent her head low, and her fists were clenched tight.

“We didn’t learn anything the entire time, and it’s not because we’re special – it was because of your laziness.”

Jibril clenched her fists as well.

…She suddenly recalled, although she had been in multiple near-death situations before, she had never felt more tense.

She told herself, get your fake expression right, don’t tremble your voice, and don’t shift your gaze.

She forcefully tied down the Spirits that made up her body, and manipulated them.

- Could she do it? That uneasy thought flashed past her mind, but she shook her head in denial.

It wasn’t a matter of whether or not she could do it, but she had to do it – that was what she had learned.

She absorbed what she had learnt from her Masters, then acted upon what she had learnt from them.

- Jibril wasn’t used to it.

She decided to make a gamble – and that was…

(Masters, I will follow you to the very bitter end, so please forgive Jibril’s incompetence.)

She thought to herself, and with her final silver of anticipation – she…

(So please allow me to continue believing in what the Masters have all this time.)

Jibril imitated the most – underestimating expression she could muster.

“For this 「Cowardly, utterly weak」 you, I have only disgust from the bottom of my heart – Azrael (trash).”

Throughout her six thousand, four hundred and seventh years of her life, it was the first time – she told a lie.

…

…Suddenly…

Azrael’s face suddenly became devoid of all expression, and she spoke weakly, almost exhaustedly.

“…Forget it-nyan.”

In an instant – the skies and the earth began to shake.

References

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