Horizon:Volume 10B Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Circlers on the Slanted Wasteland

I go blam

I go twirl

Now, to finish this

Point Allocation (Cleaning Up)

●

Genbu braced itself.

Koroku had never experienced maneuvering on the outermost edge of a large ship as it took a corner. She had been thrown around at high speeds several times in games, but this was her first time feeling anything with Genbu’s weight and low center of gravity nearly being thrown from its footing in reality.

…Kh.

Inside Genbu, the wind blew across the grassy field and farmland. The single tree shook and waved, the green leaves being torn from the branches and scattering.

The view provided by Genbu showed Suzaku approaching.

That was like another version of herself, or perhaps her old self.

She knew Suzaku’s specs by heart, but that had changed with the non-Suzaku parts that had been added on. However…

“This isn’t Suzaku.”

It was Genbu. Reminding herself of that, she moved toward Suzaku as it charged in using low-altitude flight.

●

…Here she comes!

During the shaking and swinging, Naomasa saw the black god of war step toward her.

She has guts, she thought. She knows how to work that thing, she also thought. Her opponent had actually been a god of war pilot longer than her.

So she wanted to use the familiar ground and the element of surprise to make her attack.

She normally had trouble getting motivated about a defensive battle, but not so this time. As Genbu charged toward her, she moved in low and kept to the left while…

“Suzaku!”

She gave the command and used the link with her prosthetic arm to send out Suzaku’s right arm at high speed.

It grabbed at Genbu’s right arm while moving past and…

…Spin!

By pushing, she knocked Genbu off balance and locked the arm while applying a quick rotation.

●

“Oh.”

While writing a program, Taizou used a sign frame to watch the figures moving on Murayama’s deck.

Suzaku had just spun the Genbu around and thrown it while running past.

This would slam Genbu back-first into the deck. For a heavy god of war, that would do considerable damage. But…

“That’s a weird way to dodge.”

Genbu broke itself apart.

All of the armor on its upper body split away and dispersed the momentum from Suzaku’s unbalancing blow.

…Is that to let the god of war itself escape!?

He couldn’t tell how closely the armor separation was controlled, but Genbu was unharmed. Instead, the separated armor was pulled away with the force of the spinning throw, sending it flying back behind Genbu.

But that wasn’t all. Now it was Genbu’s turn. He saw Genbu’s right hand entangle and capture Suzaku’s right arm which had been robbed of its momentum.

Genbu immediately back stepped.

The armor that had been blasted backwards like splashing water was returned to its rightful position and the end of Genbu’s left arm opened up.

“That’s called Excessive Jab, I think? A type of gravity cannon. It used that during its earlier long-range attacks too.”

“You know of it? Over,” asked “Musashi-Sakai”, still working next to him.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I know about most anything that’ll be a pain in the ass. It comes with being an old engineer.”

●

Koroku sent an extreme close-range Excessive Jab at Suzaku.

She aimed for the center of its torso. The combination cylinder containing her former self had to be in there, but it didn’t bother her. She was right here and she saw the Suzaku version of herself as a different person entirely.

And she knew her own resolve.

When she asked to be used as a component, she had been willing to die as a component.

…Because then my sister would be less sad if I broke.

She was smart enough to know that was an excuse. She had irresponsibly forced it onto her sister. But that was who was in that Suzaku. And because they understood each other…

“Excessive Jab!”

As soon as she launched the attack, the night sky appeared in Genbu’s vision.

…Huh!?

She knew what had happened. Suzaku had used Excessive Jab’s recoil to spin her around.

A moment alter, the deck appeared at the top of her field of view.

“Genbu!”

She crashed head-first into the deck.

●

Naomasa saw a wave spreading out.

A black wave. A ripple on the deck. After she grabbed the black giant’s right arm and threw it, the recoil of its own close-range gravity cannon slammed it head-first into the deck.

But something intervened. Its armor expanded again.

…You’re scattering it, aren’t you!?

That cushioned its landing. Right as it crashed into the deck, the armor absorbed the impact and scattered out across the deck ahead of the god of war itself. It still had to have taken damage, but not on a single “point”. Genbu looked enormous at first, but this system allowed it to absorb the impact along a “surface”. And…

“To the right, Suzaku!”

Just as she made a hurried half turn, Genbu stood up and fired its left gravity cannon.

●

An endless battle raged.

Suzaku would capture Genbu mid-movement and throw it, but Genbu would absorb the landing with its armor and shift smoothly into an attack.

But Suzaku would avoid Genbu’s attack and capture and throw Genbu again, only for that to be absorbed again.

Both gods of war kept moving their arms and legs while swapping places on the deck. Suzaku occasionally used its wings to circle widely around.

“I’ll keep at it as long as it takes!”

Naomasa hit.

Captured arms and deflected arms both groaned, they shoved at each other with their backs, and they dodged out of the way. It all came down to grabbing, being grabbed, absorbing the impact, dodging, and repeating the process, but…

“Kh!”

They kept grasping at each other’s hands, arms, and the armor at the bottom of the neck analogous to a collar, but none of this would lead to a conclusion.

They simply kept in motion. Genbu generally kept fore while Suzaku kept aft and they were pushed port as the Musashi made its turn.

●

Koroku saw a few different opportunities.

Below the tree that swayed in the wind, she caught a falling leaf and threw it outwards while viewing the outside world that seemed to move so slowly due to the high speed.

…Those wings.

Suzaku had wings. And beyond the edge of the deck they were being pushed towards was the open sky.

Genbu couldn’t fly, but Suzaku would be able to move out past the deck.

The most likely choice by Suzaku was to send Genbu over the edge. Suzaku could fly, so it could return to the Musashi after doing so.

Just like she and her sister had done to Michiyuki Byakko at the Armada battle.

That was going to happen here, so Koroku kept her guard up and waited for an opportunity.

…Now!

Suzaku spread its wings at a point 20 meters from the edge of the deck.

●

Koroku saw it.

Suzaku accelerated toward her with enough speed to fly right off the ship.

It was coming.

Using the Satomi flight system that didn’t originally belong to it. But as a piece of combat equipment, it was powerful. Suzaku was using its propulsion to fly this way and grab her right arm.

“I get it!”

She dealt with it using a crushing motion.

She actually used the right arm the opponent wanted to counterattack with Excessive Jab.

But that was both a feint and bait.

What mattered was Excessive Jab. She intentionally sent it straight out to make it look like she had missed, but she hadn’t.

…The recoil!

She did not let the force of Excessive Jab leave her. She used its recoil to turn Genbu back and to the right.

She spun herself.

That would place Suzaku right in front of her after missing its grab.

There it was.

Suzaku failed to grab her arm and was trying to escape. It used its wings for a flying evasion.

Meanwhile, she kept up her rapid turn from Excessive Jab’s recoil as she swung her left arm in from behind Suzaku and…

“Excessive Jab!”

She delivered a gravity strike.

Immediately, Suzaku used its wings. It flapped those wings in the cramped space to create an explosion of acceleration pressure.

It intended to leap into the sky to the right. But Koroku had predicted that action.

“This will hit!” she shouted, driving her left arm’s attack into Suzaku’s back as it accelerated.

Or that was what she meant to do.

As she made her rapid turn, she checked Genbu’s vision below the windy tree and saw something there.

She had expected Suzaku to use its wings to jump to the right in a forced evasion, but…

“Huh?”

The vermilion color was neither in front of her nor in the sky to the right. It was behind her on the right.

Somehow the vermilion god of war, down on its knee, had escaped the path of her rapid turn and her left Excessive Jab to instead circle behind her on the right.

…Oh, no!

The need to ask “why” delayed her reaction.

“Genbu!” she shouted, but it was too late.

Suzaku released the accumulated air from its back thrusters to stand itself back up.

It could grab her right arm from behind. And that grab would catch the arm at a deep point.

●

…Did I get it!?

Naomasa had been trying to circle behind Genbu and then grab its right arm.

This was a simpler version of the rear double arm grab she had done to Byakko at the Armada battle.

She would lock Genbu’s shoulder joint with the arm and then swing it around to throw it off the ship.

But Hachisuka must have done that in the past before. That she could pilot Genbu meant she had an affinity with the Four Sacred Beasts, which Naomasa had bet happened at the Armada Battle.

She didn’t know if that bet had been correct.

But Hachisuka had reacted.

She had responded to the charge powered by the wings’ acceleration.

Hachisuka knew what Naomasa could do. Which meant Naomasa’s advantages wouldn’t work on her.

It was unavoidable. Hachisuka had already experienced it all once. Naomasa just had to accept it. So she came up with two tactics. The first was simple.

…Use moves I haven’t used in this battle yet.

The second was also simple.

…Use moves I haven’t used in any of my past battles.

She had to understand the difference between the two as she fought. And one thing mattered most of all.

“Be stubborn!”

She tapped on Suzaku’s mask and used that as a signal to move in.

She advanced.

She charged in with her left shoulder to escape below the gravity cannon on the right arm that Genbu swung in as a counterattack.

The vibration split the tips of the flight device’s main wings. Metallic sounds burst out and a few warning sign frames popped up, but she ignored them. She moved in below Genbu’s swung arm.

She had the momentum of her acceleration. And she realized Genbu’s upper arm was pursuing her with great speed and had begun to swing back.

She sensed danger.

Genbu was making a rapid turn using the gravity cannon’s recoil.

Next, it would likely use the momentum of that turn to hit her with the left arm’s gravity cannon.

Her best option was to evade using the wings on her back.

That would best make use of Suzaku’s ability to fly. But…

…She’ll be making a rapid turn after predicting exactly that!

Naomasa couldn’t tell, but Hachisuka could. She knew that left gravity cannon would hit with her upcoming acceleration.

So Naomasa decided to use her advantage, but to also not use it.

“Suzaku!”

She raised her voice and voiced the countermeasure. She didn’t need to rush. Because she had already made this decision.

“Make a full-power braking turn while accelerating!”

●

Naomasa’s choice was a simple one.

They were currently accelerating.

But that had been predicted and she would be hit if she kept on like this.

That was quite plausible since her opponent knew what she could do.

So she had prepared a method that Hachisuka had never seen. That was…

…A braking turn where I accelerate and brake simultaneously!

She could stop accelerating. But she couldn’t stop right away. And even if she did stop, she would still be in the path of Genbu’s left arm. She would be hit regardless. So…

“Suzaku! Drop your left knee!” she shouted.

She had one thing to do.

…Use my acceleration to jam the armor into the deck to brake me as I turn!

This wasn’t stopping and it wasn’t accelerating.

While crouching and jamming the left leg armor into the deck to negate her acceleration, she used that momentum to circle behind Genbu’s turn.

The deck-tearing turn was made with the left leg jamming its shin armor into the floor. The axis of rotation was the right foots’ heel, which she planted behind Genbu’s turn with the force of an axe kick.

This would normally cause a rapid stop that made her topple over.

But she lowered her hips to remain upright.

Her acceleration tore into the deck and slid her around.

This was only possible because Suzaku’s leg was a Satomi product. Suzaku’s original leg had the talon-like toes needed to grip the deck, but the heel had a simpler design. Satomi gods of war were designed for wielding swords, so their heels were made to stab into the ground. And while Suzaku had lacked shin armor, this leg had solid armor there, which was more than enough to provide braking.

So she made her turn.

Her rapid spin that resembled a horizontal kick left a scorched gouge in the deck and the left shin was sending an overheat warning message.

But she had made the turn.

…Now I’m behind Genbu on the right!

Her goal was to circle behind, so she had instantly given Suzaku the necessary actions. She pressed the outthrust foot’s heel into the deck to brake and turned around with a quick, compact movement.

The shin armor sliding and the quick turn around were not something she ever done before. Before, she had made large maneuvers that used her wings, letting her speed do the heavy lifting.

…How about that!?

She stood back up while having Suzaku grab Genbu’s arm. She had it tangle its arm around the shoulder joint and then did one more thing. It was a move she had never before used in battle.

“A jumping rotating cross armlock followed by pulling her down!”

●

Koroku saw what her opponent did.

She didn’t grab Koroku’s hand or wrist and throw her. Nor did she jump at her and lock both arms behind her back like she had with Byakko.

She jumped at her and did a rotating cross armlock.

It was simple, but it placed all her weight on one of her opponent’s arms, knocking them off balance. After grabbing an arm, she held her opponent’s shoulder between her legs and then rotated her body backwards. While locking and breaking the arm, it also slammed her opponent to the floor.

And here it came. Suzaku spread only its right wing to accelerate.

…Time for the rotation!

Koroku’s arm was caught. If this worked, Genbu’s shoulder joint would be destroyed no matter how sturdy it was.

A joint lock wasn’t something that could be distributed across the armor.

And just as she wondered what she should do about it, Suzaku flapped its wing. Producing a blast of pressure with just its right wing, it began the motion that would break her arm and slam her back-first into the floor.

“Kh!”

Well played, she thought just before she took action too.

She used a short jump to rotate Genbu in the same direction as Suzaku.

●

…That’s insane!

Konishi sensed the odd smile on the corners of her lips as she used an observation spell to record “The God of War Showdown of Yamazaki!”

She was referring to both Suzaku and Genbu. She knew you could operate a god of war using substitutions, but as slim as Genbu’s main body was, it was still a heavyweight. It had to weigh a lot.

But that heavyweight had performed a backflip to match Suzaku’s full-weight twisting.

It was crazy.

Heavyweight gods of war were built with frames capable of enduring their weight. That was what made them so sturdy, and their joints tended to be semisolid or made to reinforce or solidify the interior when necessary. They tended to be made for ground combat because they were heavy and because they couldn’t move as freely.

And this one had performed a backflip.

That it could withstand the weight was understandable. But this had to apply an incredible burden to the spine and the hip joints that needed to be more flexible.

But it had done it.

Had it managed it with such perfect synchronization because they were originally sisters? The younger sister was effectively the older one now, but…

“She actually escaped Suzaku’s move.”

After its rotational force lost its target, Suzaku attempted a quick getaway.

With a swing of its raised wing, it let go of Genbu’s right arm and moved to land.

But Genbu wouldn’t let it escape. Genbu’s expanded armor distributed the impact of landing from its flip and the armor began to regather while the black god of war at the center made its move.

Suzaku still hadn’t managed to land when Genbu struck with its left Excessive Jab.

●

Naomasa shouted and raised her prosthetic arm.

“Suzaku! Repel it with your right arm!!”

Suzaku reacted before she had even finished speaking. That proved it was becoming more autonomous. Eventually, it would regain consciousness like Hachisuka before them. But for now…

“Purge right arm!”

She chose a certain tactic.

She would deflect as much as possible of Genbu’s gravity cannon blast with the right arm. And with that blast directed outwards, she would purge the right arm to avoid taking secondary damage from the gravity attack.

It was too late.

…It took the brunt of it!

The right arm was torn apart and a spiraling strike seemed to pierce through its center.

In an instant, the damage reached the base of Suzaku’s right shoulder. The metal was bent, tearing sounds came from the artificial muscles, and ether light sprayed from the circulation system.

Suzaku was being destroyed.

By the time the purge command reached Suzaku, the bending had reached the torso’s shoulder frame. The arm separated from the body, but the damage caused it to catch and it didn’t fall. It took the shaking of landing for the wreckage that had been the joint to scatter its components and fall to the deck.

And while she stood up on the deck with her body shaking…

“–––––”

Genbu sent out a gravity attack with its right arm.

With perfect timing.

●

This is the end, thought Koroku.

This would be the end for Suzaku. It would end her sister’s active role in Musashi’s fight and it would end Koroku’s role.

She agreed with the others concerning the Genesis Project, but she hadn’t been all that involved in its progress. As long as she knew the version of herself in Suzaku was safe, she could go around kicking ass at the most famous arcades around the Far East until it was time to activate the Genesis Project. She deserved it after accomplishing this.

…This is the end.

She sent out her right arm’s power. Her sister sent out Suzaku’s left arm. Was she trying to resist?

No, that wasn’t Suzaku’s arm. A Satomi god of war arm had been forcibly attached there.

Koroku was impressed her sister had fought so well using that, but…

“…Huh?”

Something familiar appeared on the outer edge of that arm.

A Suzaku OS sign frame. That vermilion sign frame had saved her countless times back when she had been combined with Suzaku.

…But what is it doing in a Satomi god of war arm!?

●

For Naomasa, it had been a gamble.

She had learned during the Kantou Liberation that the Satomi god of war’s flight system had been based on a design likely originally meant for Suzaku. So after an inspection and examination, she concluded the power system was left more to the machine but the basic structure of the limbs and such was more or less the same.

That meant they could share parts. By applying a hub to the connector and using an additional OS to manage each joint, they did work much like moving a prosthetic limb. That was what allowed her to take part in this battle.

But she had wanted to test something using that system.

Suzaku’s OS would likely need to make adjustments bordering on a full reboot when the limbs were first attached. And then she wanted to test out…

…The “acceleration” attack Suzaku used against Byakko during our battle at Kyou.

Suzaku’s strike had carried a power with it.

She thought the power Suzaku’s OS controlled was acceleration. So that had to be what was carried by Suzaku’s strike then, but Suzaku’s arm hadn’t been designed for combat. It hadn’t survived the impact and destroyed itself. However…

“This arm is designed for combat. So go ahead and show it off, Suzaku!”

During the Armada Battle, Suzaku had been hit by Byakko’s ultra vibration destruction cannon. That had established a link with Byakko’s OS, which had activated Suzaku’s OS.

This was the same. Suzaku’s right arm had taken Genbu’s attack and that attack had reached the main body’s frame.

Suzaku was slow to boot up and incomplete, but with this contact with a new fellow Sacred Beast…

“Wake up!”

Just as she shouted, light burst out.

She looked up to see more and more vermilion sign frames appearing outside Suzaku’s left arm.

“…!”

Everything exploded in a wave running from elbow to wrist.

The power burst out, taking the Satomi arm with it.

●

What? thought Koroku.

An attack had crashed into her right arm’s Excessive Jab.

A physical object would have been destroyed by Excessive Jab.

A gravity, ether, or spell attack would have been overpowered by Excessive Jab’s ether output and still been destroyed.

But that process was too slow.

Suzaku’s left arm ruptured from elbow to fist.

Not even the Satomi god of war arm could withstand the power of Suzaku’s OS passing through the ether conduits within it.

But the power still made it through without bursting out and it reached Koroku.

She didn’t know what kind of power it was. But when her Excessive Jab struck it head on…

“It pierced through!?”

That was exactly what happened. Something crashed into the wall of gravity formed by Excessive Jab, pierced through the center, and continued on toward her elbow.

By the time she thought “uh, oh”, it was already over.

Light exploded and crashed into her. The light was ether light. Her instincts told her what this impact actually was.

…Speed!!

●

It wasn’t gravity. It wasn’t a shock. It wasn’t an explosion.

Koroku knew Suzaku used the power of acceleration.

And just now she had seen an unfamiliar attack by Suzaku that still used Suzaku’s basic trait.

…Did it turn speed into a shell and launch that from its hand!?

She didn’t know how accurate that description was, but that summed up what had happened.

It wasn’t a physical thing. This “speed” could accomplish all that using ether.

That one point of motion turned all else into “stagnation”.

Koroku’s attack had no “speed”, like walking down a motionless path, so Suzaku’s “speed” had passed it by and continued on.

The result was a penetrating ether attack that ignored the physical laws.

It was a “speed’ shockwave formed from the borderline between positive speed and zero speed. That wall created by the gap in physical phenomena propagated through the zero speed space and became a destructive force. Most likely, the only way to divert the attack would be to use an equivalent ether phenomenon or with a defense spell powered by a massive amount of ether.

Excessive Jab was a close-range attack, so it had a fairly low power output. Even so, she had thought it would be enough against a god of war or warship, but Genbu’s right arm had been torn away.

Like being stabbed by a giant beak, the arm was split and torn apart from hand to elbow.

The attack pierced right through. And Genbu was knocked into the air starting with the left arm.

“–––––”

The next thing Koroku knew, she was looking at the sky.

Armless Suzaku was looking down at her from the edge of the deck.

Her sister stood on its shoulder. But Koroku was only falling and looking back up.

“Damn!”

She didn’t think she had lost. She had taken less damage. Including the self-inflicted damage, most of Suzaku’s wings were destroyed and it had to be struggling to even stay standing.

“This isn’t over!!” she shouted, checking the lernen figur report saying the Azuchi had dispatched a transport ship to collect her below. “I will settle this eventually!”

●

“Probably so,” muttered Naomasa.

She had Suzaku sit on the Musashi’s outermost edge, which continued to shake from the turn, while she sat on its shoulder.

Her kiseru had vanished from her skirt pocket at some point. Had she lost it when turning or when being flung around? She wasn’t sure.

Not that it matters. I can buy another one at the shop, she grumbled to herself with a sigh.

“Yu.”

She spoke to both and neither versions of her sister in the two gods of war.

She hung her head as if dropping it between her shoulders where she sat.

“Siblings are always going to fight again. That’s just how it works.”

●

A sign frame informed Mitotsudaira that the 6th Special Duty Officer had not so much won her battle as successfully repelled the enemy.

That would leave her and Futayo as the only officers still battling on the Musashi.

And she had been in a troublesome situation for a while now. She was dueling Kasuya, who had to be finding this just as troublesome.

…Neither one of us can catch the other.

Because of their bursts of speed.

That movement technique gave you an edge because it was so fast. But that assumed your opponent moved at an ordinary speed. Just like when she had fought her mother, it grew exceedingly difficult to catch each other when both sides had the same technique.

At this point, it was more like a dogfight. When their speeds collided, the relative speed would cause enough damage to end it all at once.

At the same time, Kasuya’s Argent Clous were a threat. She was using them in the three claw form, which had to allow for the greatest speed, but their unexpected size forced Mitotsudaira to focus on evasion, and…

“They function as shields.”

“Testament, it is a close-range weapon.”

Her mother would use her silver cross as an obstacle against the enemy and Mitotsudaira would wrap the silver chains around her arms for defense. That seemed to just be how these things worked, so seeing how Argent Clou provided offense and defense…

“Those really did come from mother’s shed?”

“Yes, so I was told. Apparently great mother combined the other silver gear to create them.”

…That would include my silver chains too.

Mitotsudaira considered this as she pursued and was pursued by Kasuya.

She had learned during the Kantou Liberation that they had different stride lengths and that differences in their build created a difference in their bursts of speed.

Kasuya took longer to leave and enter her bursts of speed.

Because of her chest.

That seemed like yet another reason you couldn’t ignore anatomy, but her mother could manage it without any delay, so maybe pure brute strength was ultimately what mattered.

Regardless, they had reached a point where it was hard to tell who was pursuing who.

She felt some mild exhaustion, but she had strengthened her stamina since IZUMO. She hadn’t been in the lead group that cornered their homeroom teacher during the summer break exam for no reason.

She could handle this.

She pursued while making slight adjustments to the distance and angle.

“…!!”

Realizing Mitotsudaira was closing in, Kasuya released her silver claws with a short jab of an arm pulled back to the shoulder.

Mitotsudaira responded by making a jump to circle around on the outside.

…Oh.

She saw Kasuya do something. She used a burst of speed, but she jumped to take an extra-long step.

●

…I can do this.

Kasuya trusted her own abilities. Accelerating and using a burst of speed to step forward was something she had done during her charge at Shizugatake too. But that had been against a large, unmoving group. She hadn’t done it fast enough to take up a position against a moving target like this.

She did it here.

That was thanks to her training at Aki.

These bursts of speed had come in handy as a way of not being crushed and enduring the reaction when battling large dragons.

The only way to endure the full weight of a dragon was to launch herself forward to send the full force into the dragon.

When she pulled that off, she could smash even a dragon’s jaw.

So what if she used that against a moving target or a humanoid opponent?

She had trained against moving targets whenever she could, so she could generally manage it. She wasn’t so certain about a humanoid opponent. Using an anti-dragon technique against a humanoid opponent would mean she viewed them as equivalent to a dragon.

But, she thought.

How powerful was her mother?

Checking her combat records would show the answer. She was an official member of the Far East’s Chancellor’s Officers. Even her battle against Kasuya during the Keichou Campaign had been recorded as a “no contest”.

Kasuya had to defeat her mother here. But did her mother rival a dragon? No, she knew this was a dangerous line of thinking because it arrogantly assumed she was stronger. But…

“–––––”

A memory of the past came back to her.

A memory of the morning when their mothers had disappeared.

●

Kasuya remembered what had happened the night before.

They had all celebrated a group birthday and demonstrated a skill. She had of course demonstrated her bursts of speed and her beast transformation. That night, she and her mother had used their acceleration to dance together.

It had been so much fun she had wished that night would never end.

“Mother.”

It was time again. She put some distance between them and timed her steps to her mother’s.

“Can you dance?”

●

Something just changed, judged Mitotsudaira about her and her king’s daughter.

The girl no longer seemed to be searching for a way to fight. It felt like she had decided what she would do.

Mitotsudaira knew what Kasuya meant by dancing. They had been pursuing each other so far, but during her high-speed battle with her mother, their movements had been aligned in a way that could only be described as a dance.

Was Kasuya asking her to do that? But when had Kasuya done that before? While considering that question, Mitotsudaira realized it must have been in Kasuya’s former era.

She knew what Kasuya was saying.

“It’s been since Avalon, hasn’t it?”

Kasuya’s eyes widened. They stood below the night here. The ether light scattering in the sky, the artillery rumbling like distant thunder, and the inertia of the turning ship made it quite a busy night, but…

“Testament. I am glad that did not turn out to be the last time.”

“Is that what you are trying to protect?”

But Kasuya shook her head.

“Even without Avalon, I think we would have spent that kind of time together if the Apocalypse didn’t happen.”

“I see.” Mitotsudaira nodded. And, “I intend to purify us, you, and everything else in some other, still-unseen way.”

“My former mother tried to do the same thing and failed, you know?”

“I have only one answer to that: I will do a better job next time,” she said before continuing. “And that next time is now. Thanks to all of you.”

“This is just like you.”

Mitotsudaira sensed that her future self had been greatly influenced by her king. So…

“Here I go.”

“Likewise.’

They shot forward at the same time. Mitotsudaira carve out her path and Kasuya weaved together long and short bursts.

They danced.

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