City Series:Volume8A

Characters

Name: Aoe Shouzou

Style: Critical Forcer

Extension: ASB Word Race (High Speed Action Resistance)

Story: Truly Might?

Former North Kantou Chancellor and student of Martial Arts Master Kobayashi Ungyou. Currently GASAS Team 4 Commander.

Pursuing Algo, an older apprentice who killed their master and kidnapped the Mind Lives of that master’s adoptive daughter Alternative.

Bothers him that he killed someone in the past and was separated from Yuo. An athlete through and through.

Name: Yuo Natas

Style: Program Master

Extension: WAV Word Race (Vocal Buffs)

Story: Amnesia Girl

A long-lived girl who became one of DT’s 13 Demigods of the 9 Families (an immortal) during the 1st Godtact Experiment and lost her memories during the 2nd Godtact Experiment. Fairly easygoing.

She transferred to a Japanese school in search of her memories and joined Aoe’s Chancellor’s Officers, but she regrets not saying anything to Aoe before leaving Japan.

She currently works as a programmer using a voice interface due to her excellent singing abilities as a long-lived.

◀High Performance Form

How to Play

Load Emblem

Loading is a technique by which you summon your own Lives data into DT and gather power in the PC Body used within DT.

Text over image: Is it really that easy!?

• Grandload = 100% Summon.

Emblem Pattern is fully activated.

Removes the various limiters.

• Download = 50% Summon.

Emblem Pattern appears.

• Ordinary Mode = 0% Summon.

In this mode, you move using the subprogram provided by DT.

Telyb: DT gives you an intense speed boost when you’re virtualized, so your actual Lives couldn’t survive the heat consumption.

That’s why your Lives data is store in a central layer when you enter the city. The PC Body created from that is a false body that you resonance control using a subprogram provided by the DT OS.

Loading temporarily summons your Lives into DT when you need to do something beyond the subprogram’s abilities.

Plus & Minus. Concepts known among the people involved in the virtual world.

Plus (Life, Reality, Harmony)

The power to perceive the truth in reality.

Minus (Death, Fiction, Noise)

The power to perceive the truth in fiction.

Everyone has the powers of reality and fiction, plus and minus, life and death, harmony and noise, but people who have far more of one side over the other are known as Plus Elites and Minus Elites.

■Fooblicky

Board & Sight

Board Mode and Sight Mode are the two ways of perceiving the world in DT.

Board Mode: Hearing, vision, and other sensory programs are displayed as text.

Sight Mode: Sensory programs are constantly running to display everything just like the real world.

Fooblicky: Board Mode is a high-speed chat mode where generally only conversations and thoughts are displayed. This only reduces the amount of data being received compared to Sight Moe, so the world is still in motion around you even though you can only see the text.

Sight Mode is a mode where everything is displayed just like it is in the real world. The only problem is that it eats up energy fast.

World

Emblem Pattern

DT’s OS has given everyone an emblem to match their personality as a medium for their summoned Lives when using a Download or Grandload.

• Aoe’s Emblem Pattern: Black Belt

Summons the Lives of his arms. Removes the upper limit on his striking power.

• Yuo’s Emblem Pattern: Wish Bringer

Summons the Lives of her speech organs. Removes the upper limit to her voice.

• Algo and Alternative’s Joint Emblem Pattern: Sudden Strike

Summons the Lives of their arms and sensory ability. Removes the upper limit on their precision high-speed strikes.

• Telyb and Fooblicky’s Joint Emblem Pattern: Balance of Power

Summons the Lives of their strength and focus. Removes the upper limit on their precision decisiveness.

DT Map

After virtualization, the data was rearranged to surround the city in an endlessly looping region of water. By throwing out its old form as an industrial city, you could call this New DT.

Top red dot: Royal Palace

Upper right red dot: Yard HQ

Middle red dot: Amusement Park – White Castle

Bottom left red dot: South Park

Bottom red dot: Babel

Yuo: DT was virtually locked down by the Word Bomb detonation in ’45. It was opened back up afterwards, but the residents abandoned the city.

Then researchers limited the virtual boosting to only 100x and it was rebuilt as an experimental city for summoning a great god. The old industrial city, a symbol of the Plus, was removed and it was remade into the kind of medieval place seen in video games.

That is why DT is now known as a false city.

This Month’s Newcomer!!

Mahjong City DT

Let’s keep the city’s coming!

Top left: The latest entry in the City Series is DT, a city where everything is solved with Mahjong Lives.

Fight hard! And strip when you lose! Wait, what’s going on here?

Left red text: Introducing an exciting new character!

Right red text: Don’t make a fuss when you win! Or when you lose!

Yuo: I win!

Rosetta: What do I do, Lady Beretta?

Behind Yuo’s Score: Suanko of the Beast

Bottom text:

In this game, your girlfriend betrayed you and left you in great debt, you lost your parents, your friend is trying to kill you over a misunderstanding, and you were kind of bummed out about the whole thing, so you start training in the Supersonic Fist and (snip) but that’s just how it starts.

The rules are simple. Other than the fact that you need to pray to the boss of each stage and hit them with a good “hiyah!”, it’s a stylish mahjong game that uses the standard 6 buttons and bomber-style gameplay with a focus on bullet dodging.

Only five days remain until the wedding arranged by the enemy leader, so you have that long to avenge your father and save (snip)!

Oh, and this is all a joke, so don’t take it seriously.

◀This is the new character.

Yuo Natas

One

08/31/1962 AD

The postwar reconstruction was over.

Summer was coming to an end as two people said goodbye in North Kantou.

“Kobayashi Ungyou, my twin brother. Take care of Alternative, one of my daughters. I will be abandoning my name and entering DT as a false version of myself. Because that virtual city apparently requires you to abandon your true self and become someone else.”

Two

08/31/1962 AD

He was a Lives researcher who had lost his wife to Words Warn. The daughter he handed over with an original copy of the bible was the younger of a pair of twins. She too was afflicted with Words Warn. And his twin brother was part of the Kobayashi family that had passed down the title of Martial Arts Master for generations. He possessed the strongest fist that surpassed just a deadly attack.

“You can change your name and become someone else, but your memories will remain, brother. You should have brought her sister to me as well. That regret will linger with you.”

Three

08/31/1962 DT

His daughter cried. But over something other than saying goodbye.

She cried over her uncurable Lives disease known as Words Warn and her father’s kindness.

But he placed his hand on her cheek and handed her a ring. His wife’s ring.

“Perhaps it was an unhappy thing for me and a happy thing for you that I ever laid eyes on you. So I will leave this ring with you. Give it to someone who brings you happiness.”

Four

08/31/1962 DT

He then demonstrated a technique. The summoning technique used the ideas behind Shanghai’s Summoned Shells and Japan’s Rhythms.

The Words he sang were fluid and changeable. It was the song of the Chancellor’s Officers in the port city at the foot of the mountain.

“I shall move ever forward,” he sang while summoning the technique he would be bringing to DT.

“Do not forget that every girl has someone who will come to her and take her hand once she grows up. And then everything will be better. Remember their name because that is sure to be a real name and not a false one.”

Virtual City – Detroit

1945: The US military’s Word Bomb brought in from Los Alamos detonates when the detonation Lives were being sealed within. Nothing remains in the entire DT region.

1946: Research teams sent in from England and France confirm that DT had been turned into a virtual space.

1951: The breakdown of DT begins. Support is provided by the fully neutral Switzerland.

Rescue of the DT survivors is complete.

DT is placed under Swiss control, making it permanently neutral.

1952: Growing chaos within DT is detected. It becomes an abandoned and deserted city.

1957: R&D of DT by the Three Sages begins.

DT is formatted into a virtual city.

1958: All records from this year until 1982 are sealed. This information is set to be unsealed at 3 PM of July 7, 5800 DT Internal Time.

1963: Researchers from around the world are summoned.

1977: The 1st Godtact Experiment. Ends in failure. DT partially destroyed.

12 researchers + 1 other make contact with the Great God Lives within the explosion. They are partially fused not with the city of DT but with a portion of the foundational OS. They become immortal and are known as the 13 Demigods of the 9 Families.

Reconstruction of DT begins. It becomes a dynasty city with Akalabeth Bubezleeb, leader of the 13 Demigods, as its queen.

This is all the released information until 1982.

1982: The 2nd Godtact Experiment. Ends in failure. DT partially destroyed.

Cause of the failure is unknown. Everyone in DT other than the 13 Demigods loses their memories.

Archon Suedomsa, one of the 13 Demigods, is found badly injured. Afterwards, he comes down with chronic Words Warn and withdraws from the front line.

Yuo Natas, one of the 13 Demigods, was killed in the explosion. She was resurrected from the Demigod settings.

Archon Suedomsa and Yuo Natas were both found to have lost their memories.

A prophecy was obtained from this incident. Known as the Day of the Oracle, this prophecy assured them 2000 years of prosperity.

This is all the released information regarding the 2nd Godtact Experiment.

1983: Akalabeth declared that most DT records before 1982 would be sealed. This was in the name of avoiding any disorder caused by the failure of the Godtact Experiments. The information was set to released at the time designated as the Day of the Oracle – 3 PM on July 7, 2000 DT.

Reconstruction of DT under a new order begins. The truth of the Godtact Experiments is covered up.

1985: The Questron and other things are made into Death Techno at a conference held by Akalabeth’s supporters.

1999: Babel is transferred from Japan. Instead of extracting the Great God Lives, the plan is to extract the oracles derived from them.

1945-2002 (AD 1982 = DT0 : AD2002 = DT2000)

Quote

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

“Here am I. Send me!”

“Go and tell this people,

“Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

“Be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

“Make the heart of this people calloused;

“Make their ears dull and close their eyes.

“Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,

“Understand with their hearts,

“And turn and be healed.”

“For how long, Lord?”

“Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant,

“Until the houses are left deserted

“And the fields ruined and ravaged.”

(Book of Isaiah, except from Isaiah’s Commission)

Prologue: Title

Welcome to Nosrup’s “Under Construction” Oracle Message Board!! [Japanese Version]

Site still under construction.

Please wait a while longer.

12/29/2001 AD 03:18 AM

Help Text

The 21st Century World and Japan

The world underwent several largescale turning points during the mid-20th century.

Several wars were fought from the early to middle of the century. Attack power was developed to prevent those and defensive power was developed to survive them.

But these conflicts brought cracks and fissures to the weapons and ideas the people had built up before that.

In the late 20th century, this led to the creation of dangerous technologies and more international conflicts.

Of course, technologies to support people were also created and conflicts were fought to create a new system, but the distribution of technologies capable of bringing about mass destruction began as well.

That made it possible for the world to be threatened without war even being necessary.

The biggest symbol of this would likely be Zenon City – Tokyo, which was sealed away in August 1999 after enclosing enough misfortune to destroy the world.

The power of the stars that fall on Tokyo was used to gather up misfortune from all around the world and time was stopped within Tokyo, creating a frozen space no one could enter. That effectively sealed the misfortune there.

This plan was carried out in secret, but due to the power of a certain boy, it became a looping seal with three days’ worth of time trapped within.

The incident was made public, Japan lost its capital, and the world gained enough leeway to liberate the city from that 3-day loop, so the world was faced with a certain question: can we really place all of our misfortune on someone else’s shoulders?

The West and the provisional government started in Japan were pro-liberation, but no one has found an answer to one crucial issue: What do we do about the misfortune flooding out from Tokyo once it is liberated?

Tokyo is currently under UN observation and the world is split between pro-liberation and pro-sealing factions.

Japan’s provisional government is searching the world for a means of saving Tokyo and they have made a number of different attempts there, such as their negotiations with a Swiss bank in 2000 to borrow the Death Techno stored there or their negotiations with Prague’s great library to search their underground archive.

The work toward liberating Tokyo arrived in DT at the end of 1999 when Babel was urgently transported from Osaka to DT.

Babel was built in Osaka as a 2mile-tall broadcast tower, but serious consideration was given to demolishing it as a forbidden technology. After its transfer to DT, its interior was remade into a pseudo-Tristan ley line contact device.

Its new purpose was to contact the Lives of a great god within the ley lines and receive that god’s wisdom in order to receive a hint toward the liberation of Tokyo and to find a resolution to other international problems. The world is generally peaceful despite its many problems, but you could say that is only true on the surface.

Aoe’s Past: In the Mountains of North Kantou

The air was chilly that night.

With no wind, the chill simply dropped down from the sky above.

The icy air was born above and seeped into the ground below.

The ground receiving that chill was located quite near the wintery night sky. It was a mountain ridge.

White mountains jutted into the star-studded sky.

The white of those mountains came from a thin layer of snow.

The starlight shined on that snow, accentuating its whiteness. But the whiter the whites, the blacker the night sky and the blacker the shadows cast on the white of the snow.

The white shapes were outlined by the shadows in the cold night air.

The mountaintop contained a river, a ravine, a ridge, and a forest.

The ridge was primarily composed of those two contrasting colors, but there was one other color there: scarlet light.

The light came from a cabin positioned alongside a metal tower standing tall from the ridge.

The scarlet light came from a lamp rather than electricity and it dyed the snow in its colors.

The scarlet light also contained a white and a black different from the hues of the snow and shadows.

They belonged to the two people standing there.

One young man wore white and the other black.

Their feet were buried up to the ankles in snow and they faced each other from a distance of 5 meters.

The one wearing a white jacket had his back to the cabin.

He was a foreigner. He had long blond hair and a tall, slender build.

With the cabin light behind him, he stared out ahead with his right eye green and the left one yellow.

The heterochromatic eyes viewed the young man in black.

He wore a black mountain climbing jacket and black protective clothing.

The chest of the jacket was torn open, revealing the slender body below, but that body contained plenty of strength. On the skinny face below his close-cropped black hair, two black eyes stared straight ahead.

The one in black was shorter than the one in white.

But the strength in his gaze was superior.

On the receiving end of that gaze, the young man in white rubbed his chin with his right hand. Something glistened on the middle finger.

He wore a ring with a white stone – a pearl.

His stubble made a sound like sandpaper when he rubbed it.

He opened his mouth and spoke with exasperation in his voice.

“Six years can create some strange things, Aoe-kun.”

The young man in black, Aoe, frowned at the other man’s words.

“What do you find so strange, Algo?” he asked.

“That you would ask for a rematch when you have never once defeated me, for one.” The other man shrugged. “But more than that, the fact that Yuo-kun is not by your side. After that innocent girl spent so much time searching for her memories, it really was strange that she returned to DT without a word 6 years ago. I always thought of you and her together as Chancellor and PR Chief as an inseparable pair.”

“Yuo, huh?”

Aoe clenched his teeth at the mention of that name, but then he shook his head.

When he spoke again, his expression was blank.

“You can’t threaten me using her, Algo Everquest. You criminal.”

“Criminal? Are you referring to the crime of killing our master Kobayashi Ungyou, the great martial arts master of Japan?”

“No, I mean the crime of kidnapping the Mind Lives of Sis – of Old Man Ungyou’s adoptive daughter Alternative Kobayashi. And I’m here with GASAS because killing a long-lived immortal martial arts master makes this a national problem.”

Aoe thought about the bible-loving old man they had called master and the long-lived girl he had adopted.

He also thought about the other long-lived girl who had been with him.

…I haven’t met her since that final night when I killed someone in front of Sis.

Yuo Natas Wav.

That was the name of his former underclassman, a girl with a trademark ponytail who loved to sing like so many long-lived did.

Aoe still could almost see her brown hair blowing in the wind by his side.

But he shut his eyes and shook the memory from his mind.

Then Algo spoke to him again.

“I would argue my case when it comes to our master, but it is true I have Alternative’s Mind Lives with me. But you received that letter from the hospital too, didn’t you? Modern medicine has advanced far enough to determine her Words Warn day of destruction is the summer of next year.” Algo shook his head. “So she told me she wanted to spend her final days with her father.”

“With her father?”

…But her true father has been missing for 40 years.

Aoe focused on his opponent’s limbs, trying not to get distracted.

“Have you found him?”

“Yes, I have. And I also learned that Alternative has a twin sister.”

Aoe raised his head quizzically at the word “sister”.

He gave Algo a questioning look, but Algo was not smiling.

“Looks like that one is news to you. Let me be clear, her father and sister are in Virtual City – DT. A city you probably associate more with Yuo-kun, that happy-go-lucky member of the 13 Demigods.”

“You mean that fake city that had its memories sealed away 20 years ago.”

“Correct. Entering the city requires a virtual body, so everyone must change their name and live there as a fake. And, as you said, its memories were sealed away 20 years ago when they failed to summon a great god.”

Algo shifted to the side a bit.

That gave Aoe a better view of the cabin behind him.

The open door did not reveal mountain-climbing gear or everyday necessities.

The cabin contained a giant doll torso.

Even with its head and limbs removed, it was about 2 yards tall. That was an average Light Barrel torso.

“A mountain-equipped Light Barrel,” muttered Aoe under his breath.

The Study used to Write Bring into it was sitting open and a bundle of black and red cords emerged from there. Aoe couldn’t see very well from his position, but he could guess what was further inside the cabin.

“A virtual device.”

Aoe looked to the cabin’s roof out of the corner of his eye. A thick wooden pillar stood up past the valley side of the roof.

That was used to support a few power lines stretching out into the sky.

The power lines crossed the cliff and arrived at the metal tower on the other slope.

But Aoe’s eyes focused on one cord in particular.

The thin plus line connected to the large plus line at the bottom of the tower.

His expression changed when he noticed the stem rising from the plus line – from confusion to the surprise of an answer.

“Are you planning to break yourself down into Live Data using the Write Bring device and then cross the Pacific plus line!?”

“Yes. Now do you see why I was staying here? I was fortunate you GASAS fools decided to attack without taking a closer look first.”

“Then you’re going to-”

“Yes, just like I said earlier. I am going to the city of Babel, the tower of divine wisdom. To the city that lost all of its memories in exchange for prosperity. To Virtual City – DT.”

A breath.

“I am going there with Alternative.”

“Why does Sis need to go with you!?” shouted Aoe. “The advanced speed of DT’s virtualization has made it a destination for anyone who needs to stretch out time: criminals with exceedingly long sentences, the terminally ill, and researchers. As a Words Warn patient, she only needs to check her Mind Lives into the hospital there in order to meet her father!”

“Checking in with only her Mind Lives would put her in quarantine. Then her father could not stay by her side. …Her father also has Words Warn and another illness as well. Healing that will likely take until July of next year.” Algo looked away from the cabin and turned around. “And it seems healing her father is a job only I can do.”

“Why? You aren’t a doctor.”

“Some illnesses can only be healed by hacking into DT. Like artificial diseases that cannot be broken by legal residents who are restricted by the OS properties. I will abandon my life in the Plus World we call reality, enter DT, heal him, and…”

He looked down toward Aoe and stated a goal that no one had ever accomplished before.

“Eliminate the incurable disease of Words Warn.”

“That’s absurd. Is this entire mess so you can achieve that pipedream of yours?”

“Yes, it is. I had to gather all the necessary pieces.”

Aoe considered the three pieces: killing their master to inherit the immortality of a martial arts master, finding Alternative’s father, and going to DT.

…What does he hope to do with those three pieces? And what was that he just mentioned?”

“The Plus World we call reality?”

He had never heard that term before. He thought about it, but he couldn’t find an answer. He had too little data.

But there was an easier solution than thinking in this case.

He clenched his fists.

The straining of leather came from the inside of his armbands.

At the same time, Algo’s emotionless voice dropped to the ground.

“Aoe-kun, when you left us 6 years ago, you told me to seek out the ultimate Kobayashi technique and then you abandoned the killer fist to join GASAS.”

“I’m sure you have the killer fist yourself by now. How could you stoop to killing when you’re already guaranteed to be the strongest?” Aoe fully sat down. “That killer fist is pathetic.”

Steam rose from the snow below Aoe. Algo commented on that steam.

“Have you given up? Are you going to drop out of the Plus World and all of its killing?”

The term “drop out” acted as the trigger.

Aoe sprang up on reflex, like he had to deny Algo’s use of the word.

“–––––!”

Instead of using the crouching leap to gain height, he used it to propel himself forward.

He was about 5m from Algo.

He covered that distance with his quick leap, his raised left knee out front.

His toes flew straight toward Algo’s throat.

Algo avoided the jabbing kick by leaning backwards.

The movement only covered 3cm, but the kick still found only air.

Algo viewed Aoe’s kick attempting to stretch toward his chin.

In that instant, Aoe moved the foot of his pivot leg.

The heel had been pointed backwards, but now he twisted it forwards.

He stood on his toe and spun the heel around to the front.

That gave him one foot’s worth more reach.

His kick extended by 3cm.

Now he could reach.

Algo moved his hand in response.

He had held his left hand out front at a diagonal angle and now he moved it to scoop up Aoe’s ankle from below.

He meant to grab the ankle bone and get a lock on the joint.

So Aoe responded before he could. He grabbed the thigh of his kicking left leg from below.

“Mh!”

With a burst of breath, he tilted his body to the right to throw his own left leg clockwise.

Then he made a side flip away from Algo.

Instead of a light gymnastics move, this was a low, quick whirlwind of a rotation.

Algo sent a kick toward flipping Aoe.

His right foot flew out, aiming for Aoe’s head while he was flipped upside down.

“Mh.”

Aoe swung his right fist in midair.

His fist struck the snowy ground before Algo’s axe-like kick could hit him.

The snow scattered and Aoe’s flip accelerated. Algo’s kick grazed Aoe’s short hair but otherwise found only air.

Aoe’s feet landed sharply back on the snow.

Then he made another side flip to put more distance between him and Algo.

He took a fighting stance the instant he landed and released a rough breath from his lungs.

There were 5m between them once more.

But the side flips had shifted Aoe’s position such that he now had his back to a ravine.

A strong wind blew up from the ravine.

Algo snorted in laughter with his long blond hair blowing in the wind.

“Such a cold wind,” he said. “Do you know why the wind is so cold, Aoe-kun?”

“Mh,” groaned Aoe with a frown.

The look in his eyes said he didn’t find this the time for such questions.

Algo must have understood because he put a hand on his chin and nodded.

“From that, I take it you don’t know what it means to be the strongest.”

“The strongest? What does that have to do with the wind?”

“Do not jump to conclusions. Because I imagine you are starting from the very beginning on this topic.”

Algo took a breath, pulled a small leather-bound book from his pocket, and showed its off to Aoe.

“That is the original bible Old Man Ungyou owned.”

“Indeed,” said Algo before reciting a passage from that book.

Let there be light. And there was light. God saw that the light was good.

God separated the light from the darkness. He called the light “day” and he called the darkness “night”.

“Do you get it now? Everything belongs to one of two poles: the Plus and the Minus.”

Aoe tilted his head at this.

“Why do you keep talking about Plus and Minus? What does it mean?”

Algo put the bible back in his pocket.

“It is a concept spoken of in DT,” he began. “The Plus is to find truth in reality and to work toward mutual improvement.”

He took a breath.

“The Minus is to find truth in fiction and to kill your opponent.”

“Are you going to DT so that you can give into the fiction you call the Minus? You were supposed to seek out the strongest power in my place because I strayed by killing someone.”

“Make no mistake here, Aoe-kun. I have already obtained the strongest power.”

Algo’s claim shocked Aoe and Algo nodded.

“Yes, what is the strongest power? I have found an answer to that question. It is admittedly a partial answer since it is only the strongest power of the Minus World, but I learned it from Master Ungyou who was the strongest of the Plus World. And I know you want to know what it is.” Algo spoke calmly. “Defensive power can be used to protect, but our power as martial artists can only be used to fight. Ours is an offensive power with killing as its ultimate goal.”

“Yes, which is why Old Man Ungyou said there was a power that surpassed killing.” Aoe spat out the words, keeping his eyes on Algo. “He said there is an absolute power that could be called the strongest fist. He never did show me what it was, though.”

Algo’s initial reaction was to shrug.

“Aoe-kun, you are clearly a Plus person who believes in reality. And Master Ungyou was the same. That is why he couldn’t show you that strongest power. But I think in the Minus way, so he could show me what it is. However,” continued Algo. “He never told me what it is. The answer is not something that can be explained with words.”

A question mark formed in Aoe’s mind while Algo crouched down.

Algo moved his left hand forward and his right hand back.

“If I had to explain it, I would say it is an interaction of the Plus and the Minus. Killing powers and the strongest power are both equations written with the plus and the minus.”

Aoe did not know what Algo was talking about, so he gave a snort and prepared to fight.

Algo opened the left hand he was holding forward and raised the fingers.

He moved that hand lightly, beckoning Aoe forward.

“Come. This is the one and only way to reach the answer. I will teach you one of the rules of martial arts.”

Aoe did not reply verbally, but he did pull his right fist back at eye level.

He kept that pose while lowering his hips and taking in a breath.

He tensed his right fist and his right wrist before relaxing both.

Then he tensed his right arm and his right shoulder before relaxing both.

He repeated the tensing and relaxing process in his chest, back, hips, butt, thighs, knees, shins, ankles, and big toes. He tensed his body to straighten out its lines and then he relaxed them to allow himself new movement from that corrected posture.

The arm raising his fist and the foot on the ground behind him formed a single straight line.

After confirming that, he slowly released his breath and spoke a single phrase.

“I shall move ever forward.”

Algo looked up when he heard that line.

“This I didn’t expect. The song of the Chancellor’s Officers League?”

Aoe did not reply. He kept his stance firm and silently sang the song to help himself concentrate on building his strength.

––I shall move ever forward.

I shall move forward to accomplish something or to solve a problem.

No matter the strength or speed of my foe. No matter the destiny carried by my foe.

I shall move ever forward.

My hands shall tear down my foe’s every barrier and my feet shall trample their every trap.

I wield the defensive power to block any wind. I wield the offensive power to tear through any wall.

My power is a manifestation of my will.

My Lives carry all this power with them.

They carry the power of my hands, legs, head, and even the minute power of the tip of my toe.

I shall draw on all that power and surround myself in my own willpower.

I can fight.

I can fight.

So I shall move ever forward.

To accomplish something or to solve a problem.

That is why I sing this marching song of progress.

Any goal is achievable if you never give up.

He hummed the tune and spoke aloud for the final line.

He made his move immediately afterwards.

“…!!”

He ran forward.

He used the foot planted behind him to launch himself forward.

His 175cm body leaped through the air.

He tensed his body in the opposite order from before – starting with his toes and ending with his fist.

His toes, his ankles, his shins, his thighs, his butt, his hips, his back, his chest, his right shoulder, his right arm, and his right wrist.

Every part of his body sent its strength forward while he clenched his right fist.

All the strength of his body was concentrated there.

A single straight line connected his swinging fist, his extended body, and his toes.

That line was a sharp one. The leading edge of the force was on the middle finger bone of his right fist.

All of his speed and weight were placed on that small part of his fist.

Algo responded with a slight smile.

“Is that your killer technique?” he muttered. “Yes, you kill by pouring on more strength than your opponent. You outdo their strength and turn it to the Minus side, killing them.”

He did not dodge.

He swung his outstretched left fist to meet Aoe’s fist.

He used a punch of his own to defend.

His left arm burst with a sound like a water balloon popping.

The left sleeve of his white mountain-climbing jacket was shredded by red spray.

“Mh,” groaned Aoe as he kept his fist swinging.

His right fist destroyed Algo’s left arm and reached toward the other man’s diagonally-angled left chest.

At the same time, Algo’s right hand sent out a chop.

It was a sharp strike, but Aoe did not even consider dodging it.

He bet everything on his own fist.

He kept swinging his fist.

This all happened in mere moments.

And just as his fist was going to fully destroy Algo’s left arm, Algo raised his voice and sent out his right chop.

“But just because your strength is greater does not mean your opponent’s numbers do not exist!”

Algo’s chop did not reach Aoe’s body.

It instead jabbed into Algo’s own left shoulder that was just about to be destroyed.

With a fibrous snapping sound, Algo’s left arm flew free into the air with the still-clean shoulder of the jacket.

Aoe’s fist caught Algo’s now-separated left shoulder.

But the man beyond it was gone.

The right half of Aoe’s vision was filled by the red spray of blood.

The left half saw whipping blond hair.

His fist arrived at the extent of its reach and stopped.

The force sent back into him from his fist felt heavy.

“Kh.”

He worked to endure the reactive force that followed such a powerful attack. He clenched his teeth and focused his willpower.

But he saw green and yellow – the color of two eyes.

Those eyes belonged to Algo, whose left shoulder looked like it had been severed with a sharp blade. The white and pink flesh cross-section was visible and contracting. That meant Algo was breathing in. The contracting flesh revealed the bone.

He spoke quietly to not waste his inhaled breath.

“Now, I will teach you one of the rules of martial arts.”

That is…

“Any question should be answered with your fists.”

“What are-?”

Aoe tried to shout “what are you talking about”, but then Algo placed his right palm on the center of his chest.

He heard the man’s words.

“Aoe-kun, your killer strength is no more than a Plus comparison that only works when your power surpasses your opponent’s. That is not what it means to be the strongest. The strongest is an absolute power that always exists.”

The words were followed by a power that seemed to soak into his chest.

“…!?”

More than a blow, it was like a weight pushing him from his feet.

While Aoe’s fist concentrated his strength on a single point, Algo’s palm evenly distributed his strength over its entire surface.

Aoe’s chest armor was instantly shredded and intense pain filled his chest.

Then he was blasted backwards.

His limbs clawed vainly at the air. The weight of the blow wouldn’t leave him, so he couldn’t even right himself as he flew.

…Oh, no.

He felt regret but also confusion.

…Why didn’t he kill me!?

He heard a sound while his mind shouted that question.

He heard running water because he had been thrown over the edge of the ravine.

He looked up at the night sky.

He saw countless stars in that sky as it grew more distant from his fall.

Algo’s raised voice reached him from that starry sky.

“Pursue me. Drop out of the Plus World for the killing you committed. Then you will find all the answers in DT on the Day of the Oracle. Your questions, your pathetic fists, and Yuo-kun who left you for DT can all be found once you abandon your place in the Plus World!”

Aoe was briefly reminded of the past as that voice faded into the distance above him.

But before he could realize what exactly from the past it reminded him of, he hit the river below. His last thought was that the memory was not an unpleasant one.

He fell into the water.

When Aoe opened his eyes next, he saw light.

“Mh,” he groaned as his vision took in the blue of the clear sky. He was lying face up on the riverbank.

He could feel countless stones at his back. They felt more ticklish than painful.

He saw his right hand reaching toward the sky with fingers spread wide.

He smiled bitterly at how tense that hand was. He breathed a visible breath into the sky and then sat up.

The frozen footprints on the riverbank told him he had managed to crawl out of the river before passing out.

“Good, I can still move my fingers.”

He was starting to develop frostbite, but after crossing his arms inside his protective clothing for a bit, he could move them with some trembling.

The majority of the pain came from his front side. He could see his torn armor and frozen blood.

The pain extended from the left of his chest to the right of his stomach. A wound had been torn there.

He stood up, applied first aid to stop the bleeding, and rested before setting out.

By the time he climbed from the river back up to the ridge, the sun was high in the sky.

The sun reflecting off the snow increased the air temperature. He dumped snow on his head to cool it and kept climbing the mountain.

He arrived at the cabin’s location before long.

There was quite a lot of dark red blood on the snow covering the ground.

But there was one major change from last night: the cabin was gone.

Only a pile of charred pillars remained. The building had been burned down by an incendiary explosive.

“Was that to cover up the evidence?”

Aoe approached the remnants of the cabin that were still smoldering and sending blue smoke up into the sky.

He felt a scorching heat, but he didn’t let that stop him. He walked through the heat and grabbed a charred pillar.

His snow-wet hand made a sizzling sound from the heat, but he did not bat an eye as he knocked it down.

He grabbed the next pillar and did the same. He repeated the process again and again and again. He pulled some down with his hands and kicked some down with his feet.

A thought came unbidden while he gathered his strength in his hand to push down a pillar.

…I lost.

“Damn.”

The thought led to a voice as he threw the pillar aside. He had created a path through the pile of pillars.

“Damn!”

The wood broke, providing a glimpse of the ground.

He was breathing heavily as he clenched his burned hands into fists.

He could see the sky and he could see the mountain.

The tower on the opposite side of the ravine was to his right. He could see the plus line passing between the tower’s legs.

The cable had been connected to the cabin, but now it was severed and sparking.

He stared at the sparks, gnashing his back teeth hard enough to make a noise.

“Mh,” he groaned, wrinkling his brow. Then he grabbed the pillar next to him with his right hand.

Smoke and the sound of burning flesh came from between hand and pillar.

But he did not let go. He recalled what Algo had told him last night.

…Maybe I am a Plus person who can only trust in reality, but I couldn’t trust in my own fists when it mattered most.

“But trusting in that wouldn’t let me defeat that Minus fist that could take any of our lives.”

His right arm swelled out enough to be noticeable through his protective clothing.

Then his right hand crushed the pillar in its grip.

“What am I supposed to give up on and what am I supposed to find!?”

The pillar collapsed and he looked down at the lumber now lying at his feet.

Then his expression changed from the tense wrinkled brow to confusion.

Something had escaped the blaze and now lay on the ground at his feet.

It was a photograph.

It depicted two people. One was a girl in her mid-teens and the other was a woman in her mid-20s. The younger one’s hair was brown and the older one’s was black.

They looked like sisters and they had one point in common.

Their ears extended far to the sides. That was a unique trait of a long-lived with some human blood.

Aoe spoke quietly to the woman smiling so gently in the photo.

“Sis, I’m so very confused. But I suppose I have now dropped out of the Plus World.”

He recalled what Algo had said.

…Sis has a twin sister?

“So many questions.”

He reached his right hand down to pick up the photo, but blood dripped from his burned palm and got on the photo.

His hand stopped when he saw the red.

The blood had fallen next to the face of the girl. She was smiling while riding on the woman’s back and doing her hair. Aoe’s lips twisted downwards when he saw that expression.

“Did you find your lost memories after returning to your hometown of DT?”

He did not reach the rest of the way down.

The blood-stained and scorched photo rapidly shrank from the heat of the collapsed pillar.

After seeing the photo’s destruction, Aoe sat down on an unburned pillar and looked to the sky. He viewed the clear azure.

He spoke quietly into that endless expanse.

“Yuo.” He took a breath. “If I met you now, could you trust in my fists?”

Ikemaru Kouichi’s Word Mail: To Aoe Shouzou

To Aoe Shouzou, Team 4 Commander of the Government-Assigned Special Area Squad (GASAS).

You are commanded to pursue and capture Algo Everquest who escaped to DT using a plus line in the mountains of Nagao, North Kantou. His charges are the same as before: the killing of Kobayashi Ungyou, Japan’s holder of the martial arts master title, and the Mind Lives abduction of Alternative Kobayashi, Kobayashi Ungyou’s adopted daughter and Words Warn patient. You must capture him before word gets out that Japan’s martial arts master was killed, but you are permitted to kill or seal your target if the situation requires it. Afterwards, the UN will hold a vote to determine which of Japan’s recommendations will be the next to hold the title of martial arts master.

Your target is a fellow student of the Kobayashi school, but do not forget that the higher ups are questioning your assignment to this job after you and the rest of GASAS Team 4 were wiped out and fled.

As for Algo Everquest’s mention of “the Day of the Oracle” when you met him, a Day of the Oracle was prophesied within DT approximately 20 years ago in real time.

The prophecy occurred during the 2nd Godtact Experiment – an experiment in contacting a great god – held 20 years ago, which was 2000 years ago in DT time since it is boosted to 100 times the speed of reality. The prophecy said the Day of the Oracle would occur at precisely 3 PM 2000 years in the future.

The city of DT was half destroyed in exchange for that prophecy. All the people there lost their memories with the exception of 11 of the 13 Demigods, the people who gained immortality when they contacted the god during the 1st Godtact Experiment. I have heard the tech used for the godtact experiments has been sealed away as Death Techno, but it is predicted the Day of the Oracle is when all of DT will have its boost settings changed and all the lost records from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will be given an open release.

Since Algo Everquest mentioned the Day of the Oracle, there is a good chance he intends to involve himself in that in some way. Investigate this with your local cooperators. You will have four in all:

• DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb Dll and his wife Fooblicky Telyb Sys.

• DT Ruling Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb Sys.

• DT Yard Ensign Yuo Natas Wav.

They are all part of DT’s 13 Demigods, but the fourth one, Ensign Natas, has no real connection to this mission. But we have asked for her participation because she served as PR Chief for your Chancellor’s Officers when she went to school in Japan, because she is now the adoptive daughter of the royal family, and because you requested it.

However, this is a top secret mission, so you cannot rely on any of Japan’s excellent corporations or police organizations. For this reason, you will be given a temporary identity once you enter the city.

We considered a researcher, a Yard member, a terminal patient, or a convict, but after consideration, the first two options were eliminated as they would increase the number of people required for the deception. The third is not possible because patients are only allowed to send their Mind Lives to the city. Thus, we decided to create you an identity as a convict who was pardoned within DT and had his restrictions as a criminal removed. Your Yard connections should be restricted to only the aforementioned cooperators and you must undergo the pardoning process upon arrival.

That is all.

Virtual City – Detroit

+Plus

-Minus

Truth & Fake

If you never choose the Plus side of defense and only choose the Minus side of offense, then come to Virtual City – DT and seek the Word of God.

<wait…start

Character Making

Visiting Criminal Appearance and Registration Settings

Entrance Name: Aoe Shouzou

Entrance Pseudonym (Screenname) *Criminals must use their real names: [blank]

Poster’s Name: Ikemaru Kouichi

Relationship to Visitor: 78 – Extremely Generous Boss

Detailed Settings

Nationality: Japan – North Kantou Region

Species: Human

Age: 25

Sex: 1 – Male

Occupation *Can be a former job.

Former Japanese Government-Assigned Special Area Squad Team Commander

Family Structure: Both parents passed away – Both originally from Kansai

Purpose for Visit *Tourist visits are not permitted during the current construction of Babel: Sentenced to 4096 years for repeat dining and ditching

Abilities: Excels at the striking techniques of the Kobayashi School.

Personality: Wild and vulgar. Rude and poor.

Requested Word Race Type: 3 – High Speed Mobility Type – ASB Race

Requested PC Body Type: 1 – Same as the outside world

Requested Load Emblem Type: 18 – Type-ASB / ARM: Class-God: 700 Series Classic Type

Requested Mouse Type: 512 – Shiba Inu – Brown – Male: Autonomous type that becomes obedient under the correct circumstances.

Please write any further requests here: At his request, all language data received by him will be passed through a Japanese translation program. And any language data sent by him will use an English translation program. If anyone wishes to speak in Japanese with him, you will need to alter the settings yourself. But the accent he picked up from his parents has only gotten worse with time, so if you find him difficult to understand, make sure to apply a Kansai dialect translation program. Also, make sure his log outputs are written vertically. His idiocy and perversion can be a problem, but I can’t think of anything else to say here. Thanks for the trouble.

DT is under Swiss management.

This case is being handled by [Yuo Natas Wav] of DT Yard.

Supplied by: IAI

Chapter 1: Advertise

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!”

This is Racter Nosrup Txt, the member of the 13 Demigods who’s decided he’s gonna do a bad Kansai accent despite being American!

With the information release tomorrow at 3, I’m starting this Japanese version just for Japan since they built Babel and all.

So today’s theme is gonna be Babel.

As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

(Genesis 11:2-4)

Comments:

I’m not sure what to do -Hak

Hi, I’m a 32-year-old housewife in the south district.

The thing is, well, Babel is always casting a shadow on our district during the day. I haven’t been able to hang my laundry out to dry in the mornings for a few centuries now, so-

07/06/2000 DT 09:00 AM (-30:00)

Help Text

Visitor Introduction to DT

Welcome to DT, where we can hear the voice of god. Please keep the following rules in mind during your stay.

0: Basic Rules

0-1:

DT is the world’s first textual world that can be visualized and allows for multiple simultaneous users. It is also a high-speed city with its speed boosted 100x.

You will live here in your PC Body which was based on your Lives data. Your Lives data can be summoned when necessary, but it is normally stored at an intermediary level to reduce the heat of virtualization.

0-2:

When you are resonance controlling your PC Body, there will be feedback to your Lives, so if you injure your PC Body, your Lives will receive the same injury. Backing up your Lives data is forbidden as it would cause a resonance collapse in your existing Lives, so do be careful.

Also, to avoid bringing back any minor trouble caused by your PC Body, it is recommended you register under a pseudonym if possible.

0-3:

All records preceding the 2nd Godtact Experiment have been erased or hidden. Queen Akalabeth will release that data on July 7, 2000 DT at 3 PM to coincide with the change to the boost settings.

1: Page Rules

1-1

DT is made up of 3 concepts: Top Pages, Hidden Pages, and Word Passages.

Top Pages are areas anyone is free to enter. Word Passages are the sky, passageways, and things like that. Hidden Pages are isolated areas meant for using Board Mode.

1-2

DT can be used in a text data mode called Board Mode or a visual mode called Sight Mode.

1-3

In Board Mode, visual information can be checked through textual updates. Actions are partially automated using subprograms, so you cannot make any actions requiring precision or high speed. If those are necessary, please enter Sight Mode.

1-4

In DT, word mail, programs, and data objects can be virtually transmitted through the intermediary layer, but doing the same with real objects is banned for safety reasons.

2: Conversational Rules

In Board Mode, speech is enclosed in quotation marks. If thoughts are pushed to the surface, they will be enclosed in angle brackets. Thoughts can be displayed as word windows during Sight Mode.

3: Load Emblem Rules

3-1

When in Sight Mode, your willpower can load the Lives data of your body parts from the intermediary layer to your PC Body. This process is known as downloading. You can load 50% of your Lives data through downloading. With even more willpower, it is possible to load your full body in a Grandload.

3-2

Downloading greatly increases the consumption of virtual heat and empties your stomach, so you may be automatically placed in your high performance mode afterwards.

Any other important topics can be looked up in the help program at any time.

Aoe’s Board Mode: At DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are at DT Yard’s Top Page: Yard Captain’s Office.

The current time is 9:00 AM.

You just entered the room through the Yard’s newcomer lobby.

The large room contains a large desk. The shelves on the wall carry awards and a shield.

A single PC Body is in the room: Ogre Telyb Dll.

Aoe: “Mh?”

Aoe: <Oh?>

Aoe: “What kind of room is this? It’s nothing like the lobby. Is this a new kind of textual world?”

Telyb: “Ha ha ha. Precisely, visitor.”

Telyb: “This conversation-only mode is DT’s unique Board Mode, Aoe.”

Aoe: “Mh.”

Aoe: “There must be someone here, but where are they? I can’t see anything in this mode.”

Telyb: “Yes, I’m here. Right in front of you even.”

Telyb: “If you want to see something in Board Mode, just think ‘Over Reload’ to yourself.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb is seated across the desk from you. He is a fat middle-aged black man.

A blue avian Mouse is standing on Mr. Telyb’s desk.

A digital clock counting down to the Day of the Oracle is located on the wall above the window behind him.

Aoe: “The Day of the Oracle?”

Help: Day of the Oracle.

A prophecy was received when the 2nd Godtact Experiment failed and the Questron exploded. It was a vague prophecy simply stating that everything would “get better” after a point 2000 years in the future. The day the people of DT lost their memories in the explosion was set as July 7 of Year 0 DT in the city properties, so 2000 years later would be precisely 3 PM on July 7, 2000 DT. DT’s dynasty paid a great price for that prophecy, so to ensure it was of some use, DT’s overall boost properties will be changed on the Day of the Oracle and the DT data from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will receive an open release after previously being sealed away to prevent a panic.

Aoe: <Mh. It won’t stop talking.>

Telyb: “The terminology help program loves to show off to visitors.”

Telyb: “So how are you handling yourself in Board Mode?”

Aoe: “Hmm. It feels strange, to be honest.”

Aoe: “I rely on sensory information so much that not actually seeing things is bothersome.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The surroundings have not changed. Mr. Telyb is giving you a serious look.

Aoe: “Are things around me in motion while I talk like this?”

Telyb: “They are. You need to keep in mind that an Over Reload only gives you 2-3 seconds’ worth of data. Board Mode is for a high-speed exchange of the textual data at the foundation of DT. It isn’t meant for other uses.”

Telyb: “If you want a visual-based experience, you have to switch to Sight Mode. But I should explain Board Mode to you before you try that. Do another Over Reload.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb has stood up and is aiming a handgun your way.

Aoe: “Mh.”

Telyb: “This is the scary thing about Board Mode. I’ve been aiming this gun at you for 8 seconds now, but you didn’t notice until you Over Reloaded. If I had pulled the trigger, you would have seen a critical warning window at the same time you felt the shock and died.”

Aoe: “And if you die in the Virtual City, you die in real life? Can’t you back us up?”

Telyb: “Only if you want to trigger resonance collapse with your existing Lives. Just make sure to check on your surroundings periodically.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb has put away the handgun and is seated deep in his chair.

Telyb: “Yes, start out by keeping a close eye on things.”

Telyb: “Board Mode only shows you a limited slice of the data. Your PC Body exists even if you can’t sense it and it operates using subprograms. That allows it to move, do work, and eat, but the subprograms are inaccurate and make mistakes. They’re efficient and fast, though.”

Aoe: “The most difficult thing for me is holding a conversation without seeing the other person’s face or hearing their tone of voice.”

Telyb: “That you’ll just have to get used to. Board Mode is the primary mode of life here in DT.”

Aoe: “Isn’t that stifling?”

Telyb: “There are people who can’t keep up with this high-speed exchange of emotionless data. They’re better suited for the slow pace of the harmonious Plus World outside the city, so the high-speed noisy Minus World of DT can be overwhelming.”

Telyb: “I’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of people who neurotically Over Reload every single second watching for unseen changes in their surroundings. But on the other hand, Board Mode is fast and convenient.”

Aoe: “What if I can’t get used to this?”

Telyb: “Unfortunately, that’s the case for the majority of people. If you can’t read the rapid flow of emotionless text data and use your imagination to pick up on the emotions hidden in that text, then you’ll misunderstand the people around you, cause trouble, and claim you’re being treated unfairly. We have a word for them: dropouts.”

Telyb: “So either get used to it or find people you’re comfortable enough around that you don’t need to Over Reload. Speaking of which, you’re forgetting to do it again. What do you think my expression was when I was talking about the dropouts?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb is smiling in your direction.

Aoe: “You look amused by the term.”

Telyb: “Of course I am. I was originally a type of hacker called a phone phreak, which made me a Minus Elite. I never fit in in the outside world. It scared me how everyone assumed I was a Plus person, so they couldn’t understand me. That’s why I was so surprised when I came to DT. Here, everyone views people’s feelings and everything else in a Minus light and you’re considered the bad guy if you assume the opposite.”

Telyb: “We got used to life here pretty quick, but there are always the people who just can’t see through the noise. They’re the mainstream of the outside world. It’s those Plus Elites who end up dropping out in here.”

Telyb: “And we can only be the Elites here because the Minus extreme of stripping out all emotion causes that type to drop out. We don’t drive them out because of pride or anything. It’s this world itself that drives them out.”

Aoe: “…”

Aoe: “Did you ever think you fit in here because you’re missing something normal people have?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb claps his hands once in delight.

Telyb: “I like you, Aoe. You have the most wonderful look of disgust on your face right now, don’t you?”

Aoe: “How did you know?”

Telyb: “Because we’re Minus Elites. There’s always something off about us on the emotional, human, or moral front. But you can’t see any of that here in DT, so our imaginations have to act as a substitute. And…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb is smiling bitterly.

Telyb: “Those of us who find the outside world frightening believe in that power and praise the Minus.”

Telyb: “This virtual city full of fakes is home to people like that. If a Plus Elite tries to lie in this Minus World, they will fall to the Minus side and drop out. They can’t give up the reality of the Plus and they can’t choose the dream of the Minus.”

Aoe: “Algo said he was going to abandon the Plus and eliminate Words Warn.”

Telyb: “Whatever his reasons, he has chosen the path of the Minus Elite. But which will you choose?”

Aoe: “Well…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb’s eyebrows are raised in a bitter smile. It is a subtle smile.

Telyb: “You don’t have to agonize over the decision. Some aren’t on either side and some struggle either way. But remember this: if you can’t accept the fakes, then you are a Plus person.”

Telyb: “But you did kill someone in the Plus World. That is a Minus act.”

Aoe: “Algo said the same thing. He said I had dropped out of the Plus World.”

Telyb: “Don’t look so troubled by it. Remember what I said? Some people aren’t on either side and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whether or not it destroys you is the world’s decision.”

Telyb: “And if you aren’t on either side, it means you have more options open to you. You could choose the Plus, the Minus, or some third option. Give it some thought if you have the time.”

Telyb: “But that’s enough chitter chatter. Think ‘Sight Mode’ to change modes. That one should be a lot easier to grasp.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe felt like he had suddenly awoken from sleep and found himself standing in a room.

“That was sudden.”

It was a small room of about 5 yards in each direction. The flag of the city, discolored with time, covered the north and south walls.

The city’s symbol depicted on the flag was a white cross standing atop a blossoming flower with a giant tower in the background.

A large wooden desk with a birdcage on top was found in the center of the room placed between two copies of that image.

A man sat on the other side of the desk with a digital wall clock above the window behind him.

The middle-aged black man’s fat body was contained in a Yard uniform with an unusual number of latches.

Amicable eyes smiled below his short hair.

He leaned over the desk, offering his hand to Aoe. Aoe reached out his hand too, but…

“Mh?”

He couldn’t get his hand onto Telyb’s. Telyb smiled bitterly when he noticed.

“You still need to optimize the subprograms that move your PC Body. Probably a good time to show you what a Download looks like. A nonstandard Download Text loads half your Lives into this Minus World.”

I want to confirm my presence.

A bluish-white light briefly gathered in Telyb’s hand. It formed an emblem that used a set of scales as a symbol.

The emblem soon disappeared and a sound like shattering glass came from his hand.

Then his hand was holding Aoe’s.

Telyb smiled again.

“Welcome to DT, the Minus City where we summon a god. And welcome to DT Yard, Aoe Shouzou.”

“Nice to meet you.” / <This guy’s face looks like a takoyaki.>

When that thought came to mind, a black-framed window appeared over Aoe’s head.

Aoe viewed the window. So did Telyb. The latter frowned and shook their clasped hands.

“Sorry, but the settings don’t allow criminals to hide their thoughts or to attack.”

“To keep them from plotting, I’m sure. Sounds more effective than a truth serum.”

Aoe checked the mirror on the wall to his right and saw a cartoony Shiba Inu on his shoulder.

He saw his own short black hair and his sharp and somewhat slender face. His skinny but fit body wore a simple black tank top and white shorts. His hands and feet were covered by armored gloves and sandals.

<That’s the usual me.>

“We made your PC Body identical to your real body. I hope that wasn’t a problem.”

“I look and feel the same as usual.”

This body was actually the PC Body created when he entered the city. His actual body’s Lives were stored in the intermediary layer between DT and the outside world and controlled this body through a resonance effect. Basically, this was a false body used to live in this Minus World.

When he needed his real body, he could switch to Sight Mode and perform either a Download or a Grandload.

<I see>

Another thought window appeared over his head while he came to understand several things. Then he looked to the top of the wall.

The clock there said 29:53:54 and it was ticking down second by second.

“That’s counting down until the Day of the Oracle that Algo mentioned, isn’t it? For that festival celebrating the boost tomorrow.”

He nodded at his own words.

The word “festival” inspired him to look out the window behind Telyb.

He saw the city of DT there, but the image was weirdly blurry. Telyb noticed what he was looking at and addressed it.

“That’s what happens when you try to look past the borderline with another Page. In Sight Mode, you need to Over Zoom instead of Over Reloading.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

The view out the window grew clearer.

A main street was located directly out ahead of the Yard building and all the buildings lining it were made of stone or wood.

The road itself was made of dirt with grass on either side.

There were a lot of trees between the houses and there was a well at the center of a distant intersection between two roads.

Looking north, he saw a gray castle surrounded by fortress walls. That was the royal castle.

Flags and other things had been erected throughout the castle town, so it really did feel like the preparations for a festival.

But Aoe tilted his head while viewing it all.

“Why the medieval look? I heard this used to be a major industrial city. Doesn’t this make for a lot of extra work?”

“You know the city was virtually sealed away by the detonation of the Word Bomb during the war, right? When the people trapped there were rescued a decade or so later, they left DT in fear.”

“So the place became deserted? That doesn’t explain this old-fashioned city.”

“It wasn’t just that. When we were given this place as a testing ground for our experiments, we rebuilt it as a Minus City instead of an industrial one. We gave it a sky and a sea and we built the workshops and houses out of a false forest and false stones.”

He took a breath.

“Later on, the 2nd Godtact Experiment ended in failure and DT lost its memories just like it had lost its form and its people earlier. The data from the experiment told us the godtact would trigger a Great Godquake, so I and the rest of the 11 Demigods made a crucial decision: we would end the godtact experiments and make the best of the time we had.”

“I see. So this easygoing city was created by those godtact experiments that are now known as Death Techno.”

Aoe had heard about that incident from Yuo during their schooldays.

The godtact experiments had attempted to reach into the ley lines and extract the Great God Lives said to be the foundation of the very world.

Aoe had heard precisely three things about those experiments.

One, the 1st Godtact Experiment held in ’73 had failed and resulted in massive damage to DT. Yuo and 12 others had been partially fused with DT’s OS and made into immortal beings known as the 13 Demigods.

Two, the 2nd Godtact Experiment held in ’82 had failed and resulted in the erasure of most of DT’s memories. Archon Suedomsa, a Japanese national and #2 of the 13 Demigods had also lost his memories. Yuo also lost her memories after the formatting and is currently under the protection of the royal castle.

Three, DT hid all records preceding that event and designated the experiments Death Techno.

Aoe nodded.

“I get making that Death Techno. No one would survive a Great Godquake.”

“I suppose a Japanese man would understand that part. Before we knew the consequences, we believed we were doing the right thing by approaching god’s Lives. We even took our Urban Names as our last names – every one of them an enemy of god’s name spelled backwards.”

“And now one of you leads the Yard, huh? You never know what life has in store for you, do you?”

Aoe sighed and shifted his gaze away from the castle. He noticed something to the south.

There was a mountain there and what looked like an amusement park. And past the Ferris wheel and white castle, he saw something much bigger.

“Oh,” he said out loud.

A vertical silhouette stood tall in the southern sky.

It was a giant tower.

“That must be Babel.”

“Yes, it was moved here because we provided aid with your country’s Godquake. That Word Tower was remodeled into an extractor of divine prophecies in order to rescue Tokyo after it was sealed away in the summer of ’99.”

“It looks complete to me.”

“It is. It’s scheduled to start running after the boost settings change tomorrow. The Japanese corporate sponsor won’t shut up about it, you see. They want us to hurry up and start producing a lot of prophecies for cheap. The boost settings change was a request made by that Japanese company.”

Telyb took a breath, rested his elbow on the desk and calmly viewed Aoe.

“Anyway, that should be enough of an introduction to DT, so let’s get down to business. I gathered my thoughts in a Word Mail and it honestly contains a fair amount of me just bitching.”

“How do I receive Word Mails here?”

“I already sent it to you. Have the Mouse on your shoulder bring it up for you. Think of it like a terminal you carry around with you.”

Aoe looked to his shoulder and saw the cartoony brown Shiba Inu looking up at him.

Once their eyes met, the Shiba Inu raised its front paw and opened a window.

<Opening Word Mail Window>

Telyb’s Word Mail: To Aoe Shouzou

To Aoe Shouzou, Team 4 Commander of the Government-Assigned Special Area Squad (GASAS).

These are only my honest personal opinions.

First, Yuo is one of DT’s 13 Demigods of the 9 Families, so I want to make it clear that having her as your assistant is highly unusual. Keep in mind that this was only allowed because of Babel’s presence in southern DT and because of the other “assistance” Japan has provided DT.

She is currently being guarded as an adopted daughter of the royal family and receiving the treatment her age warrants.

Fusing with DT’s OS during the 1st Godtact Experiment made us Demigods immortal in the sense that we don’t age, but we can still die. And when we do, our bodies and memories are reformatted back to the state they were during the 1st Godtact Experiment. Do not place her in danger.

I assure you this is the last you will hear me bitching on this particular subject.

Because I know the situation warrants some risk.

The Day of the Oracle will arrive in 30 hours of our time.

Tomorrow, Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb will use a Demigod program known as a Portal to change DT’s overall boost setting from the current 100x to 110x. Then she will activate Babel.

At the same time, the memories from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will be given an open release.

Tomorrow at 10 AM, after the Demigod named Suedomsa gives the final approval, the 2000 years’ worth of memories sealed away in this city will be known to all.

As diplomats for this open release, 7 of the 13 Demigods will leave the city. We don’t want a terrorist attack during that time. Ikemaru told us that your arrival was delayed due to some decisions on Japan’s part, but that means you may need to act quickly.

I am sure you will be doing some investigation of your own, but keep in mind that everyone in this city uses a screenname. I heard Algo Everquest said he would be meeting with Alternative Kobayashi’s father and sister, but those two are very likely living under a false name.

Also, I have no idea what he might have meant by eliminating Words Warn. That was determined to be impossible now that all godtact experiments have been canceled.

Keep in mind that your investigation may be impeded by your position as a criminal. Criminals cannot Grandload and have other restrictions in place. Removing those restrictions requires a pardon from Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb, but she is busy until tomorrow morning preparing for the boost settings change.

That is why I will be asking Yuo to look after you until then. To prevent misuse, any program given to a criminal by a non-administrator must be directly installed and given a time limit. The time limit is still necessary for an administrator, but the program can be left with the criminal as a trigon. If Yuo trusts you, I am sure she will give you the unrestricted programs you need.

<Aoe returns to Board Mode>

Aoe’s Board Mode: At DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Ogre Telyb is seated in front of you.

He is frowning somewhat. He looks serious.

Aoe: “Hm.”

Aoe: “This all sounds like a pain. So all of the data on the 2nd Godtact Experiment and Day of the Oracle is sealed?”

Telyb: “Everyone who was there at the time lost their memories in the explosion and all their personal information was blown away. The only people who remember everything are the 11 Demigods, not counting Suedomsa and Yuo, and some of the older NPC Bodies. If you really want to know…well, wait until 3 tomorrow afternoon.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb’s expression has not changed in the slightest. He still looks serious.

Aoe: “I get the impression you wouldn’t tell me even if I punched you.”

Telyb: “Your impression is correct. I recommend going to the Royal Library’s genealogy room and doing your own research. We can discuss anything you discover there during any free time we have tomorrow morning.”

Telyb: “I don’t like it either, if I’m being honest. I need the other Demigods’ approval to simply tell old stories. Like I said in the Word Mail, tomorrow’s open release won’t go through until Suedomsa shows up at the castle at 10 and gives his approval. He has Words Warn and his day of destruction is tomorrow, so this will be his final duty.”

Telyb: “Your pardon will take place after that, so probably around 11.”

Aoe: “I thought my top secret investigation was important. Why make me wait so long?”

Aoe: “Anyway, how has your research gone? Like you mentioned in your Word Mail, Algo said he was going to see Sis’s – Kobayashi’s father and sister. Do you know who they are?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mir. Telyb is frowning a bit and crossing his arms. He looks troubled.

Aoe: “No luck?”

Telyb: “None. Everyone who enters the city has their passports and such managed by the providers around the city, but the corporations, research labs, and government providers like to keep the identities behind the screennames secret, so I can’t tell who’s who. This is a constant problem, but we can’t get after them too much when they’re basically DT’s sponsors.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb waves his hand and a window opens in front of you.

The dog on your shoulder waves its front paw and the window is absorbed into the paw.

Telyb: “I received what data I could from the cooperative providers. Use it for your investigation.”

Aoe: “Mh. I appreciate it.”

Telyb: “There’s no time for appreciation. The providers are outside the city, so for them, there are only 18 minutes until the Day of the Oracle. There is only time to ask them one or two questions now.”

Telyb: “Also, there were no providers restricting entrance to the city before the 2nd Godtact Experiment, so the personal information of anyone in the city then was resonance destroyed in the explosion when the experiment failed. Along with our own personal information. DT currently has a population of 4096, but around 2300 of those are the original residents or their descendants. Knowing someone’s ‘wild name’ from outside may not matter much.”

Telyb: “Still, perform your search. In the time of the bible, it’s said the wise men seeking the king arrived from the east following a star. You’re Japanese just like Suedomsa and Yuo, so I’m sure you can find who you’re looking for.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Ogre Telyb is seated in front of you.

His eyebrows are raised. He is smiling.

Telyb: “Personally, I’m curious to see the look on your face when you’re reunited with Yuo. Did you ask to meet with your ex because you Japanese people can never let go of the past?”

Aoe: “She’s not my ex. But…this is still a gamble.”

Aoe: “My work here will likely require me to fight eventually. Using the deadly power I once used to kill.”

Aoe: “If Yuo won’t accept that, then I will give up on martial arts entirely after this battle is complete.”

Telyb: “You’re letting someone else decide that for you?”

Aoe: “There is someone I cannot defeat and my power is steeped with killing. I don’t want her decision – I want an opportunity. I already made my own decision 6 years ago.”

Telyb: “Sounds like you get over things fast. Oh, and Over Reload more often.”

Telyb: “You can’t see people’s expression in Board Mode, so you need to Over Reload their expression to see their reactions.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb is wrinkling his brow. He looks worried.

Telyb: “For example, if someone calls you an idiot, you can’t know if they mean it affectionately or as an insult from the text alone. That kind of thing has caused countless misunderstandings in this world of text. Take good care of your relationships, okay?”

Aoe: “Can’t we just do these things in Sight Mode instead?”

Telyb: “DT’s OS isn’t perfect even in Sight Mode. It can overlook subtle differences.”

Telyb: “Oh, and one thing about Yuo.”

Aoe: “Yes?”

Telyb: “I wouldn’t have assigned her to you if she had protested the assignment.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mr. Telyb’s eyebrows are bent and he has a smile on his lips. Unclear what this means.

Telyb: “Why are you staring at me like that? I’m flattered, but I’m a married man.”

Aoe: “It’s not that, idiot. It just sounds like you’ve known Yuo a long time.”

Aoe: “Why won’t you tell her what happened before the 2nd Godtact Experiment?”

Telyb: “She doesn’t need to know any of it, so the old memories would only weigh her down. And they’ve been overwritten by newer things anyway.”

Aoe: “But she was trying to remember what she had forgotten.”

Telyb: “Even so. Archon Suedomsa also lost his memories and he has returned to his role of running the amusement park and hospital in the south district after his rehabilitation was complete. Although for him it seems to be a way of facing the fact that his life will end tomorrow at 3.”

Aoe: <So even the immortal Demigods must accept their fate when faced with a disease that destroys their real Lives.>

Telyb: “Oh, we have visitors.”

<Two new people have entered this Page>

Two PC Bodies have arrived: Fooblicky Telyb Sys and Yuo Natas Wav.

Fooblicky: “Hi, how’s my hubby doing?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mrs. Fooblicky is in her small high-performance mode. She is a blonde-haired, green-eyed woman in green office clothing.

Miss Yuo is in her even smaller high-performance mode. She is a girl with her brown hair worn in a ponytail.

Mrs. Fooblicky is carrying a plate of fries.

<Fooblicky: Settings Change: Display Name: Shortened_Form = Fooby: Run>

Aoe: “Mh? Where is Yuo?”

Fooby: “Maybe that was too sudden. Since you’re in Board Mode, try Over Reloading and looking more carefully.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mrs. Fooblicky is carrying a plate of fries on her left hand. Three flavors of fries are piled high on a 50cm plate. From top to bottom, the flavors are layered salt, garlic, and vinegar.

A tiny Miss Yuo is sleeping hanging from Mrs. Fooblicky’s right hand.

Aoe: “Why is she so small?”

Fooby: “She’s hungry, so she removed her inefficient programs and entered high-performance mode. She probably hasn’t eaten much because she was so busy preparing for a certain someone’s arrival.”

Telyb: “The same will happen to you if you don’t eat, Aoe. Is this not the reunion you had in mind?”

Aoe: <No, but this does make it easier.>

Aoe: “And there the city goes showing off my thoughts again. This place is creepy.”

Fooby: “That’s only because you have criminal settings applied. There are a lot of downsides, so make sure to get your pardon ASAP tomorrow. Anyway, I fried this with a x2 boost, so I’ll leave them on the desk for you.”

<Miss Yuo is restarting>

Yuo: “Hweh?”

<Warning: Miss Yuo’s restart action obstructed Mrs. Fooby’s action and the plate is falling. The plate cannot be caught in time in Board Mode. Someone must enter Sight Mode and catch the plate.>

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

A small woman stood in front of Aoe. The blonde-haired green-eyed woman was Fooblicky.

The large plate of fries in her left hand was tilting. The tiny girl who was hanging from Fooblicky’s right hand pushed up on the edge of the plate with her head.

Aoe’s reflexes responded to the falling plate.

He reached toward it.

But he failed to reach it. The sub program moving his hands couldn’t keep up.

<Uh, oh.>

Aoe recalled what Telyb said about Downloading.

“I have superb hands.”

Black light briefly surrounded his right hand and a sound like shattering glass echoed out.

The black light formed an emblem on the back of his hand. An emblem bearing a black spear symbol.

Aoe felt a light impact on his hand as he accurately caught the plate.

“Hm.”

He nodded and looked around in his crouching pose.

Telyb behind the desk and Fooblicky were both staring wide eyed.

“You’re a talented guy. Most people can’t Download so soon after arriving.”

“This was nothing special.”

He downplayed the accomplishment, but then felt a tug at the plate he was holding near the floor.

<What was that?>

His vision answered his visible question.

Below the plate, tiny Yuo was holding onto it with her little, round hands. She looked sleepy, but she started grabbing at the fries.

She ate one, two, three of them before looking up.

Their eyes met with Aoe still crouching.

She blinked her large eyes twice, thrice.

“Senpai?”

But before she recovered from her confusion, she looked back down toward the fries, reached out, and resumed eating.

Her little hands grabbed at the three flavors of fries and consumed them.

<Does she care more about food than me?>

Aoe’s thought appeared in a window above his head, but Yuo didn’t even notice. She was too focused on the fries.

He sighed. He had demanded this reunion after 6 years, so he had been concerned she might not be happy about it. Even if she had come to terms with her anger and confusion, it didn’t just go away. But at the same time…

<I wasn’t exactly happy either when you left without saying a word.>

When he saw that tiny version of her still focused on the fries, his thoughts strayed.

She was still ignoring him to eat.

He suddenly remembered when he had brought her to a ramen place the day they first met.

<They gave her a fork since she didn’t know how to use chopsticks and then she absolutely devoured that bowl of ramen.>

He smiled bitterly.

His right hand wasn’t forming a fist since it was holding the plate.

Giving up on that will have to come later, he felt rather than thought.

He noticed Yuo was reaching for another fry.

He yanked the plate back so her hand missed the fry.

After her hand found only air, she swayed a few times below Fooblicky’s hand, but then she clenched her empty hands and looked to Aoe.

“Uh,” she began before bursting into tears.

She cries out loud and Fooblicky hid her behind her back.

“Wh-what is wrong with you!? You made her cry!”

“I was only doing what I used to do back in the cafeteria. She didn’t cry back then though.”

“High-performance mode removes so many programs you can’t control your reactions!”

Fooblicky lowered Yuo to the floor.

Yuo resumed crying next to Fooblicky.

She opened her mouth wide and bawled, so Fooblicky pulled out a handkerchief and died off the girl’s cheeks.

“There, there. It must have been rough having him constantly psychologically abusing you like that. Don’t cry, okay? Try to forget about that cruel man.”

“Hold on. You’re acting like I’m some kind of criminal.”

“You are technically a criminal right now.”

Aoe ignored Telyb’s comment and looked to Yuo.

After staring at her for a bit, her bawling subsided to simple sobs.

After an equal amount of time, those sobs settled down to irregular breathing.

When Aoe grabbed the fries and crouched down, the crying had stropped altogether.

Tiny Yuo was looking up at him with her shoulders shaking.

She wasn’t crying. The shaking was just from wiping the tears away with her round hands.

She viewed him with her blue eyes.

Her gaze was direct but trembled just a bit.

<Here. You’re supposed to be an adult now, so don’t cry so much.>

He held out the plate of fries, grabbed one himself, and ate it. The vinegar flavor was pretty strong.

Seeing that, Yuo hesitated a bit but finally reached out her hands and grabbed some fries too.

She held one of each flavor together, opened her mouth wide, and stuffed them in her mouth like she was going to eat her fingers off too.

She chewed and swallowed with her fingers still in her mouth.

A few seconds later, she sighed in a way that wasn’t quite childish but not quite adult either.

“Senpai?” she said.

At the same time, she wiped her hands off on her clothes and approached. He followed her with his eyes as she trotted over to him.

She arrived next to him and patted his crouching thigh like she was confirming he was really there.

He smiled bitterly as her small hand lightly slapped him.

<Ha ha ha. It’s like she’s brainless.>

“You could at least describe her as like a cat or a dog.”

Whether she heard Fooblicky’s comment or not, Yuo moved her patting hands from his thigh to his side and then his back.

“It’s really him. It’s really Senpai.”

She sounded surprised and then she ran around behind him.

“Hey, you idiot! Don’t cling to my back!”

He reached around behind him, but she was too small.

He missed her and she scampered up his back. Once at the top, she clung to the back of his neck.

She ignored how the dog on his shoulder moved out of her way in surprise.

“Outside! Let’s go outside!”

“Really?” Aoe turned his head to get a look at the small girl and stood up. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

“Whatever you want,” said Telyb. “But I see your relationship was exactly as Yuo described it.”

Aoe looked away from Yuo on his back and gave Telyb a dejected look.

Telyb looked up at him with a toothy grin.

“When you first met her, she says you flipped up her skirt, making her scream, and then took her outside the school to witness a fight. A fight between you and a group of 50 people.”

“If she had shown any interest in going to class, I would have let her, but she was staring into the distance behind the school building. She was the new overseas exchange student and a princess, so I decided it would be best to show her the Japanese student way of life sooner rather than later.”

“She was certainly influenced by that way of life when she returned 3 years later,” snidely noted Fooblicky.

Aoe calmly nodded.

“Yes, she grew strong enough to not cry when someone flipped up her skirt.”

He pointed to Yuo on his shoulder and she reached her hands out toward his finger.

He moved his finger around to avoid her hands, looking unsure what to do about this.

<She used to hang her head and not say much. And she would tease her hair when she was anxious.>

“I finally got her to tell me her name and why she was in Japan when we stopped for ramen on the way back.”

He sighed and pulled his finger away. He ignored how she cried out in disappointment.

“So what do I do now?”

“Why not visit the Royal Library like I suggested? Oh, and you should switch out of Sight Mode soon. You’ll waste the energy from those fries.”

“Can we go outside? Stop talking so much, Telyb! Prove that fat belly of yours is worth something!”

Yuo’s comment led Aoe to look at Telyb’s stomach.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

He did have quite a belly.

“It’s true, but you can still get after her for pointing it out.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Chapter 2: Popcorn

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Today’s topic is the same thing that brought us the Son of God: infidelity.

His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.”

(Matthew 1:18-20)

Comments:

• It’s about my wife -Wants To Be Anonymous

I’m a 29-year-old office worker in the north district.

We married 300 years ago as coworkers, but our relationship appears to have cooled lately.

We used to always go home together, but our quitting times are different now and it seems like she’s found another guy. But I’ve always been a timid person and I hear she went to the nationals in high school girls’ boxing when she lived in the outside world, so what am I supposed to do? I’m still traumatized from the time she knocked me out with a blow to the temple, so-

07/06/2000 DT 01:13 PM (-25:47)

Help Text

The History and Concept of DT

Today in 2002, DT is a virtual space surrounded by a wide-area modification barrier, but during the start of the 20th century, DT was developed as an industrial city and prospered as a major producer for the military during World War Two.

At the time, an auto-ramming ship loaded with a Word Bomb was being secretly constructed in DT. Work was coordinated with the West Coast and it was meant to be an unmanned and electronically-controlled ship, but a mistake in the Word Bomb’s detonator caused it to explode. That created the modification barrier that gave us the DT we now know.

Afterwards, many countries worked to study DT, but ultimately, Switzerland purchased DT’s management rights from the United States to give it permanent neutral status.

From there, the Live engineers known as the Three Sages gained a greater understanding of DT, but most of the people rescued from the city left and it became a deserted and abandoned city.

In order to find their own successors, the Three Sages selected 12 Live engineering researchers and electronic company elites and got to work modifying DT.

Before those 12 arrived, DT appeared as the city it was before World War Two except surrounded by the bluish-white wall of the modification barrier. Their first act was to use that wall as a screen to display an image of the sky. They also reformatted the OS then. DT was originally created from the auto-ramming ship’s control OS, but it was replaced by a new OS based on the foundational Lives of cities from around the world.

But after that, the failure of the 1St Godtact Experiment erased the Three Sages from existence and the 12 chosen people plus one ordinary person were made into Demigods by the godtact.

After the 1st Godtact Experiment, those 13 named themselves successors to the Three Sages, worked to remake DT, created the foundation of the current city, and gave the modification barrier high-power transport functionality. That made it so the north, south, east, and west ends of DT loop back on each other.

After DT was badly damaged in the failure of the 2nd Godtact Experiment, the city was remade to have a peaceful medieval theme. It has been said this was to reduce the mental strain of seeing the difference in development speed between the outside world and DT, where time moves 100x faster. Since the change, DT’s productivity has dropped, but far fewer people have asked to leave.

The dynasty has decided this is because the people understand they live in a different world.

Today in 2002, the only connections to the outside world are the Yard’s visitor lobby, the external link lines, and Babel since it links to the ley lines. DT is nearly closed off to the outside world, but it also remains closely connected to it, using its excellent industry to wow that outside world.

Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

You are in the Top Level Hall, a Top Page of the Central Administrative Building, White Castle, South Amusement Park.

The current time is 1:13 PM.

You have just climbed the stairs from the hidden passage below.

The only thing in the 30yd room is red carpet and four windows each on the south and north walls.

Five old-style NPC Bodies are in the room. One is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a cartoony old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives.

Her old-style NPC Body is seated on your left shoulder. Her rank is Michael-class.

The other four are set to anonymous.

Algo: “Hi. I see you all have your NPC Bodies ready.”

Anon1: “We are the Quartet. If one of us ready, all of us are ready.”

Anon2: “Yes, and we are also used to living in secret.”

Anon3: “So what do you want?”

Anon4: “I-is it finally time for Master Suedomsa to a-awaken?”

Algo: “Yes, I managed to get everything ready in the 50 years since I arrived. And I believe I understand the truth behind the mysteries of the city’s past 2000 years – both the 2nd Godtact Experiment and the Memory Hazard.”

Algo: “Not to mention the bible-based wish built into this city to summon god.”

Alternative: <It took so long.>

<Algo’s Over Reload>

There are four windows on the southern stone wall in front of you. The windows are open.

An old-style NPC Body stands in front of each window. The light shining in through the windows obscures their features.

The first on the right is a tall, skinny black man dressed as a butler. He is Anon1. His rank is Raphael-class.

The second from the right is a woman in a white dress. She is Anon2. Her rank is Gabriel-class.

The third from the right is a man in Japanese clothing carrying a long staff. He is Anon3. His rank is Uriel-class.

The fourth from the right is a large man. He is Anon4. His rank is Uriel-class.

Algo: “Master Suedomsa should awaken tonight. The restoration was a success.”

Anon2: “That is good to hear. There is no preventing him from Ashing from his Words Warn tomorrow at 3PM, but I was worried his memories wouldn’t be restored in time.”

Algo: “Just as you claimed, his memory loss was artificial in nature. The process was different from the people who lost their memories from the 2nd Godtact Experiment explosion. Someone had placed a hidden seal over his memories.”

Anon3: “I had a feeling it was something we wouldn’t be able to remove.”

Anon1: “Indeed. I believe Master Algo saved us when he invited us to assist him 50 years ago. The security prevents us from interfering with an individual, so we cannot even tell anyone we have been erased from their memories.”

Algo: “A lot happened since then, but I never imagined I would be the one to do it in the end. Weird that it takes an illegal intruder like me to illegally break through that hidden seal.”

Anon1: “The legal process for entering the city would alter your properties, making it quite impossible. I cannot thank you enough for restoring Master Suedomsa’s memories and removing the security restricting our own actions.”

Anon1: “Now we can ensure the decisions of the past can continue into the future when the Day of the Oracle arrives tomorrow.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

The four by the windows sigh. In relief, it would seem.

Algo: “Don’t relax quite yet. The real challenge is yet to come.”

Algo: “Alternative, I’m talking about healing your Words Warn.”

Alternative: <So you really are going to continue it all, aren’t you?>

Algo: “Yes, the time has come to continue the battle to determine whether this city is a place of truths or falsehoods after it lost its form in the Word Bomb explosion and lost its memories in the godtact experiments.”

Alternative: <And provide a continuation for the father and sister I forgot so long ago.>

Algo: “Those words sound sad, Alternative. What kind of expression do you have right now?”

<Algo’s Board Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo raised his head as if waking up and viewed the Sight Mode around him.

“I still can’t get used to this lag when switching modes.”

He faced forward.

He was in a stone hall with a tall ceiling.

The windows behind the four NPC Bodies provided a view of the amusement park’s lake and of Babel.

The windows on the opposite, northern wall provided a view of the amusement park entrance and the city of DT beyond that.

This was the top floor of the White Castle, an attraction at the center of the amusement park that doubled as the administrative building.

“Now, then,” said Algo with a glance to Alternative on his shoulder.

The small, cartoony girl had her long black hair falling along the back of her white dress.

The white clothing was so bright it seemed to be emitting its own light, but her gaze was cloudy. She looked worriedly downwards with her back toward the ceiling of the dimly-lit hall.

She opened her mouth, but no voice came out. A window popped up instead.

<Will you find an answer to all this tomorrow?>

Algo began his response with a nod.

“I will, no matter what that answer might be. I’ve set things up to ensure it.”

<Set things up how?>

“The Son of God used a few processes to accomplish the same thing 2000 years ago in the outside world. When he and his disciples fulfilled the prophecies, it was no coincidence – they had set it up that way.”

Alternative nodded in response. “I see,” she mouthed.

<He defined himself as a god to live in the age of the word tower, he rejected the demons Beelzebub and Satan, and he was betrayed and killed after prophesying his own resurrection.>

“Yes, that all happened 2000 years ago in the outside world. And it happened 2000 years ago in DT as well. During the godtact experiment based on the ley line overload that occurred in Germania during World War Two.”

He suddenly looked right and willed a detailed look at the view out of the southern windows there.

<Algo’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

Something like a giant wall rose into the blue sky above the southern mountain range.

It was in fact a word tower piercing the sky and it was named Babel.

“In the Bible, that tower of destiny was destroyed by god.”

After viewing the massive tower, Algo turned around to look north. His heels audibly dug into the carpet as he turned.

Alternative could not keep up with the movement and had to cling to his shoulder.

He smiled a little when he noticed. He raised his left hand and propped her up so she wouldn’t fall off.

The left hand emerging from his white robe’s sleeve was a prosthetic. It was made of artificial materials, but it grasped her light body with great care.

He continued turning and, just before facing north, they both spoke as one.

I won’t let you hold me.

After their Text rang out, emblem symbols appeared on the back of Algo’s hands.

The emblem was a transparent white and it depicted a long nail surrounded by a box.

The same emblem symbol appeared in white light behind Alternative’s head.

Algo clenched his right fist and spoke another Text.

I will find the answer.

Someday, surely.

Once he was done, Alternative mouthed the same words.

And…

<Algo: ASB Word Race Special Ability: Limiter Off: Activating High-Speed Movement Resistance>

<Alternative: ASB Word Race Special Ability: Limiter Off: Activating High-Speed Movement Resistance>

<Grandload: Running Joint Load Emblem: Sudden Strike: Preparing to Activate>

A noise burst from Algo’s right arm. It was loud and resembled shattering glass.

Hundreds of windows rapidly opened in the space around them. They formed something like the pillars of an ancient henge.

<Activation authorized for 230M Lives within the virtual space>

<Joint Load Emblem: Activating>

A character string emerged from Algo’s emblem. It extended from the back of his elbow with a spray of light.

●Type-Origin: God-class: Sudden Strike●

<Activating Grandload of Algo’s arm strength and Alternative’s sensory abilities: Loading full Lives and releasing upper limit on precision, high-speed strikes>

Three diskettes appeared on the trailing ● of the character string on Algo’s elbow and began to rapidly spin.

Then Alternative transformed.

She shut her eyes and raised her head while her body grew. Her small, cartoony form regained its original shape in no time.

She was also floating behind Algo’s back now. The same Sudden Strike string emerged from either side of the emblem floating behind her head and wrapped around her shoulders.

A single curving line of light shot from the ● at the far right of Alternative’s emblem. It connected to the ● at the tail end of the Sudden Strike string coming from Algo’s right hand.

They were linked by that line of light.

Two diskettes about a yard across appeared on Alternative’s back. They pointed toward the sky like wings and rotated rapidly while spewing character strings.

A metallic sound rang out.

“…!”

The rest happened in an instant. Algo’s clenched right fist flew forward.

If DT’s OS recognized the loader’s willpower, they could perform a Grandload that sent their full Lives into DT. People could normally only draw on around 30% of their strength, but this let them draw on 100% and also shut out any additional data.

Instead of the harmonic Plus that gathered things together, this was the extreme Minus that contained only the loader’s own will.

Its strength was precise, accurate, and quick, leaving no room for lies or falsehoods.

Algo’s fist pierced the empty air, powered by that technique, his own skill, and Alternative’s support.

With a rupturing sound, the air within the room split and a wind whipped up.

The wind swept across the room with a scream of air similar to tearing paper.

Their Load Emblems vanished at the same moment. Their Grandload had ended.

Algo spread his right hand, on which he wore a ring, and grabbed at the empty air.

His grabbing hand was directed toward the giant crater at the center of DT. That crater had been turned into a lake and a medieval city preparing for a festival and a royal castle were visible beyond it.

Unlike this amusement park castle, the royal castle was a giant stone structure with a fortress and towers.

He clenched his fist again as if holding that castle in his grasp and spoke.

“I will take that crucial answer for myself on the Day of the Oracle tomorrow – when everything was prophesied to improve. The powers of those from the past and the present will wipe clean the Minus compromise made so long ago.”

As soon as he was done speaking, Alternative wrapped her arms around his back from his right shoulder.

She had shrunk back down.

But there was a smile on her again-youthful face. Her narrowed eyes were shut.

<I hope you find a good answer.>

All the strength faded from her body when that window appeared. She collapsed onto his shoulder.

He looked to that shoulder and saw her sleeping with a smile.

He tapped her on the back with his right hand.

“A good answer? I promise you I will find that. Was that old decision right, or am I right to reject it? We will all know soon enough.”

He nodded, picked her up as she fell asleep, and said one more thing.

These words marked the beginning of the end and he spoke them with his eyes on the city.

“Time to head out and prepare for tomorrow. As one who has fallen into the Minus World.”

<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended.>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are at Amusement Park District Approach Road – South, a Top Page of the South Medical District.

The current time is 1:15 PM.

A shopping district exists along a 20yd-wide dirt road running north to south.

An amusement park is visible up ahead to the south and there are jester and knight NPC Bodies walking along the road.

You are on your way to the royal library in the south.

There are many Bodies around. Your conversation is restricted to Yuo.

Aoe: <Mh.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is to your right.

Her head is still lowered and her brow still wrinkled. She appears to be thinking.

She fails to notice when a jester NPC Body hands her a pamphlet for tomorrow’s festival.

You accept it instead. The pamphlet says, “The whole truth will be revealed at tomorrow’s open release and the boost setting change will further speed up our world!” The text is written below a photo of the parades held in the amusement park.

If you continue south for another three minutes, you will reach the amusement park entrance.

Aoe: “We are almost there, Yuo.”

Yuo: “…”

Aoe: “Mh? Ignoring me?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The amusement park entrance gate and its two clocks are up ahead.

The round clock at the top of the gate says 1:16. The digital clock below it says 24:44.

You are on the move, but Yuo’s head is still lowered.

Aoe: <She was so excited in that tiny form on the last Page.>

Aoe: <But as soon as we changed Pages, she grew to normal size and then hung her head without even saying hello.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is in Sight Mode.

Your thoughts are displayed in a window, but her lowered head prevents her from seeing what the window says.

Aoe: “Hey.”

Yuo: “…”

Aoe: “I said hey.”

Aoe: <I don’t think she notices me. What is with her?>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo’s head is still lowered and she occasionally mutters something under her breath.

She is teasing the bottom of her ponytail with both hands.

Aoe: <She does that when she is nervous. Just like when I first met her.>

Aoe: <But what does she have to be nervous about now?>

Aoe: “Hey, Yuo.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo does not notice.

The other people walking nearby take a step away after seeing the floating window.

Aoe: <I can’t let this bother me.>

Aoe: “Anyway, Yuo, could you look my way?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo does not notice.

Aoe: <Have I overlooked anything? Could she be listening to music?>

You look at Yuo’s face. It is a well-formed face.

You look at Yuo’s chest. Her uniform’s fabric is stretched a bit tight.

You look at Yuo’s waist. Her belt helps emphasize how skinny it is.

You look at Yuo’s butt. Her tight skirt is stretched very tight.

Aoe: <Mh.>

Aoe: <No, I haven’t overlooked anything.>

Aoe: <I see no problem with her boobs and butt. They both pass muster.>

Aoe: <But a tight skirt? She used to make such a fuss when I flipped up her school uniform’s flared one.>

Aoe: <This is much less fun. I can’t give a passing grade there.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The people around you begin chuckling at your thought window.

Yuo notices that and turns around with a frown.

Yuo: “What’s so funny?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Still frowning, Yuo views the window above your head.

Yuo: “ ‘I see no problem with her boobs and butt’?”

Aoe: “Mh. If I knew you were going to read it aloud, I would have come up with something much more embarrassing.”

Yuo: “Hey, don’t put your pervy thoughts out where everyone can see them!!”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe switched to Sight Mode so he could see.

He doubted he would ever get used to the way everything became so clear in front of him. It reminded him of when the aircraft bulkhead burst open and revealed the sky just before he was thrown from a transport craft on a special mission.

He could see the sky now too. The amusement park’s white blimp floated in that blue sky.

He saw a large road below the sky. It was an arcade leading to the amusement park.

There were modern businesses like convenience stores and cafes, but they were made of wood or stone and run in an old-fashioned, time-consuming fashion.

Most of the people’s clothing was a mixture of medieval and modern.

All of the clothing had defensive padding and equipment latches. There were some people in purely medieval clothing and others in purely modern clothing. He also saw a jester from the amusement park exaggeratedly dodge around a carriage while laughing.

A pleasant mood covered the street.

A woman stood in front of him with all of that in the background.

That was Yuo.

Her eyebrows were raised and her fists clenched.

“You haven’t grown up at all, have you?”

The people in the immediate vicinity, the people who had passed them by a moment ago, and even the people on the other side of the road tried and failed to suppress their laughter. They made amused comments about the “cute couple” which redirected Yuo’s attention fast.

Panic covered her face and she frantically looked around

“Y-you misunderstand. We’re not a couple or anything even remotely like that.”

She stammered and tapped her belt.

Or rather, she tapped the white plate attached to the belt. That was her program control panel.

Pressing the button on its surface caused light to move near her right hand. Green lines of light drew out a short keyboard.

After pressing one button on that, the keyboard disappeared and the window above Aoe’s head was forcibly closed.

“Oh, god.”

Realizing nothing she said would convince the people of anything, she hung her head a bit. But she was still curious as well, so she stole glances at those people.

She still hadn’t looked at Aoe who stood directly in front of her.

With nothing else to do, he looked to her hands.

They were tangled with and toying with the bottom of the ponytail falling over her shoulder and in front of her chest.

He knew what that meant, so he spoke to her as cheerfully as he could manage.

“Don’t worry about it. I was talking about you.”

She finally looked his way, but she was glaring now.

“It bothers me because you were talking about me.”

“Mh. You don’t like being complimented? You are more modest than I remember.”

She blushed at that. He added another compliment with his eyes a bit below her face.

“You really have grown up.”

“Just so you know, my chest and hips are the same size they were 6 years ago.”

“They are? I take it back then. You haven’t grown up.”

“You certainly haven’t.”

“Do I need to flip your skirt up like when we first met?”

She let go of her hair, lowered her fists in front of her, and let her shoulders droop.

She didn’t try to hide the weariness of her sigh.

Then she adopted an exasperated smile and tone of voice.

“Unfortunately for you, I now wear the Yard uniform’s tight skirt. Those aren’t as flippable as the flared ones from my old school uniform. Besides, your subprograms can’t handle skirt flipping.”

“Mh. Then I’ll just have to do this.”

I want to flip that skirt!

DT’s OS comprehended Aoe’s will and authorized a Download of his hands.

An emblem appeared on his hands and several breaking glass sounds came from them both.

“Eh?”

Yuo looked back toward the sound just as his hands grabbed the bottom of her tight skirt.

With a nasal grunt, he flipped up her green skirt with all his might.

It only took an instant.

The skirt pulled up to her hipbone and she wasn’t immediately sure what to do.

The flow of people around them had stopped. Everyone had fallen silent and motionless.

Aoe used that silence to clasp his hands together to worship Yuo and a window opened above his head.

<nowiki<I</nowiki> have wondered one thing ever since the mid-80s.>

“Oh?”

<In these modern medieval worlds, why does everyone where modern underwear below otherwise medieval clothing?>

Yuo thought about that for a second before screaming.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Telyb’s Board Mode: At DT Yard

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

You are in the Cafeteria, a Top Page of DT yard.

The current time is 1:20 PM.

You are seated at a long table.

Several Bodies are present. Your conversation is restricted to Fooblicky.

Fooblicky has shrunk to her high-performance form.

She is seated in a kiddy chair across the table from you.

You are eating curry with rice and she is eating sandwiches.

Telyb: “Those two have had 3 hours to catch up, so I wonder if they’re actually getting along now.”

Fooby: “You worry too much. They’ll be fine. This is the city of god. And did you read Nosrup’s latest Oracle Message Board? It was about the story of Joseph bravely accepting that Mary was carrying the Holy Spirit’s child.”

Telyb: “Yeah, the favorite story of every unfaithful wife in the city.”

Fooby: “It’s not like Yuo was cheating on him or anything. Are you really that worried?”

Telyb: “How do you see this going? Aoe is a Plus kind of guy.”

Fooby: “Someone too stubborn to accept anything fake, you mean? But Yuo isn’t and she wants to be with him. So it’ll be fine. A good woman can change a man for the better.”

Fooby: “And Yuo herself was as worried as she was excited last night. It must be nice getting your immortality early so you’re stuck a girl forever. You can get away with that kind of thing.”

Telyb: “If you ask me, your age setting is eternally stuck at absolute perfection.”

Fooby: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn’t even Over Reload before saying that, did you? You aren’t very convincing if you don’t look at me first.”

Fooby: “Anyway, what do you plan to do about the case that Aoe kid brought us?”

Fooby: “That case could lead to a repeat of a past mistake.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky is wrinkling her brow without even a hint of a smile.

The sandwiches on her plate are untouched.

Fooby: “According to the data sent by Ikemaru of GASAS, Algo Everquest said he intended to eliminate Words Warn from the world.”

Fooby: “I doubt Ikemaru, Aoe, or Yuo have any idea what that means.”

Telyb: “…”

Fooby: “But there’s nothing we understand more. Since it’s related to our own sins.”

Telyb: “Don’t beat yourself up over it. That was all my responsibility. Now, aren’t you going to eat?”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky’s expression changes in response to your words.

Her eyebrows droop, but she does smile a little.

She takes a bite of a sandwich.

Fooby: “Thanks, but I’m more worried about what that Algo guy wants.”

Telyb: “When we all gathered back in 1963, we all had our own desires while we worked toward the summoning of a great god. I wanted to eliminate discrimination from the world, you wanted an eternal partner, Akalabeth wanted a child, and Suedomsa wanted…to eliminate the Words Warn disease.”

Fooby: “That was back when we were working hard to remake the industrial city of Detroit into the virtual city of DT, wasn’t it? But I have to wonder how serious this Algo is compared to us and Suedomsa back then.”

Telyb: “If he’s as serious as Suedomsa was back then, then he’ll try to summon a great god.”

Fooby: “Do you think that would be possible?”

Telyb: “Not a chance. Things are different now. He can’t get all three factors needed for a godtact experiment:

“1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives.

“2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives.

“3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body.

“We know all this thanks to the data Switzerland took from Germany shortly after the war. The data on the Tristan tower built in Germania and the data on the plan to overload it. Nowadays, the royal castle gets you #1 and Babel gets you #2, but what about #3? Algo is a long-lived immortal after taking the rank of martial arts master, but he is sullied by the murder of his master. Is there anyone else out there willing to sacrifice themself like that?”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

A large flag hangs on the wall. It is stitched with the city’s symbol.

The symbol is a white cross above a blossoming flower with a giant tower in the background.

Telyb: “I wonder how many people know the true meaning behind DT’s symbol.”

Fooby: “Hard to say. But even if Algo is desperate to save his lover who has come down with Words Warn, I doubt he came all this way without any kind of plan.”

Telyb: “Are you suggesting Kobayashi father and sister he mentioned might know a better method?”

Fooby: “My guess is he’s planning a terrorist attack. He threatens the city in some way and demands we perform a godtact experiment if we want him to stop. Was stating the time of the festival tomorrow preparation for that?”

Fooby: “Um, hey. You’re stirring your rice without putting any curry in.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

You pour some curry on your rice.

Fooblicky breathes a cold sigh.

Fooby: “That’s his likely scenario anyway. But I wonder if that Kobayashi father and sister really do remember the 2nd Godtact Experiment.”

Telyb: “Whoever he finds that remembers it doesn’t have to be them, does it?”

Fooby: “What do you mean?”

Telyb: “It might be one of the old NPC Bodies that Suedomsa made. Unlike the modern NPC Bodies, they have individual memories and aren’t externally managed. Their production was halted after the 2nd Godtact Experiment, but there are a few hundred living in the south amusement park. Most have broken down by this point, but they weren’t actively disposed of either.”

Fooby: “I really don’t like this. After 2000 years, I thought we could finally make all that a thing of the past by revealing the truth, but now someone wants to drag it all up again.”

Telyb: “He said tomorrow at 3, but I hope whatever he does isn’t too obstructive. We’re supposed to receive the proper blame for our hidden past then.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Your rice with curry is gone.

Fooblicky still has three sandwiches left.

You grab one of her sandwiches.

She has not Over Reloaded, so she fails to notice.

Fooby: “These investigations are always such a pain. Nearly 98% of DT residents live under a screenname, after all.”

Telyb: “Even the 13 Demigods don’t know each other’s wild names. Including a married couple like us.”

Fooby: “I’ll tell you on my deathbed. Not that an immortal Demigod will have one of those. …We were already using these pseudonyms back when we were invited here in ’63, weren’t we?”

Telyb: “With the aftereffects of the war still affecting everything, we decided it was best not to know each other’s pasts. And then Suedomsa suggested we add on last names that would help us summon a god.”

Fooby: “He meant it as taking on the names of the apostles, but we all love irony a little too much and used demon names in reverse. In a way, that was when our sins began.”

Telyb: “Those sins end tomorrow at the open release.”

Fooby: “I don’t mind as much. In a way, I was already granted forgiveness.”

Fooby: “The other 11 Demigods are ready too, aren’t they? Suedomsa will Ash from Words Warn at 3 and then we all need to confess our sins to the outside world. And…”

Fooby: “Then Yuo, who chose to carry all of our sins, resigned herself to her fate, and lost her memories, will become DT’s new lead- hey, you ate one of my sandwiches, didn’t you!?”

Telyb: “You’re thinking way too hard if you only now noticed.”

<Telyb’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

There are many Bodies around. Your conversation is restricted to Yuo.

Yuo’s underwear is visible.

Yuo: “Hey! S-stop that!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo circled behind you, putting you between her and the road.

Aoe: “What are you sneaking around for?”

Yuo: “Oh, shut up! I’m too flustered to Download my hands to lower my skirt!”

Yuo: “Oh, god. The subprograms are slow as molasses at times like this.”

Yuo: “Ow, ow, ow. Stupid buttons.”

Aoe: “Are you still not done?”

Yuo: “No, I am not. Wait, did you switch to Board like this is none of your concern?”

Aoe: “I did. My kinetic vision burned the image into my memory in mere moments, so there is nothing more for me to do.”

Yuo: “Oh, is that so? Well, I’m glad you enjoyed my green underwear. Ugh, why is it so tight?”

Aoe: “Unfortunately for you, you now wear the Yard uniform’s tight skirt. Those don’t pull down as easily as the flared ones from your old school uniform.”

Yuo: “I see you still know how to get under my skin!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo has turned toward you again. Her face is red, her eyebrows raised, and her eyes tearful.

Aoe: <Maybe I overdid it.>

Yuo: “Ugh…”

Aoe: “Word of advice, Yuo. The problem is trying to force the skirt back down right away. Try loosening the belt and buttons first.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo’s expression has changed. Her eyebrows have lowered and her eyes are widened. She looks impressed.

Aoe: “Mh? Surprised, are you? You shouldn’t be. I am a skirt flipping expert after all.”

Yuo: “Eh? Have you done this to other people too?”

Aoe: “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Aoe: <Of course you’re the only one.>

Yuo: “I can see your thoughts, Senpai. Because you’re a criminal.”

Yuo: “Now, please don’t do this kind of thing in public.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo’s head is lowered while she twists her body to try and get her skirt back down.

You hear her belt loosening.

<Yuo’s thought display is no longer hidden>

Aoe: “Hm?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The program control panel hanging from Yuo’s belt pressed its button against her belt buckle.

Aoe: <Yuo, your belt buckle has- oh, you can’t see my thought window with your eyes down there.>

Yuo: <Sigh.>

Aoe: <Wait, idiot. I can see your thoughts.>

Yuo: <I’m hopeless. Everything he says just makes me so happy.>

Yuo: <And I was hoping to apologize to him. I’ve wished for this chance for so, so long.>

Yuo: <I just wanted to apologize for forgetting about him for so long.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo’s head is lowered while she fixes her skirt.

You sometimes hear the quiet metallic clank of her belt moving.

The passersby are paying the two of you no heed.

Aoe: “…”

Yuo: <But then there he is exactly the same as I remember him. He doesn’t mention any of it and I’m tempted to just go along with that.>

Aoe: <I haven’t mentioned it because I feel guilty too.>

Aoe: <Can I close her window myself?>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You reach out and touch her window and it closes.

Her work has reached her skirt’s buttons.

Yuo: <I need to apologize. That was such an awful way to say goodbye.>

Yuo: <Not to mention that I had to say goodbye at all.>

Aoe: “…”

Aoe: <You don’t need to apologize for anything.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You reach out and touch Yuo’s window and your own window and they both close.

She finishes her work and straightens up. Her cheeks are flushed.

Yuo: “Um, okay. I’m all done.”

Aoe: “For your information, idiot, I can see your thoughts.”

Yuo: “Eh? Oh, god. I didn’t show you anything embarrassing, did I?”

Aoe: “Mh.”

Yuo: “Oh, thank god. That was a close one.”

<Yuo’s thought display is now hidden>

Yuo: “This has its upsides too. A lot of the patients who come to DT either can’t speak or aren’t very talkative, so they need this.”

Aoe: “Then why was everyone so afraid when they saw my window?”

Yuo: “Because your window has a black border. That indicates you’re a criminal. It’s usually the thuggish people dressed like urban heroes who have their black border windows on full display. Get it now?”

Aoe: “I do. I get that this city is a pain in the rear.”

Yuo: “It’s really convenient too. In Board Mode, two people can set up a Side Page and remotely communicate that way as long as they know each other’s coordinates.”

Aoe: “So like making a phone call?”

Yuo: “More or less. Now, Senpai, um.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is looking up at you. Her eyebrows are drooping and her lips are pressed lightly together.

Aoe: <Mh? Does she want to tell me something?>

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe could see once more.

He saw a blimp in the sky, he saw the city, he saw the people, and he saw it all in motion.

He and Yuo were the only ones standing still on the sidewalk within the arcade.

Yuo looked down toward the earthen sidewalk once before breathing in and clenching her hands.

She looked up with tension in her cheeks.

“Um, Senpai? Can I ask a personal question?”

“What is it?”

She held her hands up by her shoulder where her ponytail fell.

She tangled the hair around her fingers.

“Um, uh, it’s about what happened 6 years ago for you and 600 years ago for me.”

He suddenly remembered the windows above her head when she was fixing her skirt, so he spoke on reflex.

“Yuo.”

Calling her name sent a tremor through her shoulders.

She looked up with some surprise on her face.

“Y-yes? What is it?”

<She must have already heard that I killed someone.>

He viewed the black border of his window before continuing.

“I am a killer. I possess a deadly power. I am not who I used to be, so maybe discussing old times isn’t the best idea.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

His more precise view of Yuo showed her shoulders tensing a bit as she started to say something. However…

“…”

No words left her mouth. He stared at her in silence.

<Let’s walk.>

He punctuated that thought with a grunted “mh” and a nod.

He began walking before she even agreed.

She hurried after him and lined up beside him. Her head was lowered and her hands were teasing her hair.

He did not match his strides to hers. Nor did he look her way.

His two footsteps were matched by three hurried ones from her. He chose that moment to speak.

“Do you remember the last time we met? That night when we were interrupted by a phone call and I hurried back to the dojo? When I got there, sis was…well, she was about to be assaulted by a challenger from another school.”

“…Senpai.”

“I won’t say I had no idea what I was doing, but I was not trying to kill him either. I simply hit him with the most force and speed I could manage using the shortest route available to me and he went flying across the dojo.”

“Senpai.”

“The next thing I knew, a GASAS commander was there.”

“Senpai!”

He ignored her and displayed his thoughts.

<How strange. Maybe I have dropped out of the Plus World like Algo said.>

He sighed and wondered what he was even saying at this point.

“Maybe I am meant for this city. Because I have a Minus fist – a fake fist that couldn’t reach the level of the strongest.”

He turned toward Yuo to find she had stopped walking, so he stopped to.

<Yuo, I am a kill->

Please stop!

Yuo’s will stopped his thought.

She had tears in her eyes and a green emblem briefly appeared on her right hand.

A loud slap echoed from his cheek.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

After the noise, Yuo lowered her hand and bent over. She kept her face pointed toward the ground.

“Please stop! I don’t have any answers for you about that!”

The passersby turned toward her shout, but not for long. The people, including the NPC Bodies, soon looked away and kept walking.

But when they were passing by Aoe and Yuo, they would give the two a wide berth, even stepping on the grass between the sidewalk and the road.

The flow of people bent, but it did not stop. Aoe looked to Yuo from the center of the bend.

Her brown hair fell down her right cheek.

And she spoke.

“Did you ask for me as your assistant so you could talk about killing and fakes?”

There was no tremor in her voice.

But her shoulders were quivering with tension and the breath following the words was heavy.

He could tell she was trying to calm herself down. Her fingers reached for the bottom of her ponytail, but…

“Please stop this.”

She clenched the hand into a fist instead.

“I still remember what you told me that night.”

“I told you something then?”

She lowered the fist, nodded, and answered him in a firm voice that suppressed everything she was feeling.

“You did. After I told you the meaning behind my fake last name.”

She then repeated the origin of her last name she had shared with him back then.

“Natas is Satan spelled backwards. That might make me sound important, but Satan is actually the loner among the demon army. …And it’s an appropriate name. Because I was just some kid who lost her memories. But when I said that, you hugged me.” She paused for a moment. “You said that didn’t matter because you would always look after me.” She coughed. “I know that isn’t possible since I’m immortal, but…but…” She took a breath. “Are you telling me those words and all the time you spent fighting alongside me 6 years ago were fake, were a Minus thing, and were nothing but the leadup to you dropping out?”

It was the suppressed emotion in her voice more than the words themselves that silenced Aoe.

He viewed her in that silence.

Her head was lowered and her shoulders were trembling. He stared straight at her.

<What…>

He shook his head and made sure she couldn’t see his window with her head lowered like that.

<What would I have felt if I had only seen that line as text in a window?>

He scratched his head in thought.

<I shouldn’t be thinking about this.>

He saw her trying to suppress her trembling.

But…

“Uh.”

She couldn’t manage it.

She held her right hand to her lowered head like she was brushing aside her bangs.

Then a certain color fell to the dirt ground. A small dark circle of dampness formed there. Several more followed.

Yuo didn’t say anything. She only wiped at her eyes while pretending to brush aside her bangs.

Unsure what to do, Aoe scratched his head and looked above her head. There was no window there.

That did make things easier, he thought with a sigh.

Then he heard a sound so loud he could feel the vibration in the air.

The wall of a nearby building shook and the windows rattled.

“…?”

He determined the sound came from the north.

He turned that way and viewed northern DT, down the hill and past the lake at the center.

Black smoke was rising from the short city.

After a pause, the people on the hill raised their voices.

Then an alarm began to sound throughout the city.

Yuo raised her head when she heard the never-ending tone.

She wiped off her eyes and her ears quivered, but she already had strength back in her face.

Her eyebrows were raised in confusion rather than doubt as she stepped up alongside him and looked to the city.

“Mh. Yuo, what does this alarm mean?”

“I-I don’t know exactly. But in DT, an alarm usually means a monster or something has appeared.”

“Dumb it down for me.”

She complied with his request.

“A monster is attacking, so we need to kick its butt!”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Chapter 3: Magical Sound Shower

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Today’s topic is the same thing happening out in the city at this very moment: destruction. The ancient people really worked hard at cultivating the land, didn’t they?

A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;

“make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

(Isaiah 40:3)

Comments:

• My House! -Destructive Fighter

I just saw it! No, I’m seeing it right now from the office!

My house – ahhhhh! No, it’s happening in real time!!

The roof, no, and the wall, ahhhhh, its breaking away! Geh, even the porn hidden under my bed!

Hey, don’t kick that away! Ahhh!

It’s scattering in the wind!!

Will insurance pay for that!?

07/06/2000 DT 02:19 PM (-24:41)

Help Text

The 13 Demigods of the 9 Families

The Demigods are the undying, unaging people who partially fused with a portion of DT’s surface OS, instead of with DT’s city Lives, when the 1st Godtact Experiment failed.

They can be separated out as an external function of the DT OS’s program, so they cannot be destroyed as long as DT remains. Thus, they are the de facto administrators of DT.

None of the 13 Demigods’ origins have been revealed and, thanks to DT’s data restrictions, no one knows what they have done or how they have changed DT.

Also, the DT OS has given them each a Demigod Program, a powerful master type program, and they use their programs’ powers to resolve problems within the city.

Whenever anyone else uses these Demigod Programs, the DT OS will not provide boost support, causing it to consume a massive amount of heat energy. This generally prevents them from lending out those Demigod Programs.

The 13 Demigods are divided into the following 9 Families:

• Bubezleeb Family: 1 Member

Administrative District: All of DT. DT Dynasty Representative and Director.

• Telyb Family: 2 Members

Administrative District: Mostly in the East. DT Yard Representatives.

• Leab Family: 2 Members

Administrative District: Mostly in the South. Commercial District Administrators.

• Nosrup Family: 1 Member

Administrative District: West. DT Prison Chapel Representative.

• Noma Family: 2 Member

Administrative District: North. Diplomats who travel between DT and the outside world.

• Napaz Family: 1 Member

Administrative District: East. DT Municipality Representative.

• Suedomsa Family: 1 Member

Administrative District: South. Medical and Entertainment District Administrator.

• Laileb Family: 2 Members

Administrative District: West. DT Prison Representatives.

• Natas Family: 1 Member

Administrative District: None. DT Yard Member.

At the current date of July 5, 2002 DT, the 7 Demigods belonging to the 4 Families of Leab, Noma, Napaz, and Laileb are in the outside world as diplomats for the open release and the 6 Demigods of the remaining 5 Families are taking over their administrative duties while preserving DT from within.

Ogre Tyleb’s Word Mail: To All DT Yard Personnel

New orders for all DT Yard Personnel.

A giant creature thought to be a Live Break monster has been reported in the central residential district. All personnel in the vicinity are to report there immediately.

<Each recipient has been reverted to Board Mode>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in 2629-E Street, a Top Page of the Central Residential District.

You are moving at high speed.

You just arrived on this street from 2630-E Street.

The street is lined with homes on both sides.

A single PC Body is using a weight reduction process to sit on your right shoulder. She is Yuo Natas Wav.

Aoe: “The enemy is nearby.”

Yuo: “Should I switch to Sight to monitor the enemy?”

Aoe: “No, I can Over Reload until the actual battle begins.”

Yuo: “That won’t work. Over Reloading does not receive data on adjacent Pages. Sounds and other data that arrive in this Page are a different matter, but you can’t see data that only exists over there.”

Aoe: “Really?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The street is entirely deserted.

You are moving at high speed. Out of the corner of your eye, you see sand spraying into the air as far back as 5 steps behind you.

The loud footsteps and impacts coming from beyond the house roofs to the left are getting louder.

Aoe: “I see. Or rather, I can’t see. I can hear it, though, so does that mean we are close?”

Yuo: “Yes, it’s probably in the adjacent district. I’ll switch to Sight.”

Yuo: “Done. I opened a window to describe the situation for you, so Over Reload to view that.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo has typed text into a window and she points it your way.

Aoe: “Mh.”

<To Senpai. A spear-wielding knight standing 8 yards tall is 100 yards NW of here. The knight’s skin is badly discolored and he is gushing blood. It’s quite gruesome. The knight seems to go nuts whenever the blood gushes out. He may be rampaging out of pain.>

Aoe: “Mh? A giant knight?”

Aoe: “What is going on? Why would that appear out of nowhere?”

Yuo: “That’s what I want to know. From what I can see…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The ferret on Yuo’s shoulder raises its front paw and several windows open. They are Word Mail windows.

Several Word Mails have arrived for Yuo. They provide disaster information and describe the Yard’s actions.

Yuo: “I think this is an NPC Body enlarging its display and effect ratios, but that should consume an awful lot of heat energy. He could even die from this.”

Aoe: “Do NPC Body’s commit suicide like automatons do?”

Yuo: “No, of course not. They can’t even Download. They might appear to have a will of their own based on their AI, but they don’t have a true will.”

Yuo: “I can only assume someone intentionally implanted this suicidal rampage inside him.”

<Three new gusts have entered this Page>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

One PC Body has arrived. He is Algo Everquest Asb.

Two old-style NPC Bodies have arrived. One is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a shrunk-down old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives.

The other is set to anonymous.

Aoe: <Wha-?>

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe stopped running after switching to Sight Mode.

He held onto Yuo’s legs on his shoulder and dug his sandals into the dirt ground.

The sub-programs controlling his legs were unable to handle the rapid stop and he nearly fell. He pitched forward and staggered like he was going to throw Yuo from his shoulder.

“Stand firm.”

A sound of shattering glass came from his feet and hips.

Download.

He felt a weight in his hips like he was holding a large stone, but that was his center of gravity.

He lowered his hips.

“Kyah!”

Yuo grabbed onto his shoulder and shifted her butt back to make sure she wasn’t thrown off.

He completed his stop.

Then he heard sounds of the city’s destruction from the left. They were the sounds of wooden columns and roofs splintering and stone walls shattering. The chorus of damage burst out like spraying water.

If he looked left, he knew he would see the giant knight Yuo had told him about.

But he didn’t look that way.

He stared forward, at the deserted street stretching out below the blue sky.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Three people stood there.

One was an unfamiliar man in a black hooded robe. The hood hid his face, but the visible skin was the distinctive brown of a black person. He was wearing a black vest and trousers below the robe.

But the robed man wasn’t the problem. Aoe recognized the other two.

One was a young man in a white robe and the other was a miniature woman in a white dress seated on his right shoulder.

Aoe found himself speaking the name of the young man who stood there with his long blond hair flowing down his back.

“Algo.”

Yuo similarly spoke the name of the shrunk woman on his shoulder.

“Alternative.”

They both spoke quietly and Algo was the first to react.

He cleared his throat and placed a hint of a smile on his lips.

Then Alternative lowered her eyebrows as she stared at them.

The last to react was the robed man. He took a step back without removing his hood. And he gave a shallow bow as he did so. Almost like he was letting Algo and Alternative handle this one.

Destruction and an alarm could be heard from the city to the left.

But Aoe’s eyes remained dead ahead.

“Kh.”

Unable to speak, he clenched his fists. The action stretched his leather gauntlets, making them creak. Algo raised his eyebrows at the quiet sound. Amusement appeared on his face and then he started coughing.

“Excuse me. Were you hoping to attempt this again, Aoe-kun? When you are an ignorant Plus dropout?”

“Of-”

Before Aoe could say “of course I am”, small Alternative opened a window to speak.

<Don’t do this, Shouzou.>

He shut his mouth, his shoulders trembling. Yuo turned toward him.

“Senpai… Don’t forget that you have criminal settings at the moment. Your attack power is sealed unless I send you the unlocking program. You can’t punch him.”

“Mh,” he grunted, as if to say he would do it anyway.

After a moment, Yuo sighed and patted his shoulder just once.

A moment later, a transparent keyboard appeared in front of her.

He took a fighting stance in response.

Algo turned his head toward Alternative. He calmed his breathing after the coughing fit and spoke with exasperation on his face.

“Did you see how they communicated without a word?”

<We can do that too. For example, we agree what to do now, don’t we?>

“Of course. For now, we have no intention of fighting, Aoe.”

“So you’re running away.”

Aoe’s words were a statement, not a question.

Algo simply nodded.

Yuo asked a question, still typing away on Aoe’s shoulder.

“What do you intend to do, Algo?”

“To eliminate Alternative’s Words Warn- no, to erase the very disease of Words Warn from this world.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe’s more detailed vision noticed a slight change to Alternative’s expression. Her gaze was directed toward Yuo on his shoulder. Her eyebrows were drooping a bit.

<Is she sad? No…what is that expression?>

Yuo must have noticed it as well. He could tell she was clenching the hand resting on his shoulder.

Aoe and Yuo were confused by this visual data, but then they heard a bitter laugh.

“You will find out soon enough what we are doing to achieve that. There is just one thing I can tell you at his point.” Still smiling, Algo shut his eyes. “We will be tearing away the false wilderness disguising DT and lay bare the wide, straight road build out of resignation.”

<Resignation?>

Algo answered Aoe’s question with a nod. And he lowered his hips.

“Yes, resignation. This Minus city once relied on resignation, but that fact was covered up. And the Demigods are using tomorrow’s open release to make their sins a thing of the past. They will claim the period of chaos has passed and it is all over, so they only need to apologize.”

Aoe heard the destruction of the city along with Algo’s words, so he raised his voice.

“What does that have to do with this terrorist attack on the city!?”

“The Kobayashi School teaches us that combat is the cornerstone of all things, Aoe. Fail to understand that and you will only taste defeat.”

Algo gathered strength in his body. His stance said he was planning to leap and then make his escape.

The robed man behind him had already disappeared at some point.

Aoe started forward to keep him from escaping, but then Yuo asked a question from his shoulder.

“What do you two claim to understand about this city?”

“You too will understand that, Yuo Natas…Demigod bearing the name of Satan.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Algo chuckled.

Aoe’s eyebrows rose at the man’s words and laughter.

“What’s so funny about Yuo’s last name!?”

Algo’s laughter stopped there.

“Hm. Satan is the loner of the demon army. But have you ever wondered why that is, Yuo?”

“Eh?”

“You might be interested to know that your name – Yuo – is the only wild name among the 13 Demigods. And the Natas name was only added after you were formatted in the 2nd Godtact Experiment.”

“…? Th-then I had a different last name before that!?”

“You can always wait for the open release tomorrow. Of course, it will be too late by then. You could say that is the last bit of deception that the Minus Elites who rule this city are betting their pride on.”

As Algo spoke those words, his body sank even further down.

Realizing he was about to flee, Aoe directed all of his body’s strength forward.

He prepared to run, but that was when Yuo grabbed at his shoulder.

“Don’t!”

He soon realized why.

A large boxy shape flew toward him from the left.

It was a house. The knight had kicked the stone house such that it flew overhead. The house was made of dummy data and was thus no more than a shape. It had already started to flash as it collapsed, but it wasn’t completely gone yet.

Aoe hesitated. Should he pursue Algo or avoid the house?

But just as the falling house’s shadow encompassed him, he threw all his strength to the left in order to dodge. His Downloaded legs were still active, so he gathered his strength in them and leaped left into an alley.

“Damn!”

After seeing that, Algo leaped in the opposite direction.

Aoe and Algo’s eyes met as the house fell between them.

The house hit the ground just as Aoe noticed a gentle smile in Algo’s eyes.

The splintering of the wooden roof and shattering of the stone walls rang loud.

A moment later, Aoe entered the alley Top Page.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in 2529-E Alley 5, a Top Page of the Central Residential District.

You just entered the alley from 2629-E Street.

The alley is lined with homes on both sides. It is about 3 yards wide.

A single PC Body is using a weight reduction process to sit on your left shoulder. She is Yuo Natas Wav.

You hear the city being destroyed in the distance.

Aoe: <Damn.>

Yuo: “Senpai.”

Aoe: <Damn! Why did I chicken out and dodge!?>

Yuo: “Senpai!”

Aoe: “Mh?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is beating you on the head.

Aoe: “Mh, what do you think you’re doing!?”

Yuo: “C’mon, snap out of it! They already ran away!”

Aoe: “Mh…mh.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are facing west.

The sounds of destruction come from about 30 yards away, beyond the roofs to the southwest.

Yuo: “I know you have a lot to think about, but we can’t ignore this threat to the city, can we?”

Aoe: “N-no, I suppose not.”

Yuo: “Right? Right? Saving people takes priority.”

Yuo: “I’ll help you investigate that other stuff later, so let’s take care of this, Sensei.”

Aoe: “So, uh, since when am I your Sensei?”

Yuo: “Heh heh. Don’t worry about it. So can you run?”

Aoe: “…Mh.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You begin running.

On your shoulder, Yuo pulls a 2yd 2in strip of cloth from her pocket.

Aoe: <How did something so big fit in her pocket?>

Yuo: “The compression rate is different inside. Now can you circle around behind the knight?”

Aoe: “Mh.”

Yuo: “W-whoa, whoa, whoa! No need to rush! Just run normally!”

Aoe: “What happened to this being an emergency?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are running between simply-built wooden houses.

The one on the left has a Day of the Oracle digital clock sticking out over the sideroad.

The digital clock is approaching Yuo’s face.

Yuo: “Eh?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You hear a loud impact. All the Word Mail windows open around Yuo disappear.

The broken digital LCD frame is dummy data. It flashes and then disappears after being launched by the impact.

Aoe: “…Yuo?”

Yuo: “…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo does not say a word. She is still holding a hand to her face.

Her Mouse has climbed down onto your shoulder, looking nervous.

But Yuo grabs the Mouse and pulls it back up.

Your Mouse is hiding behind your head.

Yuo: “Senpai. Do you mind?”

Aoe: “Mh…mh.”

Yuo: “Telyb gave me permission, so I’m not going to hold back.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo reaches her left hand into her pocket, pulls out a fingertip-sized silver paper wrapper, and opens it.

It contains a chocolate candy. The wrapper says “x5” on it.

Aoe: “I thought only kids in movies devoured candy that quick.”

Yuo: “I’ll use it all up with my boost soon enough. I’m about to show you what I can really do.”

Aoe: “Hey, don’t litter.”

Yuo: “I put it in my pocket.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo swings the cloth out in front of her and taps the program control panel at her hip.

<Yuo: Program: Batch Start: Run>

Yuo: “Okay, let’s get started! Switch to Sight!”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

After switching to Sight Mode, Aoe was already running. When switching to Sight Mode while moving, his sense of sight and hearing were stimulated first. He still couldn’t keep up with his body’s senses.

His eyes saw an alley between wooden houses flowing backwards.

His ears heard his own footsteps echoing behind him.

It took 3 seconds for their voices and images to link with the senses of their PC Bodies.

Once they did, the sensation of his running traveled across his entire body.

Yuo was still seated on his right shoulder and he was running.

He was now actively running as part of Sight Mode instead of passively running as part of Board Mode.

Within those actions and movements, he saw window after window opening around Yuo on his shoulder.

<Yuo: Target Dummy Data Object: Range Set: Run>

Bluish-white light drew a grid pattern across the entire surface of the cloth she held.

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Elemental Change: Mineral Conversion: Run>

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Shape Change: Solid: Run>

The grid pattern moved and both ends of the cloth curved. The cloth formed a pair of solid arches.

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Position Definition: Coordinate Input: Run>

She pulled the arches onto her shoulders. The cloth was still floating, but it stayed in place. The excess cloth in the middle acted as a rest for her back.

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Texture Change: Keyboard: Run>

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Internal Function Change: Keyboard: Run>

Keyboards instantly appeared on the two cloth arches.

<Function Generation: This matches the Keyguarder function with 98% accuracy. Is that correct?>

She slapped her palm against the Y button displayed in the air.

The large keyboards became shoulder armor.

“What the hell kinda magic trick is this!?”

“It’s not a trick! It’s a technique!”

Yuo crossed her arms and placed her fingers on the keyboards covering her shoulders.

She began typing rapidly and she sent out a Text.

“Faster!”

Emblems of light noisily appeared from her arms, hands, and fingertips.

Download.

The light scattered and her hand movements changed. They moved more, more smoothly, and more accurately.

The quiet sound of typing came from her fingertips.

Green light began to flow around her. The light formed letters. The letters formed long strings and the strings drew out circular orbits that rotated rapidly around her like something from a planetarium.

“That certainly is flashy.”

“It’s called a Celestial Program Activator. It’s a high performance technique that allows for high-speed processing and parallel processing, but it’s so complicated I’m the only one who can use it anymore. I’m uniquely skilled, Senpai.”

“I see, I see, I see. That’s a good girl. I’m so happy for you!”

“A-are you trying to tick me off!?”

He smiled bitterly at her response.

“Wh-what’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I was just noticing how little you’ve changed.”

“How little I have changed?”

She trailed off after that, but he didn’t pursue the matter.

After 5 seconds of staring at her glowing character strings, Yuo hit the “approve” key on both keyboards.

“Senpai, I’ll be providing back up from behind you!”

All the strings orbiting around her shattered.

And she hopped down from his shoulder.

A gentle wind blew in and she flew behind him.

She stopped while floating in the space behind his right shoulder.

She continued typing on her shoulder keyboards, met his gaze, and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave you. My coordinates are locked to yours.”

“And what if I’m caught below a collapsing house?”

“Not to worry. I can shift my coordinates away from you with a cursor key and button combo. You can enjoy being buried alive on your own.”

“Is that so?” he sighed, raising his head.

His running feet would bring them behind their opponent soon.

“So what do we do?”

“I want to see who this is, so move as close as you can get.”

She hit the approve keys again. The character strings gathered in midair and took on a certain form: a yellow triangle of about 3cm.

She grabbed it out of the air and held it out to him over his shoulder.

He looked to the triangle held between her slender fingers.

“What is that thing?”

“Why, it’s a freshly-made program trigon. This one is dangerous and requires some real guts, so I don’t want to install it myself. Just eat it or have your Mouse eat it.”

“Dangerous? Guts? What are you having me eat?”

“You’ll see once you eat it. Oh, and ask your Mouse to remove it when the time comes. Also…it looks like you haven’t given your Mouse a name. That could be inconvenient.”

Aoe looked to the Mouse on his shoulder. He realized this was his first time really looking at him. He had mostly ignored the cartoony Shiba Inu until now and the dog stirred now that Aoe stared directly at him.

Aoe spoke to the small Shiba Inu.

“Your name will be…Monkey.”

“…Senpai.”

“Monkey is the natural name for an ambitious man’s servant. Right?”

The Shiba Inu looked him in the eye and nodded his head.

“I don’t like that he agrees… But anyway, a Mouse provides Word Mail and program support, but they can also turn into an ordinary-sized animal, so take good care of him.”

“Mh,” he nodded, placing the trigon in his mouth and biting into it.

Just as he noticed it felt like sand in his mouth, it melted away into nothingness. He detected a strong flavor that seemed to exit through his nose.

“I know this flavor.”

“Yes, it’s the miso ramen from the Boss’s place we used to visit back in high school.”

“You never did stop using a fork there, did you?”

“I practiced using chopsticks after returning to DT, so the owner won’t laugh at me anymore.”

“Mh,” he nodded, pouring more strength into his feet to approach the knight.

Then he leaped into the Other Page airspace above the city.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Airspace

You are in Low Airspace – Urban Area, an Other Page of the city sky.

You have leaped 10 yards high. You are still ascending.

You can see three house roofs widthwise and three lengthwise. For more, please Over Reload.

You see the back of the black knight approximately 15 yards away to your left.

Aoe: <Mh.>

Aoe: “What the hell did you do to me, you idiot!?”

Yuo: “I used a simple multiplication program to add a x5 modifier to your movement programs. Like I said, this takes a lot of guts. Anyway, please return to Sight Mode!”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Airspace

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe’s vision returned.

An artificially blue expanse was stretched out before his eyes. It took him a few seconds to recognize it as DT’s sky.

Then he felt the sensations of being thrown into the sky.

He slowly sucked in a breath and looked down to see the knight raising its right hand about 10 yards to the left.

He was now higher up than the knight’s head. He was almost directly above the top of its head.

<I can only do this so openly while its head is turned the other way.>

He memorized the distance between them and where the destroyed houses were located.

He heard Yuo typing on her keyboards and some text appeared in his field of view. It provided explanations along with arrows pointing to the roads, buildings, and people fleeing in the distance.

“This is where the Yard members I can contact are located. Everyone within 500 yards has been evacuated. The Yard’s main force will arrive in about 2 minutes.”

“Too slow. Can you show me what this place will look like in 2 minutes?”

An answer to his question arrived just before he reached the peak of his jump.

He looked down and an image of destroyed houses appeared over the intact ones.

<Prediction: This has a 58% chance of being accurate. Is that acceptable? Y/N>

He counted 37 destroyed houses. Every one within a 100 yard radius was destroyed.

“For the number of homeless, I would need to add in the mother and children from each house.”

“So what are you going to do!?” asked Yuo.

He felt his ascent end.

He twisted his body, moving his center of gravity left, toward the knight.

That diagonally shifted his parabolic vector, bringing the knight’s head and shoulders below him.

Then he fell.

“I get us out of here fast! And I do something about this knight!”

He aimed for the knight’s right shoulder. The shoulder armor was about a yard wide.

His momentum let him land perpendicular to the slanted armor.

The edge of his sandals slammed loudly against the shoulder armor, but the impact to his knees and ankles was almost entirely erased. He used his excess inertia to hold himself against the slanted armor.

Yuo opened a window at the same time.

<Yuo: Target Traits: Display: Run>

A window opened listing out the knight’s stats.

“Puppy! Copy!”

Yuo’s Mouse, a ferret named Puppy, gave a cry similar to a laugh, and copied the contents of that window. Then Yuo pasted the test onto her own transparent window.

“Got it! This knight is an NPC Body! A lot of his programs and data have been corrupted, but he is definitely an NPC Body. But why is he so big?”

Aoe gave a strong “mh” that silenced Yuo.

<None of this changes the fact that the city is being destroyed.>

With that thought, he kicked off the knight’s shoulder, jumping backwards.

After the second impact, the knight turned toward Aoe.

Aoe immediately moved 5 yards away and did a flip in the air to fall feetfirst instead of back-first.

<What to do now?>

As soon as he took his landing pose, the knight jabbed his spear out.

And that attack was accompanied by a Text.

“Harsh Strike Release.”

A sound like striking stone came from the hand holding the spear and the movement gained much more strength.

A red transparent coin emblem appeared on the back of that hand.

“A Download!? But I thought that wasn’t possible for NPC Bodies!”

In this Minus World, Aoe’s emotion of surprise delayed his midair evasion.

A giant blade was approaching from dead ahead. It was about a yard wide and thick.

The tip was badly chipped from all the destruction it had wrought, but it still had some sharp portions left.

Aoe did not hesitate.

He threw his fist toward one of the non-sharp portions.

<Break!>

He threw his right arm forward.

He aimed for a chipped part on the upper edge of the blade.

He slammed his right fist there.

He didn’t have the support of the ground since he was in midair, so he twisted his body, swung his other arm, and sent all his movement vectors into his right fist.

He swung just that one arm.

His will produced a Text.

“Hit. I’ll be mad if you don’t.”

Light scattered from his right fist along with the sound of shattering glass. A black see-through emblem appeared there.

Just then, he heard Yuo shouting from the air behind him.

“All of your attacks are blocked by security!”

His fist hit the approaching blade before she was even done speaking.

Something odd happened then. The sensation of the impact vanished from his fist.

<What the-!?>

He didn’t feel the force he had expected. That meant his blow hadn’t hit its target.

He checked in a split second and found the end of his outstretched arm was stopped.

His arm was extended and motionless, almost like it had been that way all long.

<Is this what you meant by removing my attack power?>

He understood now. At the same time, the blade’s movement vector arrived at his fist and pushed it back.

That heavy metal spear was wielded by an 8yd giant. He couldn’t stop that with his powerless outstretched arm. The arm was knocked back and the giant blade jabbed into his unguarded chest.

The blade had reached him.

“Mh!”

He grunted and attempted a defensive stance. Then he noticed an odd floating sensation.

He first felt it in his stomach and then found his vision rapidly rotating to the left.

<What!?>

He was not in control of this motion.

Someone’s unseen hand was spinning him leftward through the air. He had been facing the Knight, but now the city on the horizon to the left was coming into view.

He heard Yuo’s voice in his ear while he tried to figure out what was happening.

“I’m shifting your coordinates! Please don’t try to move!”

“Mh,” he replied as the color white filled his vision.

The white was the tip of the spear.

<We dodged it!?>

Then he started to fall. He saw Yuo overhead as he fell into the Page below.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in 2529-E Alley 6, a Top Page of the Central Residential District.

You have just entered the alley from Low Airspace – Urban Area.

The alley is lined with homes on both sides. It is about 3 yards wide.

Your center of gravity is unbalanced.

Aoe: “Kh.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

After switching to Sight, Aoe saw an earthen wall before his eyes.

Before he realized that was the ground, his hands reached it and his body bounced upwards.

His feet were already on the ground.

So he raised his upper body.

“Run.”

He forcibly drew out his leg and back strength while collapsed forward.

He directed himself toward the end of the alley.

He ran in a rapid dash given 5 times the speed thanks to the thing Yuo had fed him.

He kicked off the ground and leaped forward in an instant.

“Whoa!”

He relied on his sense of balance and his vision. Instead of using his vision to see, he used what he saw with his vision to predict what would happen next. It wasn’t a difficult thing.

<The Kobayashi School is all about seeking pure power without relying on Techs and Rhythms.>

With that thought, he crouched lower as he ran.

The maximum human sprinting speed was a bit over 20mph.

With a program multiplying that by 5, air resistance became a real problem.

100 miles per hour was about 50 yards per second. At that speed, the air resistance created lift that threatened to carry him from the ground.

He leaned even further forward.

Instead of running, he was basically pressing himself against the ground and “climbing” the earth.

Two seconds later, he heard an explosion of dirt from where he had landed earlier.

He did not look back.

He knew what had happened.

<He’s after me!>

He heard a second and third boom too. His foe was accurately pursuing his 100mph run.

“Y-yes! Th-the knight is after us!”

“In what way?”

“Um, do you remember that movie we went to see together a long time ago?”

“Oh, yeah! That one with the eccentric female prisoner! That was a good one!”

“No, I mean the kaiju one! Wait, he’s getting really close, Senpai!”

“Mh,” he grunted before taking a leap.

He did not jump high. He made a low dive to bring him as far forward as he could manage.

He still flew above the rooftops and could see the sky again.

First, he kicked off one of the roofs rushing by beneath him.

The spear jabbed in, trying to scoop him up from below.

But he was already airborne, so he ignored it. The spear shattered the roof, creating an explosion of sound behind him.

He twisted around in midair, turning to face the enemy while continuing to leap from roof to roof.

He checked on the knight while also moving away from him.

The knight was about 50 yards away with the waves of rooftops at about hip height.

“Mh,” nodded Aoe, viewing the city and noting the Yard personnel marker Yuo had created had only moved a bit closer than before.

After spotting a flat rooftop, he stopped moving his feet.

“The Yard is taking too long. The evacuees must be delaying them. Yuo.”

The wooden roof bent below him as it negated his inertia.

And he asked a question.

“If I defeat that knight now, Yuo, it will mean you supported my fist – the fist that once killed someone and the fist of a Plus dropout. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“…”

Yuo said nothing, but he could sense she was shrinking down.

He listened to her silence while watching the giant black knight race toward him.

The 8yd giant would cover the 50 yards between them in no time.

The knight’s massive body trembled and hemorrhaged blood, but he did not let go of his spear.

The hands holding that spear possessed a power so much like Downloading. The grip was a bit loose, but the movements had real life to them. These weren’t the lifeless movements of a subprogram.

His charge was about to reach Aoe and Yuo.

But Aoe ignored that and opened a window to his right. He displayed the knight’s stats that Yuo had copied earlier. The very top labeled the knight an “NPC Body”.

The stats gave a brief history for the knight.

<A security company employee with a home in the south district. His family includes an NPC Body wife and child.>

Aoe sighed and asked Yuo a question.

“How do you think he managed to utter a Download Text earlier?”

“I don’t know. An NPC Body shouldn’t be able to do this, but he’s doing it anyway. You could say we’re watching the unknown. And unfortunately, the Yard has given Level 3 authorization.”

“What does that mean?”

Yuo nodded and explained.

“It incorporates both Level 1, authorization to destroy the knight, and Level 2, authorization for the highest ranking officer in the area to take limited command. But…”

He looked up at her as she trailed off.

Her eyebrows bent sadly and she hung her head, so he prompted her to continue.

“But what?”

“Well, even in this state, that knight is still an NPC Body. He either underwent some kind of Break or someone intentionally changed him, but he has a personality of his own.”

“So you want me to save him?”

<Not possible.>

Aoe responded with his thoughts and his voice.

“My specialty is a deadly power. Keep that in mind when you ask me to do things.”

“I understand that. Your power is to fight, not to protect.” She took a breath. “Anyway, Level 3 authorization includes support from the DT Yard commander. That means Commander Telyb and Lieutenant Fooblicky will use their joint Grandload to activate their Demigod Program. Then they will install their power into you.”

“What is a Demigod Program?”

“Help: Demigod Program

“The unique programs given to each of the 13 Demigods. They are linked to the OS and thus unreproducible.

“Non-Demigods can use them, but it requires special authorization and a massive amount of virtual heat energy.”

“Now, Senpai. I have a question for you.” She took a breath. “When ‘not possible’ appeared in your window earlier, what tone were you thinking it in?”

“Well…”

He was hesitant to answer and heard her laughing quietly. When she spoke, there was exasperation in her voice.

“Hee hee. You don’t have to answer. I’m a little scared to hear the answer myself.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe faced forward without answering Yuo.

The giant knight was right in front of him.

The knight was two steps away. In that time, he heard a footstep behind him.

Yuo had canceled her coordinate setting and landed on the roof.

He turned just his head to look her way and saw her standing motionless.

She gave him a serious nod and opened her mouth.

“Let’s do this!”

<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Function Expansion: Wide-Range Control & Precision Magnification: Run>

Light raced along the surface of the cloth keyboard spread out over her shoulders as arching armor.

The green light drew out a grid.

<Function Expansion: Distributed Control: Celestial>

The glowing grid left the arches and expanded, forming a 2yd sphere surrounding her.

Light green letters and function keys appeared all across the spherical grid.

<Yuo: WAV Word Race Special Ability: Limiter Off: Activating High Quality Voice Output>

“I will now release the restrictions on your Word Race special ability, Senpai. Then I will create an attack restriction release program so we can both use our Grandloads.”

Aoe heard a pulsing tremor run through his body.

The cause was displayed on the window open in front of him.

<Aoe: ASB Word Race Special Ability: Limiter Off: Activating High-Speed Movement Resistance>

Then Yuo sang her Text.

She sang a voice input program that accelerated the spherical strings typed out by her fingers.

The distributed lines go to the multitude. The variable numbers bring us all together.

The power I produce goes to your pure arms and pure legs.

You carry no restrictions. This city has forgiven you. I have forgiven you.

I use the forgiveness of all as the signal for the running program.

She slowly moved her hands and feet to touch the spherical keyboard as she sang.

Like a dance, her movements and voice worked in harmony to send more strings flowing out into the air.

Her fingers and voice produced a program.

The program was created at twice the usual speed and its characters raced out along the celestial orbit.

She spoke from the center of all that light.

“Senpai, I will be providing sub support for your Grandload. I will be using a Text we both know, so try to keep up.”

“What Text is that?”

“The song of the Chancellor’s Officers League. Sing it with me to help create the Load Emblem.”

She opened her mouth and he followed suit.

They sent out their Texts at the exact same moment.

It was a Text they had once sung together.

I shall move ever forward.

A moment later, a black spear emblem appeared clearly on Aoe’s hands.

The emblems gave a roar. The high-pitched sound was like breaking metal.

A similar shattering sound came from Yuo’s throat.

With the glowing orbits surrounding her, something appeared behind her head along with a great wind: a transparent green emblem.

It depicted a prophet goddess facing left – the face of a divine princess who speaks only Texts.

Yuo’s voice rang far louder than before.

“I will directly release your attack restrictions! The program is a rush job, so it will only last 30 seconds!”

<Safety Unlock: Target’s Full Attack Approved: Time Limit: 30 Seconds>

A white transparent countdown of 30 seconds appeared over his head.

Then she signaled for him to sing with her.

“Sing the song of the forward march!”

––I shall move ever forward.

I shall move forward to accomplish something or to solve a problem.

No matter the strength or speed of my foe. No matter the destiny carried by my foe.

I shall move ever forward.

My hands shall tear down my foe’s every barrier and my feet shall trample their every trap.

I wield the defensive power to block any wind. I wield the offensive power to tear through any wall.

My power is a manifestation of my will.

My Lives carry all this power with them.

They carry the power of my hands, legs, head, and even the minute power of the tip of my toe.

I shall draw on all that power and surround myself in my own willpower.

I can fight.

I can fight.

So I shall move ever forward.

To accomplish something or to solve a problem.

That is why I sing this marching song of progress.

Any goal is achievable if you never give up.

<Multiple Load Emblems: Black Belt & Wish Bringer: Preparing for Simultaneous Use>

More sound roared from Aoe’s fists and Yuo’s back.

Hundreds of windows opened around them in an instant, whipping up the wind as they did. They displayed the program and authorization text needed to load reality into this false world.

There was no reason or need to refuse.

The Grandload began.

<Activation authorized for 256M Lives within the virtual space>

<Load Emblem: Activating: Run>

A window that said “run” opened.

Then text ran from the emblems on Aoe’s hands, reaching the back of his elbows.

■Type-AA0765: God-class: Black Belt■

<Activating Grandload of Aoe’s arm strength: Loading full Lives and releasing upper limit on striking power>

Three diskettes appeared on the ■s at his elbows and began to rapidly spin.

Yuo’s Grandload began as if responding to Aoe’s.

Strings raced out from either side of the emblem surrounded by a square on her back, circling toward her shoulders.

■Type-WB0573: God-class: Wish Bringer■

<Activating Grandload of Yue’s voice: Loading full Lives and releasing upper limit on voice strength>

The text rippled and shined once before two giant diskette programs opened above the emblem behind Yuo.

Her emblem was a collection of 2D images that rapidly spun with its character strings stretching out like wings.

A black line of light extended from the ■ at the end of their Emblems and joined together.

Their link was established.

It only took a moment.

A sound like shattering glass came from Aoe’s hands and feet and an impact ran through his body.

His hands stiffened at the vibration and he his body shook for a moment, but then…

“Gasp! My strength…my strength is back!”

Then he tensed his entire body. He had strength in his arms. He hadn’t felt this definite arm strength since arriving in DT.

…I can punch!

With that thought, a dull light washed across the texture of the emblems covering his hands.

He looked down and viewed the emblem and letters floating above his right fist.

<I have called you to this false world, my Plus dropout fist!>

He opened a window and looked back to meet Yuo’s gaze as she stood somewhat crouched within her celestial keyboard.

She glanced up and read his window, but…

“Senpai. You might be mad at me for saying this, but I don’t see it that way.” She shut her eyes. “This reminds me so much of the past. Of the mere 3 years I spent in Japan 600 years ago for me. Of the short time when someone actually had a need for me.”

She traced her fingers along the inside of the celestial sphere.

“What about you, Senpai? Can’t you trust in this moment as a Plus person?”

He froze for a moment.

He felt a gentle pressure in his fist. He felt his Load Emblem’s link with Yuo’s Load Emblem.

He placed his fingers on that faint power as Yuo asked again.

“What about you, Senpai?”

He hesitated.

His hesitation was broken by the grip strength he felt in his fist.

He felt his strength continuing to grow, like it threatened to break through his fingers from within.

But he also felt something else on his hand. He felt Yuo place her hand on his.

He doubted she would let go no matter how much strength there was in his fist.

So he frowned and lowered his gaze somewhat.

<I…>

Before he could continue that thought, Yuo saw his window and changed her expression.

She lowered her eyebrows and gave him an exasperated smile.

She shook her head, telling him he didn’t have to answer.

Seeing that, he stopped his line of thought and focused fully on his fists.

A few lines raced out into the sky as if in response to his shift in focus.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Fooblicky’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard

<Fooblicky’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky was standing in front of Telyb on the roof of the Yard building in DT’s east district.

A blue emblem forming a scales symbol floated in front of them. Some text ran along it.

■Type-Origin: God-class: Balance of Power■

<Activating Grandload of Ogre’s physical strength and Fooblicky’s willpower: Loading full Lives and releasing upper limit on precise judgment>

The two of them wielded a single emblem.

“DT gave us authorization to write our own original joint Load Emblem since we chose to share our settings when we exchanged our vows. It’s been so long since we last used this, hasn’t it?”

The emblem shined bright as she spoke. It absorbed the wind and the light intensified.

Out in front, she could see two young people in the city.

One was a man and the other a woman.

“I can hear them singing.”

“Yuo is going all out this time.”

“Do we have that Aoe kid to thank for that?”

“Who knows. But…she looks a lot happier than before she lost her memory. You know, back when she gave up on everything and fell to the Minus.”

“A good man can change a woman. …Okay, honey, we need to get going, so suck in that gut.”

Fooblicky reached out a hand and spread the fingers.

“Time to use our shared Demigod Program that takes this joint Grandload to even use.”

<5th & 6th Demigod → Aoe: Spell Breaker: High-Level Field Transfer: Run>

<Fooblicky’s Sight Mode has ended>

All DT Yard Personnel’s Sight Mod: Throughout the City

<Yard Leader’s Forced Over Reload for All Personnel>

All across the city, the Yard personnel assisting the evacuation or rushing to the scene realized they had been switched to Sight Mode. Before they could realize this was Spell Breaker, a line of light ran in front of their eyes. The light formed a mirror-like panel and a single line of text appeared in the center.

<Make your attack. In the unburdened Minus World, all power is swift and hits its mark>

It wasn’t much, but the Yard personnel all nodded after reading it.

Those with swords readied their swords. Those with guns readied their guns. Those with fists readied their fists.

Some had great power and some had little, but they all directed their attacks right into their mirror of light.

Then the mirrors shattered.

With a metallic crash, the mirror shards turned to light and raced across the sky.

Thousands or tens of thousands of miniscule lights covered most every part of the city’s sky.

And those who had wielded their power looked to the light’s destination.

At the center of DT, a giant knight readied his spear and ran toward a man who took a fighting stance in front of a woman.

<Everyone’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Light rushed in.

Before Aoe could even question it, the light entered his right fist and then flames enveloped his entire right arm up to the shoulder.

“What in the world!?”

“That’s Spell Breaker! Telyb and Fooblicky activated their Demigod Program using their joint Grandload and gathered the entire Yard’s attack power here!”

Aoe grasped the gist of what Yuo was telling him.

<I don’t really get it, but that sounds strong!>

“It is!”

He looked at his fist. He did feel strength there for the first time in a while. And he had Yuo behind him.

<Just like 6 years ago.>

His Grandloaded fist was so much better than the Downloaded one and it reminded him of many things.

He recalled who he had once been.

And he recalled who he was now.

It felt like having a great weight dropped into his gut.

He wrinkled his brow and felt like something was going to spew from his mouth.

That something was a shout.

His emotional vomit was about to escape him in vocal form.

So he clenched his teeth and neutralized his expression.

<Mh.>

He faced forward. The knight was nearly within arm’s reach and his spear was raised.

So Aoe took action too.

He stepped forward.

The Dummy Data roof bent with the ideal curve below his foot.

The creaking of the wood combined with the whoosh of the spear through the air.

Aoe took a quick breath.

That was his start sign.

He gathered strength in his gut and stepped carefully on the wood panel to continued forward.

The knight was charging in to jab with his spear. He pushed his stomach toward the edge of the roof where Aoe stood.

He swung his spear with great speed.

But Aoe showed no fear. He didn’t have the time. He immediately stepped forward.

Feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, butt, hips, back, chest, right shoulder, right arm, and right wrist.

After crouching down, he successively gathered strength in each body part, throwing it all forward.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The incoming spear tip flew over his head.

The knight’s gut was 2 yards in front of him.

Aoe took another step, but instead of sending the force of the step down into the roof, he clenched his fist harder and threw the force of the step behind that.

A sparking line of light ran through the black Load Emblem on his right arm. It ran from back to front.

Yuo took the same action as if pushed on by the racing light. The two Mice on her shoulders did the same. They all launched their right fist forward.

“Mh!”

Aoe’s fist shot out and broke through the upper limit that a program usually placed on destructive force. His fist landed at full strength.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The fist struck the knight’s side and the force propagated out from there.

All the power in Aoe’s fist was slammed into the knight’s entire body, like he was pushing a cylinder.

At the same time, Aoe and Yuo’s Load Emblem symbols grew larger. But that vanished after a mere instant and they shattered into light.

The attack was already over.

All that remained was a sizzling sound.

The back of the knight’s armor had ruptured.

Fire was burning in the hole in his back.

His black skin and black blood were dyed crimson as they burned.

A scream erupted from his entire body as he began to collapse.

He burned and his data as an NPC Body broke down. The textures forming his armor, skin, hair, and blood came apart as tiny chips and scattered. They flashed in midair before disappearing.

The fire burned his entire body evenly and he finally exploded.

Light scattered from him, and…

“––––!”

Aoe braced for the coming blast.

Just then, Yuo opened a window behind him.

<13th Demigod: Ranged Effect – 5%: Shadow Keep: Degradation Seal: Run>

A wall of light appeared in front of him.

That was in fact one side of a giant cylindrical protection shield. The shield of bluish-white light towered high into the sky and had to be at least 100 yards wide.

In an instant, the impact struck the shield’s inner wall and the flames pressed against it.

The sound of the scorching wind and expanding air came from the blast and flames spreading beyond that wall.

But Aoe felt no heat.

<So this is the proof Yuo is a Demigod.>

“Yes, I couldn’t show you this in Japan since it’s limited to DT!”

Yuo shouted her response just as the 100m-wide cylinder transformed.

Aoe watched as the shield shrunk down to a single point only a yard away from him.

Past the flames and smoke and wind, the walls forming the cylinder degraded. With repeated sounds like glass breaking underfoot, the wind and flames were absorbed directly in front of Aoe.

In two seconds, all of the destruction was gone. The wind and smoke had all been concentrated down in front of him.

A single data trigon now floated in the air at his eye level.

The yellow pyramid of data shined once, rotated horizontally, and…

<Blast contained within shield: Transferring to your care>

It fell.

“Oh,” he said while reaching out and catching the falling data trigon.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are currently standing on a roof.

You feel a somewhat heated wind.

A 100yd radius hole has been torn into the city below.

Aoe: <I went to all this trouble and I’m no better than I was 6 years ago?>

Aoe: “Yuo, I…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is collapsed at your feet in her shrunk form. The excessive heat consumption must have automatically shifted her into high performance mode.

She is sprawled out and sleeping alongside the two Mice.

The rooftop is nice and sunny.

Aoe: “Mh. You don’t make this easy on me.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You have collapsed as well. You are sprawled out next to her.

The sky above is an adjacent Other Page, so you cannot see it in Board Mode.

Aoe: “That’s fine. I’m sure it’s a picture perfect blue. Sigh, everything here is so fake.”

Aoe: “This city is exhausting.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Chapter 4: Beyond the Galaxy

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Today’s topic is trust.

The Son of God worked his butt off to fulfill the many prophecies needed to sit at the right hand of god!

He knew he would be betrayed, but he still entered the holy land to bear the cross, died, and was resurrected!

The following passage is something he said during that process.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.”

(Matthew 6: 22-23)

Comments:

• I Sense Someone’s Eyes -Mr. Vase

Sorry about posting from outside the city. I’m a 19-year-old from Daytona.

I heard I would get an answer in about 7 seconds if I posted it here.

Lately, I’ve been plagued by a peeping tom or a stalker.

Our house is a dump and I’ve been seeing a suspicious figure around at night.

Some weird things have been happening lately, like a young idiot moving in and my retired dad going back to work

07/07/2000 DT 00:03 AM (-14:57)

Help Text

Bodies and Subprograms

Generally speaking, no actual people exist within DT.

People’s actual Lives were once sent into DT, but the heat consumption required to preserve their Lives at a 100x boost was too great and it was deemed a waste of energy.

That led to a combination of the NPC Bodies and loading techniques being developed by the Three Sages and Archon Suedomsa.

This allowed the people’s Lives to be placed in an intermediary level built between DT and the outside world and they would remote control a Body placed within DT.

The technology was based on the Write Bring device used in Barrels. The Body was created from the visual data from the person’s Lives and a constant link is maintained with the Mind Lives controlling it.

This kind of Body became known as a PC Body.

The link to the PC Body’s senses allows people to use the PC Body like their own vessel and it feels to them like they are actually there.

Also, loading techniques allow them to temporarily load their Lives from the intermediary layer, allowing them to move more like they are accustomed to.

However, fully remote control of a PC Body is not possible. The PC Body can only “exist” by basing it on the person’s visual data and their Mind Lives must be placed within the PC Body for them to sense what it senses, so there is feedback between the PC Body and the person’s Lives. That means any injury to the PC Body is also applied to the Lives in the intermediary layer.

There was an attempt to develop a means of backing up the Lives to avoid death in this fashion, but when identical data to a Lives-bearing lifeform is created, the erroneous one is destroyed through resonance and the duplicate data can never fully reproduce the abilities of the original data. In other words, the data can be fully reproduced but it still ceases to function for some reason. For this reason, it is forbidden to fully back up an existing lifeform, including people, even though cloning parts such as skin or flesh are done.

Also, while Word Mails can be rapidly transmitted through the intermediary layer, transmitting data-heavy objects such as people is forbidden because it is unknown if the breakdown and reconstruction process would be safe.

That process is only allowed at the Yard or the Visitor Administration Office where they have high quality Live breakdown equipment.

PC Bodies have been created and controlled like this for a long time, but since people’s behavior changes with the times, data on their action and sensory patterns continues to be collected. That leads to the creation of more subprograms, but it is said we will always be plagued by poorly made subprograms and situations the subprograms cannot respond to.

For a while, there were mass riots caused by the poor quality of the subprograms, but from the earliest stages, it has been strongly recommended to use a false name in DT in order to avoid undue responsibility and a shrinking citizenry.

If any trouble does arise, people can adopt a new name or even a new PC Body appearance to avoid social attention and misunderstandings. This is not a fundamental solution, but it is the best way currently known of cleaning up after trouble inevitably occurs.

Telyb’s Board Mode: In DT Yard

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

This is the HQ Main Building Rooftop, a Top Page of DT Yard HQ, East District.

The current time is 12:03 AM.

A concrete floor stretches 20yd wide and 80yd long.

You are leaning on the southern railing and smoking a cigarette.

One PC Body accompanies you. She is Fooblicky Telyb Sys.

She is in her small high performance form.

Fooby: “So did you get details on the day’s battle from those two?”

Telyb: “I did. It wasn’t easy, though. They both went to the central library at around 10. To search the city database. Yuo will apparently be returning to the castle.”

Fooby: “To the castle, huh? So we won’t see her again until after the open release. When all the hidden data built up in that castle has been released to all of DT.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky is smiling with her eyebrows drooping. It appears to be a self-deprecating smile.

Fooby: “We really screwed this one up. She isn’t going to think very highly of us next time we meet. Because we’re the Minus Elites who can’t stop deceiving people.”

Fooby: “Sad to think the chaos in her tiny form during the day was the last we’ll see of her before so much changes.”

Telyb: “We knew this was coming eventually. We already had skeletons in our closets when we were summoned to create this city, but we were all Minus Elites who love revealing other people’s secrets. We tried to keep our secrets from the world after the 2nd Godtact Experiment, but that was never going to work.”

Telyb: “We strayed too far toward the Plus side when we’re supposed to be Hackers and loners.”

Fooby: “You realize you’re smiling right now, don’t you?”

Telyb: “You didn’t even need to Over Reload to tell, did you? Tomorrow, we Minus Elites will be revealing all the secrets to Yuo, who was once a Minus Dropout. …We’ll be succumbing to our resignation at long last. The Minus tendency to find joy in self-condemnation and self-harm is so exciting, isn’t it?”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky is shrugging her shoulders in exasperation.

Fooby: “But I bet Yuo is obliviously buried in windows at the library right about now. Delighted she can help out that stupid man.”

Fooby: “Have you given any thought to what Algo is planning? I analyzed the Lives of that NPC Body based on the data trigon Yuo made, but I still can’t tell who modified it or how. This looks like trouble. Has Algo sent us any kind of message about his intentions?”

Telyb: “A single Word Mail during the day. The address was unknown, but it was probably from Algo. It told us to immediately evacuate all of DT’s residents if we don’t want a repeat of today’s trouble.”

Fooby: “Anything else? Like demanding a godtact experiment?”

Telyb: “Nada.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

The wind is blowing.

You look up into the sky.

Fooblicky tilts her head next to you.

She is wrinkling her brow. She appears puzzled.

Fooby: “Why not? Does he plan to send another message tomorrow?”

Telyb: “Maybe. And if he does, I’m sure he’ll ask if we would like to break free of our resignation and turn around our past failure without worrying about the cost.”

Fooby: “He thinks he’s a hero, but only the people who were there can truly understand.”

Telyb: “Do you think he knows the three factors needed for a godtact experiment?

“1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives.

“2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives.

“3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body.

“#1 and #2 can be created since DT has the royal castle and Babel. But…”

Fooby: “If the experiment succeeds, whoever is chosen for #3 will have their personhood stripped away and all their memories erased as they’re reduced to a mere vessel for the great god. That is death in a manner of speaking.”

Telyb: “And the summoning of the great god will cause a Great Godquake. So many people will be harmed and the world will gain an almighty power as it accepts the great god as a Glossolalian. In other words, it will mean great destruction and rebirth.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

The wind is picking up and Fooblicky leans against the railing.

Fooby: “The link between destruction and rebirth is so exhausting. We’ve created this city three times now. Once on the charred remains after the Word Bomb blast, once after the destruction brought by the 1st Godtact Experiment, and once 2000 years ago after the destruction brought by the 2nd Godtact Experiment.”

Telyb: “But we realized the error of our ways that third time. If only it hadn’t taken that girl’s sacrifice to teach us Minus Elites how horrifying destruction truly is. But that’s why we did whatever it took to protect the DT we have now. Even if that meant sealing away some memories and telling some lies to avoid confusion. Suedomsa and Yuo are the real victims here.”

Fooby: “We acted out of guilt. Minus Elites aren’t supposed to feel that.”

Telyb: “And that’s why we screwed it up. We didn’t want her to think we were deceiving her, so we left behind some hints. It’s the same reason Akalabeth Bubezleeb failed to perfect the Questron meant to enclose the vessel during the 2nd Godtact Experiment.”

Fooby: “Yeah, Akalabeth and I gave Yuo her Natas name as a hint.”

Telyb: “Yes, the lonely ruler who doesn’t fit in with the rest of the demon army. And the tempter of the Son of God. I doubt she knows the real meaning behind that name.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

The wind suddenly stops.

Telyb: “I doubt she knows it’s because she was meant to become a god, but never did.”

Fooby: “It’s strange. When we were constructing DT, it was Suedomsa who kept quoting the bible and gave us divine names since we were working to summon a god. Even though he was the biggest loner among the Minus Elites. Ironic that he doesn’t remember any of it anymore.”

Fooby: “And after she was formatted and had her memories sealed away, Yuo went to Japan and learned a song there. The very same song she had sung before losing her memories. And when she returned to DT, the OS chose the Load Emblem of the singing prophet for her.”

Telyb: “Some people call the Son of God a prophet. And Aoe’s emblem is a spear – the same weapon used to confirm the Son of God was dead.”

Fooby: “Hee hee. You make it sound like that stupid man is going to be checking to see if Yuo is dead.”

Telyb: “You never know how fate is going to play out. And it’s only symbolic. Although I am curious what Algo Everquest and Alternative Kobayashi’s Load Emblems are.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky is looking at you.

She is wrinkling her brow a bit. She looks somewhat troubled.

Fooby: “Don’t tempt fate.”

Telyb: “Something about all this is bothering me, is all. I can’t put it to words yet, but I saw some kind of symbolism forming here when I saw that giant NPC Body today.”

Telyb: “It reminded me that someone used to be able to create things like that at will.”

Fooby: “Eh?”

Telyb: “I’ll tell you more after I read Yuo’s report in the morning.”

Telyb: “Now, I feel bad asking this now, but I have two requests for you.”

Telyb: “First, please hurry your analysis of that giant NPC Body’s Lives. Make sure you’re done by the morning.”

Fooby: “Fine, but that’s really pushing it.”

Telyb: “I know. But I don’t want to act on incomplete information. I’ve had enough of failing at the last second for one life.”

Telyb: “And my other request is that you deploy the Yard’s main force to the castle in the morning.”

Fooby: “Eh? What are you planning?”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky’s expression has changed from her previous wrinkled brow.

She is now looking directly at you with her eyebrows level. It is a look of determination.

Fooby: “I can do that too. You always have been right about these kinds of- oh, a Word Mail.”

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

A white mouse Mouse pokes its head out from Fooblicky’s pocket.

Fooby: “It’s from Akalabeth and meant for both of us.”

Telyb: “Why did she send it to you if it’s meant for us both?”

Fooby: “Women can always tell who in a couple is really in charge.”

<Opening Word Mail Window>

Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb’s Word Mail: To Mr. and Mrs. Telyb

5th and 6th Demigods: Ogre and Fooblicky Telyb.

It has been too long since our last correspondence. Are you doing well?

We must be the only ones wondering if our current place in the world will end tomorrow. Because no one else knows what happened before the 2nd Godtact Experiment.

In that sense, this is probably the last time I will send a personal Word Mail while feeling such fear about the past. More broadly speaking, tonight is the last time I will fear the memory of the sin we committed in the 2nd Godtact Experiment.

Fooblicky, do not let any of this get between you and Yuo.

How can we ever forget the requirements for a godtact experiment?

1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives.

2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives.

3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body.

The 1st Godtact Experiment failed because #3 was imperfect, but the failure of #2 was my responsibility because I suggested you to fill the role of #3 based on the idea that the most “godly” body would be an unsullied and immortal body. You have no reason to blame yourself for what happened afterwards. Nor does Ogre.

If I had to guess, I would say this all came from the fact that we are Demigods who failed to become true gods.

My one small regret is that Yuo is not with me at the moment.

I sent her to Japan for 300 of the past 2000 years and she learned so much and grew so much from it. After she returned, she stopped forcibly digging into DT’s datanet to search for her old memories (well, she still does it from time to time) and seeing her now makes me think she carries the past, present, and future with her.

But that all ends tonight. I hear she is at the library with the man who looked after her in Japan. She has been in a very good mood of late.

Suedomsa will be here to authorize the boost setting change and the open release tomorrow. I just sent Yuo a Word Mail asking her to be present for that.

Maybe this isn’t fair to the rest of you, but the plan is for Suedomsa and I to tell her everything afterwards. We will reveal her hidden past to her.

Then I will be pardoning the man who cares so much for her, but after that I plan to transfer all authority over DT to Yuo as my adoptive daughter (just like I suggested to you all 2000 years ago). But only if she wants it, of course.

The prophet who once sacrificed herself out of resignation will hand everything to the divine child who can speak new Texts.

Continue to protect the castle and city until then.

<Returning to Telyb’s Sight Mode>

Telyb’s Sight Mode: In DT Yard

<Telyb’s Over Reload>

In Sight Mode, Telyb reread the Word Mail window open above Fooblicky’s head.

His eyes ran along the text displayed on the backlit window in the wind blowing below the artificial night sky.

“Hm.”

He bent backwards and took a step back.

He placed his hands on the railing and tilted his head in thought.

Fooblicky closed the window and turned toward him with a similar expression.

“That was an awfully mellow message, but the last line sure was concise. The Yard already has a station in the castle and they have their own knights for protection, but now she wants more?”

“Either way, you still need to do complete the tasks I gave you.”

“That just leaves the Lives analysis. I should also send invitations to the Yard ambassadors deployed around the world. They should come running back for the open release, so I think I can throw something together.”

“Please do,” said Telyb before looking to the south.

<Telyb’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

The distant details became visible.

A giant tower jutted into the night sky to the south. It was Babel, the word tower with small flashing lights at a few points.

Telyb lowered his gaze from that tower that looked so dark at the moment.

Medical facilities, commercial facilities, and an amusement park sat the feet of Babel, surrounding the southern mountain. The buildings were only visible as silhouettes, but they were some of the few modern structures in DT.

His eyes landed on the amusement park in particular. A blimp floated in the sky above it.

His lips parted without even a hint of a smile and he spoke his thoughts aloud.

“The problem is Algo Everquest. Who are Alternative Kobayashi’s father and sister he mentioned? Knowing that would tell us if he is a terrorist or a skilled idealist.”

“Eh?”

“That would tell us if those two are the kind of people who could have taught Algo the three factors needed for a godtact experiment. If he isn’t aware of them, then he is a terrorist dreaming of performing a godtact experiment. If he is aware, then he is likely skilled enough to have set everything up to realize his ideals. Then even today was likely part of that setup.”

Telyb sounded disgusted by the idea and Fooblicky smiled a little.

“Let’s hope Yuo and that stupid man’s investigation shows some results then. Hopefully they find something before tomorrow morning.”

She grabbed the railing and stood alongside him.

He spoke to her while she stood up on her toes to see out over the railing.

“If those two do find something before then, then we can reveal a portion of the past to Aoe ahead of the open release. The other Demigods probably won’t like that, though.”

Fooblicky shut her eyes.

“I wonder how much Yuo has figured out about her hidden past.”

“Yes, she did a lot of research in the past, so there are times when I wonder if she actually knows everything. Do you know what she said to me before leaving for the library earlier?” He took a breath. “ ‘Make sure to tell me even more after tomorrow’s open release.’ ”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s figured it out. Like you said earlier, the city is rife with evidence of our Minus guilt about Yuo and Suedomsa. All the divine symbolism could have clued her in to her identity.” Fooblicky laughed in an exasperated way before realization struck her. “Oh. Come to think of it, Suedomsa’s emblem is symbolic too.”

“It sure is,” agreed Telyb before describing the symbol he had seen in the past. “His emblem is a cross.”

<Telyb’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in 3950-E Street, a Top Page of the Central Residential District.

The current time is 2:18 AM.

You are walking from the Central Library in the south to DT Yard HQ.

The street is lined with homes on both sides.

A single PC Body is walking alongside you. She is Yuo Natas Wav.

Aoe: “Whew, I ate way too much.”

Yuo: “Only you would eat that much at the library lounge. And the dog on your shoulder ate an awful lot for a Mouse.”

Aoe: “He isn’t just a dog. His name is Monkey.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey is seated on your right shoulder. He nods vigorously when you look him in the eye.

Yuo frowns. She looks exasperated.

Yuo: “It’s sad that Mice can’t choose their masters. Anyway, it was worth insisting the library opened the lounge so late at night. That place is British run, so the tea is superb.”

Aoe: “Mh.”

Yuo: “That’s no excuse for chugging my pot too, though.”

Aoe: “You’re the one that scarfed down those fries along with your weasel.”

Yuo: “I was hungry. Because I’ve been in Sight Mode for most of the day.”

Aoe: “Huh?”

Yuo: “Sight Mode is exhausting, but it ensures you don’t overlook anything or make any mistakes.”

Aoe: “Mh. Really?”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe switched all his senses over to Sight Mode.

His sense of touch hit him first. Then he noticed the darkness around him.

The night was chilly even with the summer setting turned on and the wind carried an earthy scent. The world around him had the perfection only found in an idealized falsehood.

There were no streetlights. The stars in the sky were the only source of light. Without even moonlight, the city stretching out on either side of the road was a mass of dark shapes.

But there was one other source of light to Aoe’s left.

The many windows Yuo had open around her were shining. They were opened overhead and on either side of her, so they cast multiple shadows of the two walking on the sidewalk.

He watched her as he walked. She had a see-through keyboard drawn with lines of light floating in front of her and she typed with just one hand while bringing her other hand’s fingers to a few of the windows.

The ferret on her shoulder waved her front paws to open and close the windows indicated by Yuo’s fingers.

Windows disappeared, more appeared, text scrolled along them, text spread out, and text came to a stop. It felt like watching the beginnings of a rain shower.

After a few steps walked in silence, Yuo turned toward him.

After observing him, she noticed his expression and smiled.

“Hey, what are you staring at? You switched to Sight, didn’t you?”

<I was only noticing all the things you were doing without me noticing.>

The words written in his window were the truth.

She read them and her smile grew. She pointed at the few windows around her.

“Yes, you can’t see these in Board Mode.”

She focused on one window in particular. The file listed DT residents whose names had a similar sound or meaning to Kobayashi. Their wild names weren’t given, but the list did include the PC Body photo taken at the Yard’s visitor lobby when they first entered the city.

“But none of them look very likely. I did send Word Mails to their providers asking for their data.”

“And we have to wait 100x as long for a response, don’t we?”

“Even if they respond right away, 3 minutes out there is 5 hours for us. Let’s try to have our answer by 10 tomorrow morning. It’s getting late.”

Yuo showed him a Divine Mail with a bashful smile.

“I have to head home soon. My mom in the castle sent me this message saying she isn’t staying up for me.”

“Do you two get along?”

“Eh? Yes, I suppose. But…she, Fooblicky, and the others sometimes give me weird looks. Oh, but I don’t mean like leering looks. It’s like they feel sorry for me.”

“Probably because they see how you lack an ordinary level of tension. Anyone would feel sorry for you.”

“It’s not that. In fact, it’s mostly when I’m in a really good mood.” She tilted her head. “A long time ago, Alternative got after me for looking so sorry for her just because she has Words Warn. I get that same feeling.”

“Sis was really fond of you. It’s probably the same here.”

“Hmm,” Yuo groaned in thought.

“Anyway, shouldn’t you respond to your mother? What did she say?”

“Oh, just that she wasn’t staying up for me and that I needed to get up early for the audience at 10 tomorrow morning. She says she and Suedomsa have something to tell me after Suedomsa gives his approval.”

“I see.”

Aoe nodded.

<A royal audience. Not a life I’m familiar with.>

“I know you said this Suedomsa guy’s Words Warn day of destruction is tomorrow, but what kind of person is he?”

Aoe looked to Yuo.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Yuo was looking back at him.

Her eyebrows were somewhat lowered in the bluish shadows of the night.

Below them, her largish eyes were directed his way with the windows’ light faintly reflected in them.

He stepped back from the detailed expression. And…

“Mh. What? Did I say something wrong?”

“Eh? Oh, um, well.”

She turned away, looking back to the window displaying the message from her adoptive mother, and nodded in renewed resolve.

She looked back his way with strength in her gaze.

She stopped walking, so he did as well.

She placed a hand on her chest and breathed in.

He took a breath of his own and waited for her to speak.

She nodded again and started speaking with determination written plain on her face.

“Archon Suedomsa is the only other Asian among the 13 Demigods.”

“Mh.”

“And during the explosion triggered by the 2nd Godtact Experiment, I was killed and he was badly injured. The rest were unharmed. That means he must have been near me. Why, I couldn’t tell you.”

He thought on her words a moment and nodded with a frown.

“Mh,” he grunted before she continued like she had been waiting for that.

“And you know what? I was made immortal by the godtact at the age of 17 or 18. I wasn’t old enough to be a researcher, but I was present for both godtact experiments.”

“Were you someone’s family?”

“I think so,” she replied after a pause. “My mom’s message wants me to be there for Suedomsa’s audience with her. So I can’t help but wonder if, well, um…”

She mumbled, looked away, and reached a hand toward the hair draped over her shoulder.

Aoe sucked in a breath and spoke before her hand could reach it.

“Tell me.”

“O-okay.”

She blanked her expression and brought her drifting hand back to her chest.

She moved her lips like she was rehearsing her statement and then got it out.

She stated her guess that she felt surer of all the time.

“Suedomsa might be my father.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo stands in front of you.

Her eyebrows are somewhat lowered while she looks right at you. Meaning of the expression is unknown.

Aoe: “Oops. That surprised me a bit, so I ended up in Board again.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is wrinkling her brow with tears in the corners of her eyes. She looks troubled.

Yuo: “You’re hopeless. I finally get out what’s been on my mind since returning to DT and this is the response I get? You’re supposed to hug the heroine and try to calm her down.”

Aoe: “Cut me some slack. …So you never gave up on searching out your past, did you?”

Aoe: “But should you really be telling me this?”

Yuo: “Don’t worry about it. This is almost certainly me jumping to conclusions. We both lost our memories, after all. I keep telling myself I’m just imagining this because he’s so kind to me and our circumstances are similar.”

Yuo: “I could bear it when it was just a baseless guess, but after reading too much into that message and thinking about how tomorrow is his final day…well, I just wanted to tell someone.”

Aoe: “Mh. You can always come to me if you need an ear to listen. I don’t mind at all.”

Yuo: “Yes, you have always been a good listener.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo wipes away the tears with her right hand.

Her eyebrows are drooping and her mouth somewhat tense. Meaning of the expression is unknown.

Aoe: “Is something still bothering you?”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe returned to Sight.

His lowered vision saw the dark street. He felt the bumpy dirt ground below his feet.

But he could not feel the thickness of the weeds growing on the ground. Nor could he feel the softness of the soil.

It was all fake.

He had already known that, so he thought it was weird to only notice it now. He also told himself he had more important things to focus on at the moment.

He only had to look up to see the proper target of his attention: Yuo.

She was looking at him with her eyebrows drooping a bit.

She had not Downloaded or Grandloaded, so that was only a piece of data known as a PC Body that was given her shape. Her Lives data stored in DT’s intermediary layer resonated with it and subprograms moved it around.

But Yuo was looking at him, so he looked back at her.

He thought he saw some sadness cast over her face illuminated by the windows.

He realized the windows around her were beginning to close. They had been set to automatically close if left idle for a period of time, so they started flashing and then closed in the order they had been opened in.

<I misinterpreted the growing darkness as sadness.>

Yuo glanced at his window and responded.

“No. I am…worried. You interpreted correctly. As weird as it is to say it myself,” she said with no change of expression.

She moved her hands to bring two windows up next to her: the list of names possibly related to Kobayashi and the Word Mail sent by her adoptive mother.

In their light, she seemed to be working up the nerve to say something.

“Um, Senpai?”

“Mh,” he grunted with a nod and she nodded back.

“I said I think Suedomsa might be my father, right? Set that aside for the moment. We are searching for Alternative’s father. The father of the tiny Alternative we met during the day.”

“Mh.”

“Do you think her father is…an ordinary DT citizen?”

He didn’t know what she meant at first, so he replied with confusion.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This city is made of falsehoods. For example, the night sky you see above us has no moon.”

Now that she mentioned it, he realized it did lack a moon.

“The position of the stars is set to match the sky in the outside world, but doing the same with the moon had it out for around 1000 hours and I’ve heard there were complaints from Glossolalians.”

“So you hid the moon?”

“The Glossolalians are influenced by the real moon in the outside world, so it would actually be more accurate to show it that way here, but they say it feels wrong to see it up there for so long.”

“Mh,” grunted Aoe. “Get to the point.”

“This is part of my point. Again, the night sky only has stars.”

When he looked up and strained his eyes, he could indeed see a very bright starry sky.

“The moon received complaints, but no one has ever complained about how the stars are displayed. Do you get what that means? This sky is fake, but it’s close enough to the real one that no one cares.”

Aoe said nothing as he kept his eyes on the sky above and waited for her to continue.

After a bit, she spread her arms and gestured toward the city around them.

“Similarly, DT has been remade several times, but its boundaries and the layout of the streets remain almost identical to before the Word Bomb destroyed it. It’s all nearly the same as the industrial city of Detroit that built cars and aerial ships.” She took a breath. “So don’t you think people would use the same basic image of their wild name when creating their handle?”

Aoe looked down.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Yuo was within arm’s reach in front of him.

She wasn’t standing up straight, but she had a hand on her chest and looked straight at him.

The shade of sadness remained on her face.

She opened her mouth with only two windows illuminating her face now.

“I will now explain my theory to you. I have a question too, so please answer if you can.”

“Mh.”

“First, think about the handle Archon Suedomsa. An archon is a type of governor. Suedomsa is the demon Asmodeus spelled backwards. Asmodeus is a demon of pleasure and fertility, so it is a good name for the person in charge of the amusement park and medical facilities and the person who led the creation of NPC Bodies long ago.”

“Mh.”

“Then there is Alternative. Her father would be her uncle’s brother, right? Even an idiot can figure that much out, right? Right?”

“Mh? Mhh? Um, you mean…?”

“Moving on. Alternative’s uncle was your and Algo’s master and his name was Kobayashi Ungyou. In Japanese, the ‘un’ is the second half of ‘aum’ and the ‘gyou’ means dawn.”

“Mh. So the um is the ending and the dawn is the beginning.”

“Now what are the opposites of both?”

“In aum, the opposite of um is ‘a’. And the opposite of dawn would be dusk or ‘kon’.”

“And what do you get when you combine those two?”

He started to give the answer but stopped.

He tried the name out in his mouth for a bit and subtly adjusted the pronunciation to end up with something that sounded very familiar.

“Kobayashi…Archon.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

You are in the Top Level Hall, a Top Page of the Central Administrative Building, White Castle, South Amusement Park.

The current time is 2:34 AM.

The only thing in the 30yd room is red carpet and four windows each on the south and north walls.

You are standing by the south windows.

A single old-style NPC Body accompanies you. She is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a cartoony old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives.

She is seated on your left shoulder.

Algo: “I can’t see the adjacent Page since I’m in Sight, but I’m guessing it’s dark out.”

Alternative: <You love coming here at this time, don’t you?>

Algo: “The empty amusement park reminds me of when my mother abandoned me. It was also in an amusement park that I tried picking a fight with Master Ungyou when he was on a trip to America and got punched really hard.”

Alternative: <So it’s where you were betrayed and abandoned, but also where you were taken in and found someone you could trust?>

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Alternative’s eyes are closed but bent. She is smiling.

Algo: “My mother left me behind, but I wouldn’t have been taken in by my master or met you if she hadn’t.”

Algo: “They say some of the fairy species like the long lived still have a habit of making changelings. Because that change is supposed to transform one answer into another.”

Alternative: <Are you saying that our betrayal of Shouzou will eventually lead to another answer?>

Algo: <Does it sadden you that Aoe and Yuo are our enemy?>

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Alternative’s eyes are closed with the eyebrows drooping. She looks exasperated.

Alternative: <You had a smile in your voice when you said that, didn’t you?>

Algo: “It’s true. Because it makes me happy that Aoe is still searching for the ‘strongest attack’ even though he said he was giving up on fighting.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Alternative’s eyes are only partially closed. Meaning of the expression is unknown.

Alternative: <So what is the strongest attack he’s searching for?>

Algo: “Let’s see. Could you tell me what the strongest defense is?”

Alternative: <Eh? I guess it would be something that can protect against anything.>

Algo: “Yes. So the strongest defense is the power to eliminate your opponent’s attack power.”

Alternative: <So would the strongest attack be the power to eliminate your opponent’s defenses?>

Algo: “In the simplest sense, yes. But your opponent can keep fighting even if their armor has been shattered. They won’t accept defeat as long as they still have their attack power. But as attackers, we can’t steal their attack power from them. Normally, we would stop them by breaking through their defenses and taking their life.”

Alternative: <But that’s a “deadly” attack. What would a “strongest” one be?>

Algo: “The answer is tricky but simple at the same time. Think about how you can use your strength.”

Algo: “When you get down to it, a deadly attack is just another kind of strength.”

Algo: “As attackers, the strongest is an ideology that leads to the best possible result where we break our opponent’s spirit without killing them.”

Algo: “You could look at it like an equation of Plus and Minus – of attack and defense.”

Algo: “So the strongest would be an equation where the attacker achieves both at once. The question is what kind of equation will end a battle without either side going Minus.”

Algo: “But finding that answer requires understanding the equation and its meaning.”

Alternative: <Hm? The equation…and its meaning?>

Algo: “Yes, because people aren’t numbers. We can liken them to Plus and Minus signs all day long, but it’s the analog people who actually throw the punches. You can work out the perfect equation, but even that is only a guideline.”

Algo: “I feel like you can express anything as an equation if you use Plus and Minus signs, but you’re really just using symbols. To achieve the strongest attack, you need to consider the true meaning behind the equation. After all, is it possible for people to calculate out two numbers using symbols…and do they even want to?”

Alternative: <I can’t believe you. Are we still talking about martial arts? You sound more like you’re telling riddles.>

Alternative: <This is what you were expecting Shouzou to figure out? You must have a lot of faith in him.>

Algo: “He hasn’t reached that point yet. Yuo must betray him again so that we can achieve the three factors. The Quartet said the past resignation will continue, remember?”

Algo: “And all through the program we built to recover Suedomsa’s memories.”

Alternative: <The program actually fully rewrites someone’s memories. It will erase his present self by overwriting his new memories with the ones that were sealed away.>

Algo: “No one knows what will happen then. Tomorrow, on the Day of the Oracle, if either Suedomsa’s 1st phase or our 2nd phase goes as planned, the two of us will live on. We will preserve our lives. Although with the 2nd phase, that might not count as living.”

Alternative: <Are you sure this will work? What about the Yard?>

Algo: “I’m sure some of them have noticed, but most of them should see our actions as a terrorist threat. …Oh.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

You are coughing.

Alternative: <Are you okay, Algo? You had a bad fit when facing Shouzou during the day too.>

Algo: “I’m fine. I was prepared for this. This cough is the reason I can never return to the Plus World of reality.”

Algo: “Because it means I have taken on your Words Warn.”

<Algo’s Board Mode has ended.>

Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

The dark hall stretched out before Algo’s eyes as his coughing fit settled down.

He looked up at small Alternative on his left shoulder and then viewed the empty hall.

The windows on the opposite wall were still open.

They gave a blurry view of the dark DT streets.

“Phew. Suedomsa said they lost everything in the 2nd Godtact experiment, so this is their revenge, atonement, criticism of their own stagnancy, and apology to those they abandoned.”

He turned just his head to look to the sky behind him.

The dark sky with sparkling specks of white light was blurry from here.

Babel’s silhouette jutted into that sky.

A window floated above Alternative on his shoulder.

<What will Shouzou think once he learns more about Yuo?>

“He’s an idiot, so he’ll probably worry over it.”

Alternative opened a window simply saying <My.> in response to Algo’s character assessment. Her eyebrows were raised in a look of reproach.

But Algo’s bitter smile only grew.

“But once he learns the truth about her, I know he’ll come to her. As long as he doesn’t fear the falsehoods and his own fists, he will try to save her and eliminate her worries.”

Algo stretched his hand out the window and toward Babel before clenching his fist.

“The shape of the falsehoods is plain to see in this city.”

<These thought windows and their strings of text with no tone of voice behind them are a lot like a falsehood. You can think of them like the empty shell of someone’s true will. So if you consider falsehoods to be a betrayal, then all of these thought windows are a betrayal.>

“Ever since the invention of writing, people have been fighting back against reality’s security and defensive measure that prevents writing along from expressing emotions. And…the power of a fist is the same.”

Alternative lowered her gaze in response to Algo’s statement. She did not express agreement or disagreement.

Then a footstep ran through the hall.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Someone was standing in the landing connecting the hall to the stairs.

The slender figure in green had a dove on his shoulder.

His gray hair was swept back, but he had the face of a man in the prime of his life. He pushed his glasses up his nose and turned toward Algo and Alternative.

Algo turned toward him and Alternative raised her gaze from Algo’s shoulder.

<Dad.>

<Algo’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The first place Aoe looked was Yuo’s hand after she said Suedomsa might be her father.

Her hand was teasing the hair spilling over her shoulder.

Then he looked to her face.

He viewed the expression there.

But before he could identify that expression and consider what that meant, he made a different decision.

He took action before that decision could appear in a window above his head.

He pulled Yuo toward him and hugged her.

He took a step forward himself and held her in his arms. She twisted her shoulders in protest at first, but only for a moment. When he held her tighter, she stopped.

She leaned into his chest, pressing her nose against him and bending her long ears.

Then she let out a quiet breath resembling a cough.

“I know I’m thinking too much and I have no real evidence of it. But if it’s true…then it means I met my own sister in Japan without knowing it.”

“Mh.”

“What if Alternative was so nice to me because I was her amnesiac sister and she never said anything for my sake? I-I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

Aoe felt Yuo’s shoulders trembling in his arms.

He wondered what he should do and settled on showing he was listening.

“Mh.”

It was only a quiet grunt, but she nodded, coughed, and sucked in a breath.

“I-I’m jumping to so many conclusions, aren’t I?”

She coughed again. She took another quick breath and calmed her breathing, but her voice grew scratchy in response.

She used that raspy voice to speak directly into his chest.

“I’ve lived in this Minus city for 600 years since then, but I still remember that brief time I spent living a Plus life in Japan and I just can’t seem to decide which one is for me. I have to wonder if I can never be an elite of either and that I might be a dropout who can’t choose one or the other. So if you’re a Plus dropout, then I’m a Minus one.” She hung her head further in his arms. “I know…I know I’m just stacking assumptions on top of assumptions,” she said, pressing her face into his chest with her long ears still bent. “So why does it worry me so much?”

Aoe held her even tighter when he heard that. The hands he usually clenched into fists were open and rubbing her back that felt so small right now.

Feeling her back below his hands, he suddenly remembered what Algo had once asked him.

<Why is the wind so cold?>

He responded to both Yuo and Algo’s questions and to neither.

“Yes, why is that?”

I’m no help, he realized afterwards.

I’m so inexperienced, he added.

He sensed Yuo moving in his arms.

He looked down to see her looking up.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Her eyebrows were gently angled and her eyes were closed.

She still had tears in the corners of her eyes and her lips were somewhat parted. Those lips were moving a bit.

“Why is that?”

He didn’t have an answer for her, so he lowered his head.

He brought his lips toward her face.

He started with her tears and sucked them up.

The tears left a piercing saltiness on his tongue.

“Ah.”

A tremor ran through her face, but he ignored it. He ran his tongue tip down the bridge of her nose to the tip. When he pulled away from there, she angled her face a bit upwards to accept him.

And just as he brought his lips toward hers, the last two windows closed.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

His eyes instinctually searched for details, but he shut them to block that out.

He pressed his lips against hers.

And…

A sound like colliding stones came from between their mouths.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is in your arms.

Her eyes are bent and she is smiling. It is a bitter smile.

Yuo: “Oh, god. You haven’t changed at all, have you? How did you manage to knock our teeth together? Were you trying to bite me?”

Aoe: “…Mh.”

Yuo: “Are you mad? I thought it was hilarious.”

Aoe: “Mh.”

Yuo: “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed. Seriously though, don’t let it bother you too much. Look at your arms, Senpai.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

There is a slight gap between your arms and Yuo.

Yuo: “Hugging requires two people, but the subprograms have trouble with that kind of thing since they can’t predict the size of the other person.”

Aoe: “…Mh.”

Yuo: “Don’t apologize. It’s the thought that counts and I appreciate it. Also…”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo has slipped out from your arms.

Her eyebrows are drooping and she has a smile on her lips. Meaning of the expression is unknown.

Yuo: “I don’t think you’re a dropout. Do you remember 600 years ago when stripped off all my clothes, swore you would look after me for the rest of my life, and then knocked our teeth together just like that trying to kiss me?”

Aoe: “…Mh.”

Yuo: “It was after that that Alternative called for you, that mess happened, you couldn’t see me the next day, and then I returned to DT.”

Yuo: <But if you hadn’t gone then, you wouldn’t have been able to save Alternative from her worries. And then I couldn’t have had you with me now that I’m worried.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is holding a hand to her chest and looking at you.

Yuo: “Let me apologize tomorrow.”

Aoe: “You have nothing to apologize for.”

Yuo: “Don’t do that, Senpai. You think I don’t have to apologize if you make yourself the bad guy, don’t you? I can’t blame the subprograms for this one, so there isn’t such a simple answer.”

Yuo: “But I don’t play fair either, so I will apologize at the castle tomorrow. I’ll make sure to wear a cute dress so you can hug me again…and then we can continue where we left off 600 years ago.”

Yuo: “If we fully share our personal settings, the DT OS will perform an artificial Live exchange and give us a joint Load Emblem like Telyb and Fooblicky have.”

Yuo: “Don’t you want to see what kind of Load Emblem we can create together?”

Aoe: “Don’t be stupid. You’re DT’s princess, aren’t you?”

Yuo: “My official position has no bearing on what I need to do or what I want to do.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo is looking at you with her hands clenched into fists.

Yuo: “ ‘I shall move ever forward.’ I can accomplish anything if I don’t give up, right?”

Yuo: “I might be worried, but I won’t give up on the past. So, Senpai…”

Yuo: “Please don’t give up on the strongest you’ve wanted to find for so long.”

Aoe: “…Mh.”

Yuo: “Oh, you finally smiled.”

Aoe: “Hey, are you still in Sight Mode? Won’t that make you hungry?”

Yuo: “Nope, I’m in Board Mode. But I can still tell. Call it a hunch.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo has turned her back and taken a step down the street toward the castle.

Yuo: “Okay, it’s time to say goodbye for now. Take that street there and you’ll reach the Yard HQ. Your pardon is at 11 tomorrow, so don’t be late.”

Yuo: “Oh, and just in case, I’ve altered your settings so you will be labeled a runaway if you aren’t at the castle by 12. That will shut down all of your nonessential subprograms.”

Aoe: “Did you really have to do that?”

Yuo: “Don’t oversleep and it won’t be an issue. And tomorrow morning, I will be Word Mailing Telyb the results of today’s investigation and the speculation I shared with you. They seem to be analyzing that giant NPC Body, so they might have figured something out by then. Bye.”

Aoe: “Mh.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Yuo waves goodbye and starts walking away.

She looks back once and only once.

You clench your fists.

Aoe: “The strongest, hm? Algo said that was some kind of equation between the Plus and the Minus.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

The man standing on the landing was definitely smiling. His smiling lips parted and he spoke in a deep voice.

“I’m sorry, Alternative. I had forgotten about you all this time.”

The eyes behind his glasses remained somewhat unfocused as they moved from Alternative to Algo.

“Algo, thank you for your help over the past 50 years. And for the rest of the help I am sure you will give me.”

“Are you really going to do this, Master Suedomsa?”

“I don’t want to hear that from the man who accepted Alternative’s ring and her Words Warn.” Suedomsa smiled bitterly and coughed once, but he soon swallowed the breath. “50 years ago, when Ungyou tracked me down based on my handle and informed me by Word Mail that Alternative’s condition was worsening, I had no idea what it meant. Because I had lost my memories.”

“That message found its way to the Quartet and my master learned the whole truth. One day, Master Ungyou challenged me to a match and told me about you just before he collapsed.”

Algo pulled a book from his pocket. That was an object from the outside world, which were very difficult to bring into the virtual city. It was the original bible he had received from his master Kobayashi Ungyou.

Suedomsa finally looked to it with his eyebrows somewhat lowered.

“Was my brother a good man? When I knew him, he was my polar opposite – a Plus person through and through.”

Algo hesitated for a moment before swiftly forming his usual smile.

“He gave everything his all. When I began drifting toward the Minus, he asked me if I was going down that route and then he did everything he could to teach me the strongest.”

Algo put the book away and pointed toward his own face. The ringed finger indicated his eyes: one green and one yellow. That was the result of the Live collision that occurred when he took the title of Martial Arts Master through combat.

“I see,” said Suedomsa. “So my brother did what he could to fulfill the Plus side with his Kobayashi School. That leaves the Minus side to me. I must restart everything that was stopped after the failure of the 2nd Godtact Experiment 2000 years ago.”

After that, more people climbed the stairs behind them. Four to be exact.

They were the same anonymous old-style NPC Bodies who had gathered here during the day.

Suedomsa asked a question while watching them line up in front of the northern windows.

“We are short on time, so can you show me what you have planned?” He took a breath. “How do you intend to bring DT under your control and carry out a 3rd Godtact Experiment tomorrow?”

<Opening Word Mail Window>

Anon1’s Word Mail: To the Group

Preliminary Information

A successful godtact experiment will summon a great god and also sublimate the ley lines over a wide area. Based on the Godquake records from SF, Japan, and various cities, a radius of approximately 120-200 miles will be sublimated to summon the great god, so this is currently considered Death Techno.

This great sacrifice is worth it because the great god’s almighty power will save the entire world.

The experiment will be held tomorrow at 3 PM, the same time prophesied as the Day of the Oracle.

If Master Suedomsa fails, we will abandon the castle, transfer the duplicated Questron data trigon to Babel, and continue the godtact experiment there under Master Algo’s command.

Necessary Steps

1: Take control of the castle where the Questron is located.

2: Take control of a reactor to power the Questron and a reactor to extract the great god’s Lives.

3: Set the properties for the vessel to contain the great god’s Lives.

4: Keep the guards away.

Status

1: Several of the NPC Bodies in the castle and city have been swapped out in preparation to take the castle. This is thanks to the high-level old-style NPC Body creation program that Master Suedomsa manages as a Demigod. Master Suedomsa and we will use them to take control of the castle tomorrow after he arrives in the castle to authorize the boost settings change and open release.

Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb has the Questron control program, the Babel control program, and Portal, her Demigod Program needed to alter DT’s settings.

Thus, the key to our plan running smoothly is capturing the queen and stealing those programs from her.

2: Babel can play both roles. After stealing the Babel control program from the queen and fulfilling steps 1 and 3, we will surround Babel and the castle with a protection shield and use an enchanter’s spell to transfer its power to the castle. The equipment needed to repair the Questron has already been programmed during the past 50 years.

3: The vessel will not be a problem because we already know someone who is immortal and unsullied, and thus godlike. That person is sure to accept their role as the vessel to carry the great god’s Lives.

4: 7 of the 13 Demigods are in the outside world holding negotiations related to tomorrow’s boost setting change.

Problems

Not even making this world almighty can justify the possible consequences. We have already asked that DT’s citizens be evacuated from the city. And we will do everything we can to establish a separate defense shield to protect anyone who fails to evacuate from the Live sublimation caused by the summoning.

<Returning to Algo’s Board Mode>

Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

The night breeze blows in through the windows.

Algo: “We can work out the details later, but it looks like things are progressing well.”

Suedomsa: “First, I will begin a godtact experiment to make up for the past and, if that fails, Babel will be nice and warmed up for you to begin a second godtact experiment.”

Suedomsa: <Sorry for insisting on that. But I can’t let them get away with this.>

Algo: “Let who get away with what?”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Suedomsa looks up at the ceiling before nodding.

Suedomsa: “My former companions for covering up the aftermath of the godtact experiment I put a stop to. All because they feared the destruction of the great Godquake.”

Suedomsa: “They claim to be Minus Elites, but they couldn’t stick to the Minus path. Besides, I didn’t stop the 2nd Godtact Experiment for such a silly reason.”

Anon1: “It was because you sensed the temporal separation between your immortal self and Lady Alternative who remained in the outside world, wasn’t it? You realized whoever was left with the great god would become separated and isolated from all other people.”

Suedomsa: “You talk too much.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Suedomsa is smiling bitterly.

Suedomsa: “But yes, I did say that back then. Yet here I am trying to summon the great god. I know I lost a lot of time from having my memories hidden away, but I never imagined I would be taking on Akalabeth and the others’ role from back then.”

Suedomsa: “But this is far better than having it all swept under the rug as a failure. Algo, you say someone will come to stop us just like I did back then, don’t you?”

Anon1: “You mean Aoe Shouzou? I saw him once during the day.”

Anon2: “We have a very good reason to meet with that man.”

Algo: “To prove your resignation?”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Your words made the four by the window freeze in place.

Algo: “Our method for achieving step 3 seems awfully dirty to me. What do you four think? We will be making someone give up on everything and sacrifice themselves to summon the great god.”

Algo: “That means we are forcing resignation onto the vessel, doesn’t it?”

Anon1: “That is fine. Because we once supported that same person’s resignation.”

Alternative: <Eh?>

Anon2: “During the 2nd Godtact Experiment, we supported that person when their resignation led them to take on the vessel role. And we fought back against Master Suedomsa. However…”

Algo: “Just as that resignation was going to lead the experiment to success, Master Suedomsa’s intervention caused it to fail. Although even that fact has been scrubbed from history.”

Anon3: “Indeed. We were not given the result our actions provided.”

Anon4: “E-even though…we worked hard…to help.”

Suedomsa: “Yes, and I had a member of my family stolen from me along with my memories.”

Suedomsa: “I will be taking that piece of my past back from Akalabeth. Because only then can I be whole again.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Of the four by the windows, the man on the far right bows toward Suedomsa.

Anon1: “We shall accompany you. To see if our past actions were correct.”

Suedomsa: “Yes. And I will accompany you to the very end as a Minus Elite. Who needs the outside world? I will meet my end as a liar who took on a handle to pursue his own limits in the Minus World.”

Suedomsa: “To help with that, I will be altering your settings later. That way you can remove that anonymous setting at any time. And I will make sure you can call her by the name that has been set to hidden.”

Suedomsa: “You will finally be able to call her Kobayashi Yuo again.”

<Algo’s Board Mode has ended>

Chapter 5: The End of the Millennium

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Today’s topic is hypocrisy.

Today is the day of the open release, so everything will soon be out in the open!

The Son of God gave this warning before he visited a few different places and drove out a demon!

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

(Matthew 7:5)

Comments: My Daughter’s Eyes -Beer Bottle

I’m a 47-year-old man who works as a racer in the outside world.

I heard I would get an answer in about 7 seconds if I posted it here.

So lately I’ve been thinking about doing some real work, but it sounds like my only daughter doesn’t trust me. Saying I’m doing it for her seems outdated, but that is part of it and I can’t decide if

07/07/2000 DT 09:34 AM (-17:26)

Help Text

Benefits and Products of the 100x Boost

DT’s interior is boosted 100x, but that boosted speed is actually made by slowing the virtual world which naturally exists at the speed of light. After World War Two, when DT first became a virtual world, its speed was unstable and its OS was formatted to fix that.

People normally function based on bioelectric signals, so when they are virtualized, their senses are replaced with virtual ones that give them a maximum sensory speed of about a million times normal.

But only increasing reaction speed only makes time stretch out longer, so programs applied the boost settings to physical movement, chemical reactions, and such to transform DT into a world where everything moves at 100x speed.

Thus, DT’s interior is actually a trick used to make the 100x speed look like a world moving at ordinary speed.

But simply applying a 100x boost with programs would cause objects to overheat from the heat of their movement. Thus, a cooling program must be constantly running to reduce the heat as much as it is increased. Similarly, a tuning program is used to boost a portion of the metabolism to prevent accelerated aging, allowing residents’ aging to progress at the same speed as in the outside world. This tuning program is relaxed on individuals when they are injured or recuperating from illness, but it is generally applied to all of DT.

The accuracy of the cooling and tuning has increased dramatically since the early days of DT, but for the settings change on July 7, 2000 DT, the plan is to first increase the boost from 100x to 110x and perform some research.

There are a variety of benefits to spending so much money and technology on creating a 100x boosted world, but the primary ones are convenience of technological development, accelerated data processing, bug recovery using the resonance with backed up data, holding prisoners sentenced to long terms, and giving terminally ill patients some extra time. However, chemistry research is difficult since the chemical reactions related to the metabolism are so heavily tuned. On the other hand, engineering, design, and data processing are accelerated so that DT residents are often hired when the item being developed is worth the cost.

Also, since adjustments to the tuning program can allow for short-term recovery from injuries, it is often used by athletes and soldiers.

One virtual benefit that is less obvious while within DT is that being a virtual world means no physical wiring or chips are necessary for communications and computing. Anyone can buy a program trigon giving them authorization to reduce DT’s boost on them and they can borrow a portion of the DT OS’s functionality, open a keyboard anywhere in the city, and carry out their computing or communications task.

The ability for anyone to create data can be seen as the greatest technology supporting DT.

Algo’s Board Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT

<Algo’s Over Reload>

You are in Castle Entrance, a Top Page of Castle Street, North Castle District.

The current time is 9:34 AM.

There is a wooden bridge spanning a castle moat in front of you and a large castle gate on the other side.

To your left and right, you see a large dirt road, a castle moat, and a castle wall.

There are many Bodies around. Your speech is restricted to those immediately around you.

Algo: “The morning market is even busier than normal what with the festival preparations.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

A morning market is set up alongside the moat. It is bustling with energy thanks to the approaching festival. There are simple foods like fruits for sale, but most places are selling secondary products like sweets.

Almost everyone is discussing the boost settings change and the open release.

A digital clock is set up in front of one shop. It indicates five and a half hours until the Day of the Oracle.

Alternative is walking alongside you in white.

Alternative: <It’s been so long since I was out and about. I wish I could stay full size forever.>

Algo: <I can imagine. If only you were simply taking a pleasant stroll with your father.>

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Suedomsa is behind you in a green robe.

Behind him are two robed figures with the hoods up. One is a black man dressed as a butler. The other is a young man carrying a long metal staff.

The passersby make way for your group.

Algo: “This market puzzles me. Almost none of the ingredients are grown in DT.”

Suedomsa: “Because the DT OS’s metabolism restriction affects the growth of all forms of life. Just as the DT residents’ lifespans are about a hundred times longer than in the outside world, DT’s crops and livestock have their lifespan boosted 100x. A bean sprout that grows in a week in the outside world would require 700 days to grow in DT. Removing the boost setting for each individual bean sprout would be a pain and increase the cost, so no one bothers doing it.”

Algo: “So any supposedly fresh meat I see here was imported from the outside world?”

Suedomsa: “Pets and decorative plants are the same. They live 100x as long as in the outside world, but that means they require 100x as much food and water. Thus, they become luxury items that cost 100x what they do outside the city. That’s why most people get by with dummy data or an NPC Body.”

Algo: “I see one place willing to pay for that kind of luxury.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

A giant wooden bridge spans the castle’s moat. There is a checkpoint at the end of the bridge.

Knights stand on the left and right sides of the bridge. They wear simple white armor and carry a long sword on their back and a submachinegun at their hip. Two dogs wait next to the knights. The large black hounds stand a yard tall.

Algo: “Those are real, aren’t they?”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

The butler behind Suedomsa walks toward you.

Algo: “There you are, Anon1 – no, Excel Raphael…what’s your Word Race?”

Excel: “The Raphael-class acted as the foundation of the Sys Word Race. I cannot be anything else.”

Algo: I see. Now, Excel, you’re up first today. Those two are both negative, so you win the initial bet. Prepare the virus program.”

Alternative: <What bet?>

Algo: “Whether or not the NPC Bodies at the castle checkpoint would be the ones swapped in by Excel’s group. 10 of the castle’s guard NPC Bodies were replaced using Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. We were hoping all of them would be the ones guarding the audience chamber.”

Alternative: <You made a bet over something so important? What does he win?>

Excel: “His praise.”

Algo: “Excellent work. Have a gold star.”

Excel: “I am truly honored.”

Alternative: <…>

Suedomsa: “Excel, what are the guards up to?”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Excel turns toward Suedomsa and bows.

Excel: “They are suspicious. The Yard’s main force was moved to their castle station this morning, but they do not appear to have considered the possibility of you entering the castle to perform a godtact experiment.”

Algo: “Sounds like they don’t have any solid proof of a connection between Master Suedomsa and me.”

Excel: “Once they realize the full truth, they will likely analyze my program and develop a countermeasure. Master Telyb is a strict man. …But it should still function for the time being.”

Excel: “After all, the only person capable of opposing my programs is in this very castle, not with the Yard. Only Lady Yuo poses a threat and only because I once taught her my Celestial Program Activator.”

<Algo’s Board Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo looked around in Sight Mode.

He could see the morning market set up alongside the moat. Even the wooden convenience store – blurry since it was in an adjacent Page – had firewood and charcoal stacked up out front.

There was a flood of people around him, but there was no one in the approximately 5 yards from his group and the checkpoint. Everyone was whispering to each other and focused on his group.

But he ignored the attention. “Now, then,” he said with a twist of his head.

After cracking his neck a few times, he swished out the bottom of his white robe.

“Excel, we’ll try to get in with your program, but if that doesn’t work, fight your way in with Daikatana’s help. Swiftly provide Master Suedomsa and me a dignified path to our audience with the queen.”

Once he was done talking, he casually walked forward – toward the checkpoint.

As he approached the checkpoint, the two knights approached him.

They blocked his way.

The faces below their military caps were not blank. The middle-aged knight on the right and the rookie knight on the left were both frowning in consternation. The easy to read expression was a common trait of NPC Bodies.

They moved within arms’ reach of Algo.

The middle-aged one look past Algo to Suedomsa.

“Excuse me, but are you Sir Suedomsa’s-”

Before the knight could even finish, Algo cleared his throat and spoke with his head lowered.

“We are Master Archon Suedomsa Txt’s bodyguards. Our job is to protect him. As is yours, Sir Knight.”

“I thought Sir Suedomsa was due to arrive alone?”

Algo prepared to answer that question.

“…?”

But he stopped. He was looking down in puzzlement.

The pair of castle guard dogs stood alertly to either side. The rhythm of their growls was unsteady. That confirmed they were real.

Algo nodded and crouched. He ignored the knight and reached both hands toward the dogs.

Both hands meant his left prosthetic hand and his right hand with the ring. The middle-aged knight gave a warning.

“Touch them and they-”

“Will bite me, as they are trained to do? However…”

Algo easily rubbed the black dogs’ chins.

After some thought, the dogs narrowed their eyes and pressed their throats against his hands.

They did not bite.

“They seem to know I do not need biting, Sir Knight.”

The people watching on from a short distance breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that. The frozen ring of people broke apart and returned to the morning market.

Before that was complete, Algo stood up and swished the bottom of his white robe. While the white cloth seemed to block out the sun, he took the two knights’ hands as if to shake them.

He was smiling and spoke quietly.

“Excel.”

Immediately, character strings ran from his hands to the middle-aged knight and rookie knight’s hands.

It only lasted an instant.

The text was gone too fast to notice. In its place, a window opened in front of him. It was located between him and the middle-aged knight, so his robe hid it from the crowd’s view.

<Excel→Algo: 2 NPC Bodies: Settings Change: Change target administrator from Akalabeth Bubezleeb Sys to Archon Suedomsa Txt: Run>

The window disappeared when he let go of the knights’ hands.

Then the knights relaxed their defensive stances.

Neither one looked at Algo. They simply tugged on the puzzled dogs’ leashes and returned to their positions at either side of the bridge.

A few of the distant onlookers tilted their heads at the knights’ silence, but none of them had seen what happened thanks to the robe in the way.

Before long, the crowd went on their way.

Algo sighed and the four behind him caught up.

Alternative placed a nearly weightless arm on his left shoulder.

<I thought for sure they were going to bite you.>

“Dogs bite only because if you think they will. They obey anyone who looks like a master to them.”

Algo began walking with Alternative nearly dangling from his shoulder.

The wood bridge creaked below his feet.

Excel hurried up alongside him.

He looked back at the others following.

“Hurry. This was thrown together in a hurry, so it will be eliminated in about 2 minutes.”

“The Yard must not be aware we are working with Master Suedomsa.”

“I believe you are correct. These NPC Bodies rely on the castle’s security system for their memories and decision making, so they are nothing but tools. We will have complete control over them once we take administrative control of the castle.”

Excel had an obvious smile in his voice, which made Algo smile bitterly.

“By we, you mean those of us working to fulfill the task that was left undone and erased from history out of compromise 2000 years ago?”

Algo looked back.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

He saw Suedomsa and the black hooded man carrying a long metal staff.

The city already looked far off.

Past the checkpoint, most people were going about their business, with only a few looking this way.

But he could no longer bring them into focus.

He kept walking while he bowed toward Suedomsa behind him.

“Time to begin the first phase of the plan. The castle knights are on our side, so no one can stop us. Myst and Mekton will deal with the Yard. That means Babel, the Questron within the castle, and the sacrifice we need for the great god’s vessel are all yours for the taking, Master Suedomsa.”

Suedomsa coughed once while walking, but soon cleared his throat.

“You have a ‘but’ to add, don’t you, Algo? There is someone who will doggedly pursue us no matter how much we fortify our defenses, isn’t there?”

“Yes,” confirmed Algo, reaching a hand out toward Suedomsa.

Suedomsa held out his own hand and took Algo’s. It was the right hand with the ring.

Algo then answered the question with a smile.

“This is only the prologue. We will not stumble at this early stage, but there will be an error at some later point. Someone will certainly slip through a supposedly nonexistent gap between frames, peel back the supposedly seamless textures, and attempt to get an attack to our hitbox.”

He took a breath.

“A fool like that is bound to show up.”

<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo was pacing her own room in the castle in Sight Mode.

She wore only light green underwear as she walked to and fro in the stone 12-square-meter room.

The window was open, but that arch-shaped slice of the sky was 3 stories up and pointed south. Only someone right up on her windowsill would be able to see her.

The feet sinking into the thick carpet in the center of the room were bare. That was a habit she had picked up during her time in Japan.

She was humming and tossing several different colors onto to the bed located next to her desk by the western wall.

They were dresses.

She was trying to choose one.

After throwing quite a few, she breathed a satisfied sigh and walked to the kitchen on the other side of the western wall.

She opened the fridge, pulled out some diet orange juice with x0.5 on it, poured a glass of it, and drank it. Then she looked back over to her bed in the distance.

<Yuo’s Over Zoom>

The red, white, green, light yellow, and yellowish green were all bright, lustrous colors. But…

“Knowing Senpai, he’ll show up in a black tank top.”

Her shoulders drooped in a sigh.

<Mom always wears reddish purple, so maybe I shouldn’t go with red.>

She returned the juice to the fridge, walked to the center of her room, and looked at herself in the mirror. After pushing some skin near her armpit below her bra, she looked to the color of her hair.

It was brown. And a light brown similar to her skin tone.

“That’s not the best balance. It would look nice contrasted with a white dress, but then my underwear would show through if I stood in the shadows during the day. What do you think?”

She turned toward her Mouse, the ferret named Puppy, who was sprawled out on the bed.

Puppy tilted her head and looked to the dresses on the bed.

She eventually gestured her chin toward the yellowish-green one on the far right.

Yuo smiled bitterly and looked down at herself. Her underwear was the same color as that dress.

“You aren’t telling me to go to the audience in my underwear, are you?”

Puppy tilted her head, deepening Yuo’s bitter smile.

Yuo checked the clock sitting on her bed’s built-in table. The analog hands said it was 10 AM.

“Puppy, any response from the providers?”

Puppy nodded and opened four windows. They each displayed a list of names.

“Good, good,” said Yuo as she tapped the side of the open windows to combine them into a single file. She then began a search of the data. The result popped up instantly. However…

“No matches. I was afraid of that.”

She sighed in disappointment. And after some hesitation, she shook her head.

She mouthed her nickname for a certain man and nodded. Then strength filled her gaze.

“Time to settle this. Puppy, I want to send identical Word Mails to Telyb and Senpai.”

<If I knew Senpai’s coordinates, I could send him a morning greeting on the Sight Page.>

Oh, well, she concluded and approached the bed.

She picked up the green dress just as Puppy opened the requested mail window and tossed it her way.

She caught it and thought for a moment.

“Let’s see,” she began. “Set it to voice input. I can dictate the message while I get dressed. Oh, and attach the program I made last night to the one going to Senpai. The modified version of his attack management release program. It’s a bit big, but the system can handle it.”

Puppy nodded on the bed.

The mic symbol indicating voice input appeared on the mail window.

So did the triangle symbol indicating a program trigon.

She started speaking after seeing that. She described her suppositions for Telyb. It was the same conclusion she had settled on during her talk with Aoe last night.

While she was thinking and speaking, another window opened. It was a castle-level Word Mail window. It was sent by Akalabeth and was short and to the point.

The white window said, <Sir Suedomsa has arrived. Come to the audience chamber at once.>

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe saw a large room.

This was the machine force command center on the Yard HQ’s 3rd floor.

The machine force command center was made of wood, but it provided the HQ’s central data, chain of command, and virtual armament management. The Yard was made up of the machine force, the strike force, and the gun force, but the machine force acted as the foundation that held it all together.

The same was true during the office work. All data was centralized in the machine force command center.

The command center was 30yds long and wide and had a single wooden pillar in the center, but a commotion was underway there.

The green uniformed Yard members were giving each other instructions, asking for data, and sending handwritten memos when Word Mail wouldn’t be fast enough. It was faster to circumvent the entire mail program and instead send all the memos flying around with a small floating object program. White paper flew rapidly around and people called out names.

But despite calling names, they spoke with their windows. They completed their work with a focus on speed.

They all had a single goal: exchange information on the yesterday’s NPC Body and determine who had modified him.

The center point of the voices and action was the desk on the south side of the central pillar.

The desk contained an ultra-thin monitor, a foot-long white testing device carrying a data trigon, and lots of documents and memos.

Telyb sat at the desk. Aoe stood by his side.

The monitor showed them footage of yesterday’s explosion.

The data trigon in the testing device contained the explosion Yuo had shrunk down within the shield.

Telyb watched the looping explosion footage with a hand on his chin.

“The data Yuo took during the battle tells us the knight caught in this explosion was an NPC body. But you said last night he Downloaded, didn’t you?”

“Mh.”

“And…you heard what she said in that Word Mail, didn’t you?”

Aoe nodded toward Monkey on his shoulder. Monkey nodded back and opened the message he had just received from Yuo.

She had already told him what it said.

She was asking about what she had discussed last night. However…

<The attached program is awfully big.>

The pie graph indicating the transmission percentage was still only at around 60%. The program would temporarily remove the restrictions on his attacks. She said she had sent it to him “just in case”.

He wasn’t just going to wait around.

So he asked Telyb.

“Hey.”

“Yes? Do you have some thoughts on this matter?”

Telyb looked back toward him, so he answered.

“What do you think that giant knight’s Download really was?”

Telyb adjusted his position in the chair and folded his hands atop his fat belly.

“That knight must have had the complexity of his subprograms boosted to something close to the level of someone’s real Lives. That made them too big to use under ordinary circumstances, so a Download was necessary.” He nodded. “You could call it a Pseudo Download.”

“How could someone modify an NPC Body like that?”

“It would be possible with Suedomsa’s Demigod Program. But…we have no proof.”

Telyb’s eyes turned to the wall clock. Aoe checked it too.

<So it’s already 10.>

“Time for the audience to begin. Which means Suedomsa has entered Akalabeth Bubezleeb’s castle.”

“Has the Yard station there said anything?”

“That Suedomsa and his bodyguards passed through castle security without issue.”

“If there will be an issue later, what would happen?” Telyb turned toward Aoe and Aoe gave a snort. “Hmph. Yuo said she thinks Suedomsa might be her father.”

“Can’t you wait until the open release for these questions?”

“Waiting isn’t going to solve this problem, you fool. Who are these bodyguards who entered the castle with Suedomsa? I bet one was a man in a white robe.” Aoe sat on Telyb’s desk and crossed his arms. “Not telling us the truth doesn’t make it any less true. What will happen if Algo and Suedomsa have met?”

Telyb sighed.

He slowly let out the breath and then spoke quietly.

“Then Suedomsa’s memory was probably restored.”

“Is it possible to restore his or Yuo’s memories?”

“It is. It just isn’t easy. Because their memories were only sealed away,” stated Telyb. He looked up, but not at Aoe. But when he spoke, there was no hesitation in his voice. “We sealed away his memories after he was badly injured. We felt guilty erasing his past, but we knew the Archon would be trouble if he kept his memories and turned against us again.”

His tone was plain and emotionless.

<Is this what will be revealed in the open release?>

“It isn’t just this. It includes Yuo as well.”

Telyb smiled bitterly.

“Probably shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered, scratching his head.

Just then, the command center door opened and a small figure rushed in.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

It was Fooblicky.

Several windows floated around her while she ran over with a piece of paper in hand.

“I’ve found it! I was just looking through the Lives data salvaged by the science team.”

A mouse raised its front paw on her shoulder.

A window opened in front of the pillar behind Telyb.

A lengthy character string appeared in the window.

Several pages’ worth of text were scrolling across the screen.

Some of the characters in the string were colored purple.

“These are the inserted diseased portion. It was hard to locate because it was distributed and networked together. And…”

She kept talking while the mouse on her shoulder raised its front paw and displayed the very end of the string on the window.

“Check the bottom line of the string!”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe saw a lot of text appear in the window.

The patterns of some Lives data were written out in 0s and 1s.

But some actual letters were tacked onto the very end of the binary. A message had been attached after a comment symbol.

The message was emphasized by its altered color:

It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25)

Fooblicky nodded in the now silent command center.

“This is a distinctive trait of Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. It attaches a bible verse to the created NPC Body as a form of divine protection. It’s been a while since I last saw it, though,” she spat out. “Beelzebul is also known as Beelzebub. Spelled backwards, that’s Bubezleeb, Akalabeth’s last name.”

Aoe considered what that meant for a second before clicking his tongue.

Without warning, Monkey raised a front paw on his shoulder.

The opened mail window had frozen. The program transfer had been cut off and a “receipt failed” message had appeared.

“The message from the castle was cut off? What does that mean?”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: Inside DT Castle

Suedomsa’s Over Reload

You are in 1F Audience Chamber, a Top Page of the Royal Castle.

The current time is 10:12 AM.

The stone hall is 30 yards long and wide. The ceiling is two stories tall.

The queen’s throne sits at the end of the red carpet stretching to the back of the hall.

Many people are present. You are free to restrict your speech targets however you wish.

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The queen is accompanied by minister NPC Bodies and bodyguard knights.

More knights are standing along the side walls.

Your four bodyguards enter behind you.

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

Queen Akalabeth is seated in her throne. She is approximately 15 yards away.

The queen is a middle-aged woman. She wears no crown. She wears a white stole over a reddish purple dress and a fox Mouse is draped over her shoulders.

Her graying hair is pulled back tightly behind her head. Her narrow blue eyes are directed your way.

Akalabeth: “You seem awfully curious about your surroundings, Suedomsa. Why not switch to Sight Mode?”

Suedomsa: <I would prefer not to take on the excess burden, Akalabeth.>

Suedomsa: “Now, how about we get the approval process done with? Since I’m last and all.”

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

A window opens to your right. It contains the final check for the matter you just mentioned.

<Do you offer your blood Lives data to confirm your approval? Y/N>

Suedomsa: “Y”

<Receiving Archon Suedomsa’s blood data from Intermediary Layer Lives Storage>

Suedomsa: <There, you have everyone’s approval. Simple enough in Board Mode.>

Akalabeth: “Take a look in Sight Mode. The ministers are applauding.”

Suedomsa: <Are you standing and applauding as well?>

Akalabeth: “I am.”

Suedomsa: <I see. In that case…>

Suedomsa: “I hate to interrupt the momentous occasion, but I would like a word in private, Akalabeth.”

Akalabeth: <What a coincidence. I was hoping to speak with you as well. About something very important.>

Suedomsa: <Oh? Does this thought display mean you joined me in Board Mode?>

Akalabeth: <Yes. This is faster than saying it out loud and it seems to be what you want.>

Akalabeth: <So what did you want to discuss? You can go first if you like.>

Suedomsa: <No, mine is going to take a while, but I’m betting yours won’t take long at all.>

Akalabeth: <You are, are you? If you think you know what I want, then tell me.>

Suedomsa: <Let’s see. Will you be asking everyone else to leave and then apologizing to me? And then making some kind of excuse for taking something important from me?>

Akalabeth: “Eh?”

Suedomsa: “Can you not read? I said making an excuse. For taking something important from me.”

Suedomsa: “You know what I mean, don’t you? I know you do, Akalabeth.”

Suedomsa: <I mean my daughter.>

Akalabeth: <Your daught- no, it can’t be.>

Suedomsa: <Surprised? Then try and express it a bit more clearly in your text.>

Suedomsa: <Board Mode is a fascinating experience. All we can read are the words heard by our auditory program, the thoughts appearing in the windows, and the actions seen by our Over Reloads.>

Suedomsa: <We Minus Elites really did create this world for ourselves, didn’t we?>

Suedomsa: <If it’s a Minus thing to imagine what the other person’s expression and tone of voice must have been, then it is also a Minus thing to intentionally avoid doing that and ignore all emotions other than your own.>

Suedomsa: <Then you can say the nastiest things and sow misunderstandings without feeling a thing because you don’t even bother checking to see if you hurt the other person. Truly a dream come true for a certain type.>

Suedomsa: <The greatest benefit of Board Mode is in fact the narcissistic joy it brings to the people who love using that nasty language and those misunderstandings. Yet we created it to allow for candid meetings.>

Akalabeth: “Suedomsa, then it’s true!?”

Suedomsa: <Are you surprised, Akalabeth? I can barely feel it through the text. I might have the active imagination of a Minus Elite, but you still need to express yourself more strongly than that.>

Suedomsa: <You remind me of those cheap new NPC Bodies or of a Plus person. Where’s the edge?>

Suedomsa: <Or what? Did you think you could become a soft-spoken and considerate Minus Elite if you blunted your edge?>

Suedomsa: <It won’t work and it’s too late for you. This is goodbye, Minus Elite. It is time to become Minus through and through, just like we used to fear.>

Akalabeth: “…”

Suedomsa: <Silence? I thought you had something to tell me.>

Akalabeth: “What are you thinking!?”

Suedomsa: “Akalabeth.”

Suedomsa: <You’ve figured out that my memories have returned, I hope?>

Suedomsa: <Then I have only one thing to say to you: bend your knee and bow your head.>

Suedomsa: <Apologize for taking what I loved most, along with my time and my truth.>

Suedomsa: <And apologize for hiding the answer DT wanted for 2000 years.>

Suedomsa: <Do you get it now?>

Akalabeth: <Then you didn’t come here today to give your approval?>

Suedomsa: <Correct. So I do have one longer thing to say.>

Suedomsa: “I, Kobayashi Akon, have a request for Queen Akalabeth.”

Suedomsa: “I ask that you grant me authorization to use the Questron in the underground ceremonial ground, Babel in the south, and the many programs you possess.”

Akalabeth: “…!”

Akalabeth: “Arrest this man!”

Suedomsa: “Excel.”

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The knights by the walls begin to move.

They run toward you, but six of them have removed their hands from their sword hilts.

They draw their submachineguns instead.

Those six aim their submachineguns at and open fire on the knights ahead of them and the NPC Bodies flanking the throne.

Suedomsa: “Now, then.”

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

Loud gunshots fill the audience chamber.

The minister NPC Bodies standing around the queen are blasted backwards.

The knights rushing toward you fall to the floor.

The lingering noise is unpleasant to human hearing. It will take another 18 seconds for that to fade.

The ministers and the knights begin to flash.

Suedomsa: “Did you see all of that, Akalabeth?”

Akalabeth: “…”

Suedomsa: “Now that silence I like. It is brimming with emotion.”

Suedomsa: “Allow me to quote the bible, just like I used to in my researcher days. This seems like a good time for a verse about not judging others.”

Suedomsa: “ ‘You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’ ”

Suedomsa: “Apt, don’t you think?”

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth’s eyes widen in response. It is a look of surprise.

Suedomsa: “But I suppose a Minus Elite should use a different kind of reference.”

Suedomsa: “ ‘All your Lives and evil are belong to us.’ Is that better?”

<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>

Chapter 6: System Down

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Today’s topic is the collapse of a family.

The Day of the Oracle is arriving fast, folks, so I recommend heading out and enjoying the festival with your families.

And get in a fight if you have to!

The Son of God once said he had come “not to bring peace, but a sword” and to turn people against their families.

“A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

(Mathew 10:36)

• Things are getting kind of crazy… -Clay Pot

Hi from outside the city. I’m a 24yo man who works as a race record keeper at Daytona.

Lately, there’s been some trouble on the team I work for (which is run by my family). Today while we were trying to eat breakfast, the team’s big boss sumo-slapped my daughter, who works as a mechanic, hard enough to send her flying. It sounded like he was trying to explain why, but he stumbled over his words really bad.

My daughter lost consciousness for a moment, but as soon as she was back, she threw table salt in his eyes to blind him and then headbutted him, giving him a real nasty bloody nose. See, it turns out my daughter had accused the big boss of being the flasher roaming the streets recently, but that’s actually me and the new racer who just joined…

07/07/2000 DT 10:15 AM (-04:45)

Help Text

Plus and Minus

The concepts of Plus and Minus predate DT. They have their origins in the 19th century when networks of cable and radio communications began to appear.

It began as petty crimes such as human rights violations and business solicitations done over the phone or radio, but it ultimately led to identity fraud abusing the fact that you couldn’t see the person on the other end. It was rumored that the mafia was behind it, but a largescale investigation run in the United Sates at the beginning of the 20th century revealed that the majority of arrested offenders were minors.

This drew a lot of attention to the networked world. Those unproductive youths had used the networks to hide themselves, take from the productive adults’ profits, and yet didn’t see what they did as wrong, so the commentators at the time said they “lived in a minus world”'.

But those people accepted the title with pride, returned to that life as soon as they were out on bail, and being arrested became a badge of honor among them. And since they were referred to as Minus people, they referred to the adults as Plus people. That is where the concepts of Plus and Minus – and of Plus Elites and Minus Elites – was born.

After the war, the Great Canopy erased the global radio network and cabled networks of computers were developed instead, but that led to a few new problems.

The benefits of computer networks – anonymity, a borderless world, and a record of statements made – led to a world that produced and accumulated hundreds of times more noise than the real world.

In the real world, it is primarily valuable information that is spread, but on the computer networks, information on par with slander spread like wildfire.

For example, if you posted some kind of information on the network, it might be stored in some cache somewhere even if you deleted it, so it could easily stick around indefinitely. It is not unusual for things written with no more care than an offhand comment to remain in the public eye, lead to misunderstandings, and ultimately develop into a major problem.

This placed great pressure on the adults living in the outside world, so more and more of them left the networks.

But there were others who did not fear that storage and accumulation – those who could say, “So what? It’s their fault if they misinterpret me. And frankly, they look pretty silly getting all worked up over something I didn’t even say and shouting impotently at me like this. This world is full of noise, so what if we learn to see through the noise and seek a truth we can believe in?” These were the Minus Elites who followed in the footsteps of the phone phreaks and radio phreaks.

And when computer networks were developed in Japan after the war, they created the concepts of Harmony and Noise to match the concepts of Plus and Minus. Thanks to the oriental boom, Minus Elites the world over became familiar with those alternative names and will sometimes refer to the networked Minus World as Noise World and the Plus outside world as the Harmony World.

These same Minus Elites still form the core of the virtual and data industries, so if they sense their territory is growing unstable, they will use the power of Minus – of Noise – to fight back.

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth stared forward after standing from her throne. Her shocked gaze viewed the audience chamber after the gunfire ended.

Only she, Suedomsa’s group, and the 6 knights who had unleashed the gunfire remained standing.

The ring of the gunfire had faded from her ears.

Those on the receiving end of the gunfire flashed as if to count down the remaining seconds until they disappeared.

The 6 knights armed with submachineguns lined up in front of Suedomsa and stood at attention.

Someone was pounding on the door to the audience chamber. The other guard knights must have noticed something was amiss. However…

<A flaw has been detected in some of the castle’s NPC Bodies. Temporarily freezing them all to eliminate the threat.>

The knocking stopped as soon as that window appeared.

The castle’s security system had been shut down.

Akalabeth knew what Suedomsa was trying to do.

“You had my knights rebel in order to strip administrative authority from me.”

Suedomsa had received emergency administrative authority in order to quell this rebellion.

He viewed the 6 knights lined up in front of him.

<Telyb, the others, and even you have gone soft in the past 2000 years. Did you think I would just let the Words Warn kill me if you sealed my memories?>

He approached one of the knights and snatched the submachinegun from the unmoving arms.

And…

“…!”

Akalabeth raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, opening a window.

<Target Dummy Data: Add Functionality>

The stone floor of the audience chamber yawned open. The entire floor became a giant pitfall.

With a sound like bursting stone, the floor instantly became empty space.

Wind blew from the newly formed pit, but a voice stopped the process.

“It is too late.”

Akalabeth looked to the speaker who stood past the knights behind Suedomsa.

The kneeling man wore a black hood over his head and glowing character strings raced around him in circular orbits.

“That’s how Yuo activates programs!”

Just once, the red carpet emitted bluish-white light.

The carpet gave a sound like breaking rock and the red coloration covering the floor hardened.

Space below was distorted to create a great hole, but the carpet had grown rigid.

It formed a bridge.

Akalabeth unclenched her raised fist without thinking.

Suedomsa crossed the red bridge to approach the dais on which her throne sat.

Akalabeth, meanwhile, gripped the throne’s armrests to resist the urge to flee.

“Why would you want to repeat a tragedy like the 2nd Godtact Experiment!?”

<That wasn’t the plan. If you had given me more time instead of compromising, anyway.>

He arrived at the foot of the three steps leading up to the throne.

<If you had continued that god-summoning experiment after sealing my memoires, you may have been able to save my daughter. And if you had not sealed my memories, I may have found a solution to Words Warn.>

He stopped in front of those steps.

<You sealed my memories to eliminate the man interfering with your precious experiment.>

<But your research didn’t last long afterwards. Because you feared another failure. And you feared the Great Godquake’s destruction if you did succeed. What is that if not compromising.>

He viewed his surroundings.

<Did we create this Minus World and erase our identities with these handles because we wanted to create a comfortable home for ourselves? Of course not. It was to prove that there were things only a Minus Elite could accomplish and shove the results in the faces of those Plus Elites who mocked us in the outside world. And what better accomplishment than saving the world?>

There was no one else around. All the entrances had been locked tight with seals.

Suedomsa took a breath and moved his lips to release his exhausted voice.

“We will now carry out the 3rd Godtact Experiment which spans the past and the present. Using Babel, the Questron, and a sacrificial vessel. First, I require your management programs for Babel and the Questron, your Demigod Program Portal that allows alterations to DT’s settings, and…”

He continued with a slight smile.

“And Yuo.”

“Yuo? Why her?”

“You still haven’t figured it out, Akalabeth? You and the others are to blame for all of this. You are the ones who betrayed our Minus principles and chose halfhearted standards. I am here now to correct those mistakes.”

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

He raised his submachinegun, aiming it at her face.

She stared into the dark hole of the barrel and he no longer used his windows to speak to her.

He stuck to his voice.

“Such a sad story. 2000 years ago, when we thought no one but our own families mattered to us, we were betrayed by one of our own.”

“Betrayed, huh?”

“You heard me.” Suedomsa shut his eyes and continued. “Just before the 2nd Godtact Experiment, the chosen vessel abruptly lost the necessary qualifications. Yes, Fooblicky married Telyb.”

And…

“The next vessel we chose for the experiment was Yuo.”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo stood in front of the small red side door into the audience chamber. She wore a yellowish-green dress and had reached her hand out toward the door.

But she did not go in.

In Sight Mode, she could hear the sounds coming from the adjacent Page that was the audience chamber.

She was pale in the face because she had heard the gunfire and what Suedomsa had just said.

“No…”

<Yuo’s Over Zoom>

Looking around, everything in the stone corridor had frozen in place.

The knights, civil officials, librarian, and maids had all frozen while either walking or running.

Everyone in the castle but her and Akalabeth were NPC Bodies.

But Puppy the ferret shook her head on her shoulder.

<An emergency freeze is in place. Please wait until security control has been handed over.>

Her heart pounded once and a thought reflexively sprang to mind.

<I need to get outside.>

That thought window was followed by a large window appearing in the corridor.

It was a castle security program used to inform everyone of the situation.

<A temporary castle-wide security freeze is in place, so outside security is being called. Castle security control will be passed to DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb. Your safety is guaranteed at a probability of 87%>

Yuo’s face lit up when she read the window.

The Yard.

The castle’s security might be on the fritz and the attacker might be one of the 13 Demigods, but security was being handed from one professional to another. The castle’s security was being passed to the distant Yard representative over Suedomsa who was right here.

“And there is a Yard station on the castle grounds.”

The voice beyond the door seemed to respond to her whispered comment.

Suedomsa’s low voice spoke after a single dry cough.

“The Telyb couple must atone for their sins. If they had not succumbed to their silly emotions, you never would have gone to Yuo. And…”

“Eh?” gasped Yuo while staring at the door.

The door covered in red leather spoke the words that defined her relationship with Suedomsa.

“And then I wouldn’t have had to shoot her to death.”

“…!?”

She took a step back with a hand to her chest while hearing even more.

“The Yard is meant to be the protector of the Minus World, so its chief must atone for the Plus sin of acting on emotion.”

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Silence hung over the Yard HQ command center.

Everyone had frozen in place when Fooblicky revealed the identity of their enemy. Everyone, that is, except for Aoe. Deciding to pay the castle a visit, he looked to the window in Sight Mode to view the castle there.

But as he turned around, something in the opposite direction caught his eye: the southern amusement park.

Below the blimp floating in the distant sky, he could see the white castle and the Ferris wheel in the blurry amusement park.

And that Ferris wheel suddenly disappeared.

“Mh?”

“What is it?” asked Telyb.

Aoe was preparing to do an Over Zoom when more buildings in the amusement park disappeared too. Five at once this time.

But that wasn’t all.

A light appeared in the amusement park. Five beams of light stretched toward the blue sky marred by Babel’s towering silhouette.

The light curved through the sky, gathered together, and wrapped themselves into a single thick thread.

They dropped back down nearby.

Someone in the Yard spoke up in confusion.

“Something’s wrong with the boost supply to the southern district?”

Before the confused observation was complete, the light landed in the street directly in front of the Yard.

The light shined on the interior of the Yard and everyone in Sight Mode turned toward the window.

“…!?”

While everyone else was reacting in surprise, Aoe reflexively ran toward the window.

Then he saw what was outside that window.

The image was blurry since it was in an adjacent Page, so he willed a clearer image.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

At 3 steps until the window, he gained a clear view of the large dirt road.

Two people stood in the very center of the dirt ground there.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

One was an enormous man with short brown hair and a square face.

His thick body was covered by a navy blue military uniform with torn shoulders.

The one standing in front of him was a slender woman in a white dress. She had long blonde hair and a face that hinted at a strong will. The arms emerging from the puffy shoulders of her dress carried a giant staff.

The staff was in fact a giant white virtual pen. It was a large Mouse Device.

The descending light was crashing into the pen.

“–––––!”

When the light burst, Aoe saw both of them were looking up at him.

They were separated from him by the window between Pages, but their gazes clashed with his.

Their gazes audibly shattered against each other.

The force of their gazes made him blink and step more forcefully against the floor. He still had 2 steps until he reached the window.

<This means trouble!>

He had no proof of that. It was an intuitive thought.

But Telyb noticed the thought.

“Is there something out there!?”

At the same moment, Aoe saw the woman outside moving.

She easily swung around her virtual pen Mouse Device that looked to be a yard and a half long. First, she swung it to the right, twirling her entire body along with it.

The pen tip accelerated and drew out a line of light that blossomed into a self-expressive Download Text.

“Behold the eminent Myst’s mastery of art.”

With a sound like struck stone, the woman calling herself Myst’s arms and the tip of her pen flickered with a crimson light. A crimson emblem floated on the backs of her hands and the pen tip. The emblem used a writing slate symbol.

<Myst: Gabriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to Avi Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: Accelerated Drawing>

Myst opened her mouth.

She gave an additional shout on top of her Download.

She expressed the free will of her Grandload – the variable Text that only applied to the present.

“Listen, everyone. I, Myst Gabriel, am fond of accuracy!”

“Grant me something immediately recognizable.

“Grant me a hammer to purge silly selfishness.

“Grant me the power of a master artist’s brush!”

<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Premier: Preparing to Activate>

A sound like splitting rock came from her Mouse Device and the arms holding it.

Around a dozen see-through windows opened in the air around her.

<Activation authorized for 28M Lives within the virtual space>

<Pseudo Load Emblem: Activating: Run>

Strings of text grew from the emblems on her arms and pen tip.

The arm emblems grew to her shoulders and the pen tip one to the back of the pen.

●Type-XX076: Imperial-class: Premier●

<Activating Pseudo Grandload of Myst’s technical abilities: Loading highest-level subprograms and releasing upper limit on art ability>

A large diskette appeared halfway down the pen and rotated.

It only produced the sound of splitting rock.

She swung her virtual pen’s tip toward the sky as if letting that sound carry it.

At the same time, Aoe arrived within one step of the window.

This close to the window, he had a wider view of the high-quality outdoors scene.

He could now see into the sky above where something appeared above the Yard.

It was a hammer. It was just like the kind used for DIY home improvement work, except that it was massive and floating in the sky.

The striking surface alone had a diameter of about 100 yards. Its length was at least 400 yards.

The steel edge and the cross-section of the striking surface were visible too. It was as realistic as could be aside for its size.

However…

“Is that a drawn image!?”

The hammer was moving – swinging down toward the Yard.

Aoe attacked the window to leap outside.

He gave the shout needed to punch through the glass.

“Mh!”

He Downloaded his fist with a sound of shattering glass.

But his fist failed to shatter the actual glass. His fist hit the glass and stuck there.

As a criminal, his attack power was sealed.

“Mh?”

His puzzled grunt coincided with the hammer striking the Yard.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

Suedomsa: <One explosion to begin with. And then…>

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

An alarm is sounding outside. It is the 3rd Alarm.

An alarm starts to sound inside the castle as well. It is the 3rd Alarm.

Akalabeth: “What did you do!?”

Suedomsa: <Crushed the Yard and all of its stations nearly simultaneously. At the cost of my amusement park.>

Suedomsa: “Akalabeth, this may be your fault for relying on the Yard and refusing to give me the programs.”

<The quake has reached Shindo 4. Please evacuate the castle.>

<Castle Security Program Decision: danger detected outside the castle, so the request for security assistance from outside has been rejected.>

Suedomsa: <See? It’s telling us to evacuate but also saying the outside is dangerous. You see this kind of self-contradiction all the time when programs meet a situation they weren’t designed for.>

Suedomsa: <But even if you try to place the castle security in the Telyb couple’s hands…>

<DT Yard is no longer functioning. It will likely take time to recover.>

<Castle security transfer to DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb has failed.>

<Castle Security Program Decision: Requesting a volunteer within the castle to take over castle security.>

Suedomsa: <And now it all falls into my hands.>

<Archon Suedomsa Txt: the castle security program has a request. Knight NPC Bodies within the castle have rebelled and damage outside the castle has put the castle in high alert. Requesting you and your people take control of castle security as one of the 13 Demigods. Do you accept? Y/N>

Suedomsa: <A flawless decision. Not a mistake to be found.>

Akalabeth: “Are you saying that is why it made the wrong decision?”

Suedomsa: “Y”

<Castle Security Program Decision: Confirmation received from Archon Suedomsa>

<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth noticed what Suedomsa was doing while she looked down from the throne’s dais.

He moved the submachinegun away from her and aimed toward the 6 knights instead.

And he pulled the trigger six times.

The Board Mode firing was handled efficiently by the subprogram.

The six shots rang loud and pierced through the gaps in the knights’ white mobile armor.

None of them screamed as their bodies shook and they were blown backwards.

Six armored bodies clattered down onto the hardened carpet and began to flash.

Suedomsa looked past the vanishing knights to view the center of the audience chamber. He asked a question of the black robed man among the four people kneeling there.

<Excel, how are things in the castle?>

“All of the NPC Bodies have been frozen. The knights are under my control, including the remaining four set to rebel. The foundation of their actions and ethics are all functioning properly.” Excel nodded once. “The Yard NPC Bodies in the castle station are on the move. They are granted independent command authority if the rest of the Yard is lost, so, while I can only provide estimates, I believe they will cause us some minor trouble.”

<Then run the four knights set to rebel. Then use all the remaining knights to eliminate them.>

As soon as Suedomsa’s window appeared, gunfire sounded elsewhere in the castle.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

Akalabeth’s eyes scanned across the stone walls.

She heard gunfire from beyond those walls and the locked metal doors. She heard return fire as well.

The question-and-answer exchange of gunfire continued for a few seconds.

Then the castle was once more ruled only by the sound of an alarm.

The alarm was as loud as ever, but everything else had gone quiet.

In that cacophonous silence, Akalabeth faced Suedomsa.

He had already turned back her way and he had a window open.

<The rebel force within the castle has been eliminated.>

He gave further instructions.

“Place security on alert for outside intruders. Alert level: max. Any intruders are to be eliminated.”

<Intruders detected within the castle>

<DT Yard Castle Station NPC Bodies: Numbers 00-31: Possibility of hostile action against current castle administrator Archon Suedomsa Txt: 89%. Should they be eliminated?>

Y.

When Suedomsa closed that window, a new one opened.

<Intruder detected within the castle>

<Demigod Yuo Natas Wav: Possibility of hostile action against current castle administrator Archon Suedomsa Txt: 69%. Should she be eliminated?>

N.

Akalabeth saw him close that window too.

“Yuo isn’t your enemy?”

<Because I need her soon. I don’t want any of these dimwitted modern NPC Bodies killing her.>

And…

<Now, Akalabeth, let’s negotiate.>

He raised his right hand and walked to the bottom of the dais’s stairs.

“I would like your management programs for the Questron and Babel and the Portal program that allows alterations to DT’s settings.”

“Where is Yuo?”

<There is no rush. She will be found in the castle eventually.>

Then he spoke aloud.

“I would like to settle this as peacefully as possible, but if you refuse to hand over the programs, I will once more set a rampaging NPC Body loose in the city like I did yesterday. So how about it, Akalabeth?”

He waited a few seconds and swung down his hand.

“Wait!” shouted Akalabeth on reflex.

<Such a pathetic plea. Your past self who led us Minus Elites is weeping.>

Suedomsa’s cheeks twisted a bit and he loudly snapped the fingers of his lowered right hand.

“Excel, start up three of them.”

“Yes, sir.”

He was answered by a trio of explosions from outside. They came from much further away than before.

Akalabeth faced south, staring at the unseen city beyond the audience chamber’s entrance.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

The triple sounds of destruction were coming from the south.

She saw Suedomsa raising his right hand again.

“Enough stalling. I will only ask once more: will you or will you not give me your programs?”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has updated>

Myst’s Sight Mode: In Eastpointe, East DT

<Myst’s Over Reload>

Myst, the artist in a white dress, shouted from the center of the road in front of the Yard.

“Have a taste of the pain I felt being reduced to a mere Anon2 while awaiting Master Suedomsa’s return!”

The Yard collapsed in an instant.

The destruction came courtesy of the giant floating hammer.

The power of the metal swung straight down.

It crushed the wind and dropped hard onto the building.

The contact and the crash of destruction were simultaneous. The hammer crushed the 3-story Yard HQ all the way down to the basement. The sound of breaking dirt and concrete was closer to a crashing wave than a rumble.

And after the hammer reached the basement…

<Animated Image Settings: Loop Number: 3>

It struck thrice.

The hammer obediently vanished into thin air once its mission was complete.

Meanwhile, similar explosive noises erupted from all over the city.

Every single Yard station had received the same treatment.

Alarms rang from every part of the city.

And some new sounds suddenly joined them.

The sounds were like collections of wood and rock bursting into the sky and of mounds of sand being broken through.

Those sounds came from three distinct locations.

Three explosions of destruction erupted into the city and giant dark knights stood from within.

The knights looked to the sky and released deafening screams.

Their voices were answered by the citywide alarms.

<Myst’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

The carriages traversing the road around her came to a stop and the cars stopped their wheels.

People left their homes to see what was happening and fled after noticing the knights consuming the city.

Cries and smoke rose into the sky and a destructive wind swept down the roads.

Everything shouted louder and louder as if to confirm its existence among all the confusion.

Myst, the cause of the chorus of screams, chaos, and destruction, spoke in front of the Yard HQ. Her voice was not like the many screams. It was a cheerful thing. She laughed loud enough to be heard over all the confusion.

“Ah ha ha!”

<Mysts’s Over Zoom>

Myst followed up her laughter by opening her mouth and her will and shouting into the sky above.

“Ecstasy!”

She held her left hand to her mouth, bent backwards, and laughed.

“Did you see that, Mekton!? I didn’t even need your protection!”

“I feel like…I wasted my time…coming,” said the large man in the navy blue military uniform standing behind her. He gave a deep nod. “You are…useful. I am…not. You are…not like me. So you are…useful.”

“You better believe I’m useful!” she shouted, slamming the bottom of her Mouse Device against the ground. “In terms of flowers, an artist’s true power is like the beautiful white cherry blossom!”

She spread her arms to embrace the sky and she spoke loudly into the vortex of chaos there.

“An author’s duty is to provide everyone with the same set of values. And everyone who saw this masterpiece must have had the same thing burned into their psyche! It’s like a dream come true!”

After finishing her statement, she nodded at the echo of her own voice.

It was a deep nod of satisfaction followed by a triumphant snort. Then she inhaled in preparation to say more.

But at that very moment, a different voice raced down the street. It was a loud voice brimming with bared anger.

“You’re no artist!” roared the voice.

A man stood on the roof of the convenience store across the street from the Yard and to her left.

<Myst’s Over Zoom>

He had short black hair, he wore a black tank top and white shorts, and his musculature was slender but well toned.

He blatantly clicked his tongue.

“You insult cherry blossoms by comparing them to a moron who mistakes silly games for being useful!”

“Who are you!?”

“Mh,” he grunted before answering. “I am Aoe Shouzou, GASAS Team 4 Commander. My Dance Combat style is the Kobayashi School and my martial arts rank is Superior!”

<Myst’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

You are in 3F Personal Room – Yuo’s Living Quarters, a Top Page of the castle.

It is a stone room. A bed and a desk with a support calculator are located along the west wall. A kitchen and a closet are located at the east wall.

You are the only one here.

Yuo: “Wow.”

Yuo: “What do I do now?”

Yuo: “Um, uh, Puppy, lock this door for now.”

Yuo: “And change the door’s wallpaper to match the surrounding stone wall.”

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

A diskette appears over the door’s seam and begins to spin.

The door changes to match the wall around it. The odds of it going unnoticed are 87%.

Yuo: “…”

Yuo: “What now? The knights will pursue me if I try to do anything. Can I send a Word Mail?”

<All Word Mails on castle grounds require authorization from Archon Suedomsa Txt>

<You would either need to access the directional antennae located atop the communications towers on the east and west of the castle walls or acquire communication authority from the central communication tower on the castle roof>

Yuo: “There are knight stations at both those options, so there’s no way I could pull it off.”

Yuo: <This entire mess is caused by Suedomsa, who is actually my dad.>

Yuo: <That means Alternative is actually my sister.>

Yuo: <And Akalabeth apparently tried to use me as a godtact experiment vessel.>

Yuo: “…”

Yuo: “Does that mean dad shot me to death after I made the prophecy?”

Yuo: <…>

Yuo: “Oh, c’mon. You expect me to believe I was shot for such a pathetically vague prophecy?”

Yuo: “Like that would actually happen. Ah ha ha ha ha.”

Yuo: “Ha ha ha ha…ha…sigh.”

Yuo: <This is so depressing.>

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

You are now seated on the carpet.

The ferret Mouse on your shoulder is staring at you. She is tapping on your shoulder with her front paw.

Yuo: “Trying to cheer me up?”

Yuo: “Yeah, I’m fine. Really. So don’t worry.”

Yuo: <Okay, I need to think through it all.>

Yuo: <This is real.>

Yuo: <All of it is real.>

Yuo: <Yes, this is all real, Yuo Natas Wav.>

Yuo: <Even if you close your eyes to shut out the visual data, even if you cover your ears to block out the auditory data, even if you block the pain to ignore the tactile data, even if…>

Yuo: “It’s all real, even if you hide in Board Mode.”

Yuo: “I can be hurt and I can hurt others. So can everyone else. We’re all the same.”

Yuo: <It doesn’t matter if I don’t see it, hear it, touch it, or notice it.>

Yuo: “The Plus and Minus worlds exist whether I’m a part of them or not.”

Yuo: “This is real. Every part of this is real. I’m not dreaming.”

Yuo: <I’m a part of this reality, so I can’t stay in Board Mode forever.>

Yuo: “Okay.”

Yuo: “…”

Yuo:

<Yuo’s Board Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo sprang to her feet.

She used her restored sight to check out the window.

<Yuo’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

Smoke was rising from a few points in the section of the city she could see from the castle.

She could see the disastrous scene and hear the alarms blaring.

She narrowed her eyes.

<Yuo’s Over Zoom>

A few silhouettes moving through the city towered above the rooftops around them.

“Are they the same as yesterday’s knight?” she wondered with tension in her eyebrows. She was trying to make an impassionate observation.

Her narrowed eyes looked to the city and counted the number of knights.

She stopped counting after reaching 3 dark giants.

Then she turned her gaze to east DT. The Yard was there. The HQ was a large building she could usually see from her room.

It had been obliterated.

The center of the building was smashed in as if a giant hammer had struck it from above.

“Senpai!”

She held a hand to her mouth. Or she meant to. But she had grabbed Puppy’s head without noticing and ended up smacking the Mouse against her jaw.

Her teeth clacked together.

After pulling her head back, she crouched down.

After apologizing to Puppy who was shaking her aching head, she stood up.

She viewed the distant rubble of the Yard HQ.

“This is all real.”

There was a bitter note to her voice.

Tension filled her face as she reached a certain decision.

“I know exactly what I should wear today.”

She set Puppy down on the bed and ran over to the closet.

She undid the door’s velcro and pulled out her Yard uniform.

She embraced the uniform made of a tough, green material and sighed.

Her shoulders drooped just before a window opened in front of her.

“Eh?”

It was a Word Mail from the castle’s Yard station.

It had been sent during the slight gap between Suedomsa gaining administrative authority over the castle and him locking down all communications.

<Opening Mail Window>

DT Yard Castle Station Word Mail: To Yuo

Yuo, I assume you have withdrawn to a safe location.

We are currently engaged in combat with the castle’s knights as illegal intruders. To resolve this crisis, we plan to fight our way into the audience chamber.

We have also managed to take back a portion of the castle’s administrative controls. We have control of the castle map. That means we control all DT knowledge of the castle’s layout. We have created a databank only you can read within the Yard station’s memory space and placed the control code there. The seal is weak, so check it ASAP.

With that, you will be able to erase knowledge related to the castle’s layout. We leave it to you to decide whether you will use that to escape or to assist any reinforcements who enter the castle.

<Yuo returns to Sight Mode>

Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo heard gunfire in the distance.

She could see out the window that the castle gate was closed.

Outside the castle, smoke was billowing from the city and a trio of colossal knights pushed through that black-streaked sky.

“The Yard is going to start with stopping those three.”

An alarm rang through the castle.

“Once the power output is in order, they should place a defense shield around the castle.”

Yuo let the sounds of destruction and the alarms wash over her while she looked into the smokey sky.

Her voiceless lips called for someone.

Instead of a first or last name, she mouthed the title she had used so many times.

She slowly inhaled and held the breath.

Then she gave a firm nod.

“I need to do whatever I can too!”

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth asked a question with her eyes on Suedomsa’s raised right hand.

“You said you need Yuo. You aren’t planning to make the same mistake we made back then, are you?”

Suedomsa did not answer her hurried question.

She sighed and her shoulders slumped at his silence.

And she said more with her eyes still on his right hand.

“Three things are needed to summon the great god: the Questron to receive the great god’s Lives, a reactor to extract them, and a vessel to contain them. I assume you plan to use the Questron stored below the castle and Babel for the first two. Reconstructing and maintaining them should be simple enough for your skilled servants.

“But,” she continued. “No matter how thorough your preparations, the process will take time. The great god’s Lives are extensive and the reactor can only be accelerated so much.”

He finally reacted to her words.

His bitter smile grew.

His shoulders shook, his raised right hand shook, and he spoke.

“You think time is a problem? Have you forgotten what today’s authorization was all about? Have you forgotten what settings we were changing? We will soon place a defense shield around the castle to preserve the peace. But once I receive the programs from you and acquire Yuo, the shield will be redefined to cover the area linking the castle and Babel.”

“You expect that to keep everyone out? Do you really think you can even create such a large defense shield?”

Suedomsa did not sound remotely concerned.

“Once the shield has been redefined, I will use your Portal Demigod Program to change the settings within the shield. I will increase the current 100x boost to a 1000x boost.”

Akalabeth frowned at the figure he provided.

“1000x?” She looked up. “That’s too much. It’s 10 times the current boost.”

“That it is. But DT can handle that with ease. Because we made it that way.” He clenched his raised hand into a fist. “And with that set, I will designate Yuo as the vessel. But not the current half-baked imposter Yuo who lives with you. I mean the full-on Minus Dropout Yuo who gave up on the world after seeing what people were capable of and left me while I suffered from Words Warn.”

He pulled something from his pocket.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

It was a program trigon with a question mark printed on the center.

“I created this from the program written to remove the seal on my memories. The seal you placed on Yuo’s memories is likely identical, so this should break right on through. But…”

“But what?”

“If her old memories are resurrected too quickly, her past and present personalities will clash. Her current memories will essentially be overwritten and erased by the resurrected memories. Her current memories will drop to the subconscious level and vanish.”

He meant the current Yuo’s memories would be deleted.

When Akalabeth realized that, she took a panicked step forward from the throne and took the first step down from the dais.

“Y-you mean…you don’t accept the current Yuo!?”

“The one you call Natas? She is no more than a half-baked imposter you cooked up. The Yuo I know was a dropout who was sick of the Minus. She was the kind of girl who would give up on her sick father because he couldn’t save her sister.”

“But! The current Yuo has even learned how to smile, so why would you take that away from her!?”

Once she was down on his eye level, she reached for the program in his hand.

She reached out with a cry of desperation, but he swatted her hand away.

And in exchange, he stepped forward and reached his left hand toward her.

It only took a split second.

He grabbed her throat while she reached her arm toward him.

She groaned and looked up at him from below.

“Don’t worry. This program contains reproductions of her memories from after the 1st Godtact Experiment. Memories of when she gave up on us and left us.”

“Y-you can’t just implant false memories in her head!”

Suedomsa barked a bitter laugh.

“You are the ones who filled her head with falsehoods. I bring her the truth, Akalabeth.”

He shook his head.

<The Yuo who betrayed me and dropped out is the real one. I once shot her for doing that, but now I am ready to accept her. I will help summon her true form once more.>

He took a breath and then spat out more words.

“Now, the time to choose has long since passed. We are picking up where we left off 2000 years ago. Will you give up or will you stop me? …I will not be destroyed. And I choose to use my remaining life to hold a godtact experiment on the Day of the Oracle. I will boost this Minus World by 1000x at the time and date Yuo once prophesied.”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>

Chapter 7: Wilderness

Due to an ongoing emergency, Nosrup’s Oracle Message Board is on hiatus.

DT Prison is assisting evacuations into West DT.

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

(Matthew 10:39)

07/07/2000 DT 10:23 AM (-04:37)

Help Text

DT Yard

DT Yard was established during the chaos following the 2nd Godtact Experiment and was originally a volunteer-only self-defense group.

Eight hours of outside time after the destruction caused by the experiment’s failure, the people who had evacuated to the center of the city were starting to build up a new city. This effort was led by a young person’s group that provided protection and work in various engineering fields. The group itself was led by two of the 13 Demigods, Ogre Telyb Dll and Fooblicky Telyb Sys.

They used their Demigod Program, Balance of Power, to send power to various sites during the post-disaster emergency.

From this, they ended up at the top of the Yard that formed once the city settled down after the disaster had passed.

During 1983 in the outside world, the American cable communication network industry was freed from a near monopoly. DT’s Akalabeth Dynasty responded to this by recommending the Yard establish itself as an independent virtual security organization for DT. At the time, the Yard’s official title became the Swiss Bank Knights Data Defense Department Independent Division Detroit Region Police.

The most useful technology developed by the Yard was the shell creation system that allowed them to convert an ordinary data space into a virtual space with the same standards as DT. This allowed the Yard to operate within a government, corporate, or personal databank no matter where they were in the world. The excessive amount of heat this produced was a major flaw, but it still allowed DT to establish branch offices around the world. The precision Live converter used to bring people into DT could also be used to send people and objects between those branch offices.

The Yard’s primary mission is to keep the peace of the virtual world inside and outside of DT, but as a representative of the Swiss Bank Data Management Department, they also provide storage, security, and debugging for the data that governments and corporations keep inside DT.

They handle a broad variety of data from the corporate level to the national level, but they are only authorized to store national level data because DT is under Swiss management and because the Yard is bound to the data secrecy requirements of a public agency.

The only problem is when disorderly data causes a Live breakdown and an object with real Lives is possessed, turning into a monster. When that happens, the Yard will suppress and seal it.

They also provide technical lectures for the FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers), the USAF OSI (US Air Force Office of Special Investigations), and police organizations, as well as business support for those groups.

The criminals that DT Yard considers the greatest threat are the criminals with only a partial connection to the virtual world who access the virtual world from an outside computer and commit crimes that way.

As Minus Elites, DT Yard cracks down on them with no mercy, saying “Cyber is now a system, not a type of punk, the virtual world is now a space, not a web, and the people who operate it are boosted to 100x speed, yet some fool is trying to violate our virtual world from the 1x speed of the outside world.”

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe’s vision instantly grasped the situation while he stood atop the convenience store.

This was a battle. A battle was about to begin.

With that in mind, he looked to the street on the adjacent Page to the convenience store roof.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

The white dress woman named Myst and the large man named Mekton stood in the center of the large dirt road.

Mekton fixed the color of his dark blue military uniform and looked up at Aoe with narrowed eyes.

He frowned and looked back to Myst.

“I-I saw…him. Yesterday in…the photo Excel…took.”

“Yes. This is the man Master Algo was telling us about. The one who defeated yesterday’s enlarged knight.”

“Algo?” said Aoe.

“That’s right.” Myst nodded and lowered her hands holding the pen.

Next to her, Mekton glanced toward Aoe.

“Myst, be…careful. M-Master Algo said…this Aoe is…an idiot.”

“That was definitely the real Algo who told you about me, then.”

“I said it was, didn’t I? Anyway, I’m impressed you survived my attack.”

Myst looked to the shattered Yard HQ. Aoe glanced that way for just a second, viewing the blurry adjacent Page.

“You wouldn’t say that if you had been there. The impact from above shattered the windows before the walls, so I only had to jump out.”

“I see. How fortunate for you. But what’s your plan this time, Mr. Idiot?”

Aoe immediately took action when he heard her question.

“The plan is to punch you!” he shouted and jumped down from the convenience store roof.

At the same time, he heard Telyb’s deep voice coming from the collapsed Yard HQ.

“Don’t let her provoke you, idiot!”

He was already dropping down into the adjacent Page by then.

He hadn’t set anything up, so his senses automatically switched to Board Mode.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in 4549-A Street, a Top Page of the East District.

The current time is 10:24 AM.

You are currently falling.

A road stretches out to your left and right. It is lined with homes.

Two old-style NPC Bodies stand on the road. They are Myst Gabriel Avi and Mekton Uriel Asb.

Aoe: <Mh!?>

Mekton: “A common…beginner mistake. F-forgetting to…switch modes.”

Myst: “The subprogram won’t give him a smooth landing.”

Myst: “Mekton, go punch that idiot.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You have not landed yet.

Mekton has reached your predicted landing point with a single step.

Aoe: “That was fast!”

Mekton: “Get lost, idiot.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You have not landed yet.

Mekton’s fist is wrapped in a bluish-white emblem. It bears a soldier symbol.

Mekton’s fist is 8 inches in diameter. A direct hit may damage your Lives data through resonance. Please evade.

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The instant Aoe managed to switch over to Sight Mode, he landed.

But it was too late. The giant fist was already right in front of him. A window opened as if to tell him how powerful it was.

<Mekton: Uriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to Asb Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: High Speed Movement Resistance>

But he could not evade it. Evasive action was taken with your next attack in mind.

He did not have time to consider that, so he dodged it without considering what came next.

“Duck!”

He intentionally tripped. He had already been off balance thanks to the subprogram’s ineptitude, so his Downloaded feet had no trouble tripping and falling.

Striking attacks only worked when they made contact with their target.

Aoe broke free of those rules.

But Mekton’s fist was more destructive than just a striking attack.

It broke the sound barrier.

A miniature shockwave formed for a brief moment and struck Aoe.

Just as he was falling and preparing for a forward roll, the blow from above hit him.

The sound pressure produced a great roar as he rolled thrice and was blasted six yards.

His airborne body lost its inertia and he floated in the air for a moment.

He used that moment to place his hands on the ground, bend and straighten his elbows, and propel himself backwards.

He landed.

He found the world tilted to the left.

“Oh?”

Then the ground circled around to his left side. The ground became a vertical wall, but still it approached from the left.

He could not stop it and collapsed onto the ground.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You were thrown to the opposite sidewalk. You have fallen onto your side.

A subprogram is currently searching for damage.

Myst and Mekton stand 6 yards away.

A single PC Body is there as well. He is Ogre Telyb Dll.

Aoe: <Get up, me.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You get up. You are unbalanced to the right.

Monkey is clinging to your shoulder.

<Auditory Program: Right side has received 37% damage>

<Body parts related to hearing are undamaged. No lasting effects on Lives data expected.>

<Auto-correct auditory program? Y/N>

Aoe: “Y”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mekton is looking your way. He has no expression. He looks bored.

Myst is not looking your way. She is looking at Telyb who arrived from the Yard HQ Page.

Telyb: “You two.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Telyb brushes the dust from his uniform.

Telyb: “You’re Suedomsa’s old-style NPC Bodies, aren’t you? If I’m not mistaken, you’re half of the amusement park’s Quartet.”

Myst: “Oh? I am honored you remember us, Master Telyb. It has been 2000 years after all. 2000 years since we brought Master Yuo to you after she gave up on everything on the day of the godtact experiment.”

Telyb: “That’s right. It was in the lab where the royal castle now sits.”

Mekton: “Telyb…remembers. Remembering…is good.”

Mekton: “But he is…idiot. Idiots bad…at remembering.”

Aoe: “Y-you mean me? Why do you keep calling me an idiot?”

Myst: “Heh heh. Are you really so easily offended you can’t take a bit of trash talking?”

Myst: “Besides.”

Myst: “What’s wrong with calling an idiot what they are!? You idiot!”

Aoe: “Y-you will pay for this.”

Myst: “Oh, shut up. An idiot like you has no right to demand I pay for anything!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Myst is hiding her mouth behind her hand and smiling coquettishly.

Aoe: “I had heard women love nothing quite like arguing and it’s certainly true for you.”

Myst: “What is with you old-fashioned Plus humans and your obsession with gender stereotypes!? You idiot, idiot, iiiiidiot! Ah ha ha! I you don’t like it, then smarten up and prove you aren’t an idiot! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”

Aoe: “How dare you.”

Telyb: “Don’t let her provoke you, idiot!”

Telyb: “Quartet, Suedomsa and Algo are at the castle, aren’t they? What are they planning?”

Myst: “You have to ask? They plan to fulfill Master Suedomsa’s wishes by summoning the great god into Master Yuo. They will boost Babel and the castle to 1000x speed and complete the godtact experiment all at once.”

Aoe: “Summon a great god into Yuo? What does that mean!?”

Myst: “What’s this, Master Telyb? You still haven’t informed this idiot?”

<Auditory program repairs are at 80%. Estimated time left: 30 seconds>

Myst: “When the great god was summoned 2000 years ago, Master Yuo volunteered to be the vessel who would contain the great god’s Lives. And then she was shot by Master Suedomsa who opposed the godtact experiment!”

Aoe: “What!?”

Myst: “Afterwards, Master Telyb and the others sealed Master Suedomsa and Master Yuo’s memories…leading to the present day.”

Myst: “We wish to use Master Yuo as the vessel for the great god once more. Just like she wanted during the 2nd Godtact Experiment. Yes, this will erase the Master Yuo you know, but it will also summon the almighty power of the great god into this world!”

Aoe: “You fools! Are you planning to repeat the past!?”

Myst: “Repeat the past? Oh, no. This is a continuation of the past. It may have been stopped once, but we are fighting for the divine summoning that was begun so long ago!”

Myst: “Use your idiotic, inexperienced, Plus eyes to view the proper path we have chosen! This is the Minus path that DT has been following since its creation 4000 years ago!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey drops down the chest of your tank top toward the stomach.

Monkey extends a front paw while hiding in the stomach of the tank top. You have received a Word Mail.

Aoe: “Mh? A Word Mail?”

<Opening mail window>

Fooblicky’s Word Mail: To the Stupid Man

Most of the Yard members, Yard ambassadors, and ordinary citizens were rescued using an emergency shield.

I am below the rubble putting together a time-limited attack program you can directly install.

Without your manager Yuo around, you have to rely on what our privileges allow, so try not to complain.

Listen. Wait just a bit longer. No, I should be more specific with an idiot like you. Count slowly to 5.

<Returning to Aoe’s Sight Mode>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

After switching to Sight Mode, Aoe raised his head.

His vision was working fine.

<As for my hearing…>

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a transparent circle indicating the progress of his auditory repairs. It had just filled up with red.

<Auditory Program: Right side damage has been repaired>

He took a breath and centered Myst and Mekton in his vision.

A moment later, he raised his right hand’s index finger.

He stuck that finger into his right ear.

He moved the finger in a circle so he could hear it rubbing against his ear hole.

It sounded like wood rubbing together. He smiled since he hadn’t been able to hear that sound earlier.

“Ha ha. Perfect.”

He slowly pulled the finger from his ear and raised the forearm.

“You will regret messing with me in another 5 seconds.”

After that casual announcement, he pointed toward the blue sky.

“Ooone.”

Myst responded by twisting her eyebrows quizzically.

But he ignored that and pointed his middle finger into the sky two.

“Twooo.”

He took a casual step forward, raising his ring finger at the same time.

“Threee.”

He also tilted his body forward and lowered his raised hand while also raising the little finger.

“Fourrr.”

He broke into a run. He first shrank down like a spring and kicked off the ground.

He sensed his foot kicking sand into the air behind him. The cloud of sand blinked before disappearing.

But that initial step also accelerated him forward.

Myst shouted out ahead of him.

“Mekton!”

Before that giant man could approach, Aoe kept his running feet going and spread all of his right hand’s fingers.

“Five!”

He clenched those fingers into a fist. Monkey reacted from within his tank top. The Mouse waved his front paw to directly install the attack program sent over by Fooblicky.

<DT Yard→Aoe: Natural Lightning Strike Representation Device Targeting Program: Applying: Run>

<DT Yard→Aoe: Natural Lightning Strike Representation Device Defense Program: Applying: Run>

<You will be able to launch Lightning Strike Representations once both programs have synced. Time limit: 10 seconds>

Gaining this power reminded him of when Yuo had been by his side during yesterday’s battle.

“I want to trust everything!”

He loudly Downloaded his right hand. A black spear Emblem appeared to perform the 50% Load.

Mekton stood in his way.

“Idiot go home.”

That Text was followed by a fist emitting bluish-white light. The speedy attack was aimed at Aoe’s face. However…

“Your aim is too precise!”

Aoe had moved his body before the artillery-like attack was even thrown.

He moved left, so Mekton’s fist flow past his left shoulder and behind him.

A shockwave hit him.

He slammed his fist into the wave of pressure from below.

The program installed in his fist confirmed the hit.

<Lightning Strike Representation>

Lightning dropped from the clear sky and toward Aoe’s fist above the road.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

A white light drowned out all else.

“Mh!”

A great heat and an atmosphere-shattering impact bathed the morning street in pure white.

The refreshing morning air exploded and a shockwave broke down.

At the center of the ruptured air, vacuum blades scattered in all directions from the end of Aoe’s fist.

His arm, shoulder, and cheek were lacerated, but he did not pull back. The damage that the defense program could not fully eliminate made the nerves bulge out on his upper arm.

<There may be hesitation in the power of my fist!>

“But feel no fear now!”

Shattering glass sounds rang from both his fists this time. The same black emblem appeared there.

Smoke drifted from them and the wind whipped up. He readied his noisy fists within that smokey wind.

Mekton had already raised his enormous fists.

A high-speed attack was coming.

But Aoe evaded that and made a strike to the bottom of Mekton’s arm.

“Oh!”

<Lightning Strike Representation>

A shockwave and light crashed into the arm, the sound from in front of him and the light from the sky above.

He made one, two, three strikes from the right, left, and left. Then another from the right.

Each strike whipped up the wind, sent out smoke, and scattered deafening roars like spray.

Mekton’s fist changed course. Instead of a straight-line punch, it curved down from above in a chopping strike that was harder to intercept from below.

But Aoe still struck Mekton’s fist.

He forcibly bent his body to unleash a barrage from below.

The clash of strength was broken by their movement choices, not their speed.

Aoe had thrown his fists before Mekton his, but not because he had predicted where the giant fist would be going. He had predicted when the fist would be thrown.

<Lightning Strike Representation>

Just as Mekton was about to send his right fist out from his shoulder, Aoe had moved forward and approached with efficient movements.

His fist, jaw, shoulder, gut, hips, knees, ankles, and feet drew out a flowing curve as he moved forward and focused on his left fist. He was targeting Mekton’s fist drawing out a chopping path in the air and his left fist struck from below just before Mekton’s fist broke the sound barrier.

He slammed his fist straight up into the thick tendon bulging out on the bottom of the wrist.

“…!”

Aoe’s blow did not send any kind of impact into his opponent. The program security was still active.

But a replacement power arrived from heaven.

<Lightning Strike Representation>

It tore into Mekton’s arm located between heaven and Aoe’s fist.

It sounded like a splitting tree.

Bluish-white lightning and smoke surrounded the giant bare hand that hadn’t even broken the sound barrier.

“Gah!” roared Mekton, holding his right fist and stepping back. “Damn…you.”

Aoe pulled back his fists and held them near his hips. Lightning crackled around his left fist. The blood vessels and nerves bulged out from both fists and a few of the blood vessels had ruptured through his skin.

But he still spoke.

“If there is any pride to be found in these fists of a Plus dropout, it comes from their long experience and from the pride of the people they have defeated. I do not sense any of that in your fists. Your conceited fists carry only power and speed!”

He spat the words onto the ground and pulled his fists back even further before raising them again.

Monkey moved inside his tank top.

<3 seconds remaining>

“Mh!”

He grunted and threw both fists upwards.

Mekton responded with his first defensive stance.

In front of him, Aoe struck his right fist with his left.

The sound of his fists colliding with each other repeated itself 8 times.

<Lightning Strike Representation>

Light dropped from all across the heavens to reach his raised right arm.

“Octuple power! Have a taste of the Thunderstorm Flower Fist!”

Aoe raced forward just before the lightning gathered.

Mekton abandoned his defensive stance and opened his mouth.

He roared loud and launched his right fist. He clenched the five scorched fingers and sent the fist flying.

He meant it as an interception.

It took a shallower course than before, curving rapidly down from above to catch Aoe in the chest.

Not even Aoe could duck below this attack.

Aoe’s response was simple: a toothy grin.

“Nothing reveals inexperience like a hastily thrown punch!”

Then he did something else entirely.

Instead of ducking down, he jumped up.

“…!”

He instantly cleared Mekton’s fist.

The low path of Mekton’s punch passed below the legs Aoe tucked up below him.

Mekton’s expression changed as his punch missed its mark: his narrowed eyes widened and his teeth clenched.

Aoe stopped smiling and spoke through his window.

<Every part of a battle is setup for what comes next.>

He twisted his airborne body and somewhat relaxed his fist for a half-clenched chop.

He aimed for the right side of Mekton’s neck.

The eight heavenly strikes reached him then.

He swung his chop, but it failed to find the NPC’s flesh.

Just before he completed the chop, a new color appeared in his way.

It was a transparent mass of blue.

<Ice!?>

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

It was a massive ice spear. It had to be a yard in diameter and the icy tip was sharp.

His fist shattered the ice.

In that instant, the eight lightning strikes gathered on the ice fragments and vaporized them.

Eight times the previous wind, smoke, and noise erupted.

Mekton whipped up the wind and pushed aside the smoke as he fell back.

Aoe twisted his body into a landing pose.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Mekton has withdrawn through the wind and smoke. He is by Myst’s side.

Mekton is holding his right arm and Myst is looking your way.

Myst taps the program control panel on her hip.

Orbits of light expand around her.

Aoe: “That’s the same program activation Yuo used.”

Myst: “Yes, it is. And if you want to know what that means, pay the castle a visit. We will explain everything in exchange for your insignificant death and the summoning of a god. Also…”

Myst: “You should know that Master Yuo does not want your help!”

Aoe: “What!?”

Telyb: “Wait! Stay back!”

<Excel→Myst: Target Image: Adding Data to Texture: Run>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

A powerful wind envelops your surroundings. It is so powerful you cannot stay on your feet.

The wind forms a vortex above the road.

<End>

“Aoe: “End?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Myst and Mekton have vanished from the road.

The powerful wind is gone.

Aoe: “They ran away!?”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has updated>

Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The audience chamber is quiet.

A single PC Body is with you.

She is Akalabeth. She is seated on the red carpet one step down from the dais.

You hold the three program trigons you received from her.

Suedomsa: “The control program for the Questron below this castle, the control program for Babel, and Portal, your Demigod Program that can alter DT’s settings. Yes, that’s all of them.”

Akalabeth: “Suedomsa, do you really think you can reclaim everything using those program trigons?”

Akalabeth: “Yes, you only need Yuo now, but did it really shock you that badly when she betrayed you during the 2nd Godtact Experiment? Was shooting her not enough for you to forgive her?”

Akalabeth: “Like they say: time heals all wounds.”

Suedomsa: “It’s true time has passed for Yuo and me while our memories were sealed.”

Suedomsa: <But time can only heal those wounds when you remember what happened.>

Suedomsa: “The Day of the Oracle prophecy was something Yuo said to me with a smile after she took my bullet and the great god Lives were erupting from her body.”

Akalabeth: “You mean when she said everything would be better after precisely 2000 years?”

Akalabeth: “I wonder if she had truly given up on everything then. Or did she still have hope for the future somewhere deep in her heart? And I still don’t know which of those the great god responded to.”

Suedomsa: <Is it not knowing that which has led you to do the boost setting change and open release on the Day of the Oracle?>

Akalabeth: “Well, why is it you are attempting this godtact experiment on the Day of the Oracle?”

Akalabeth: “If you only want to continue what we started 2000 years ago, I see no reason it has to be now.”

Akalabeth: “Is this meant as revenge against the daughter who betrayed you? It isn’t, is it?”

Suedomsa: “You always had a bad habit of viewing things too emotionally, Akalabeth.”

Akalabeth: “Not as much as you. It always seemed to me you left yourself in Board Mode to cut yourself off from all the emotion. Is that the result of being a Minus person who fears emotion?”

<Two guests have entered the Page>

Two old-style NPC Bodies have arrived. They are Excel Raphael Sys and Myst Gabriel Undefined.

Excel: “I do apologize. Myst arrived in a hurry and Mekton left to take Babel and defend the amusement park. In maybe half an hour, once the power levels are sufficient, we will surround the castle in a defense shield. …Myst.”

Myst: “I have returned. Boosted movement speed is exhausting. But are you sure Master Algo and Anon3 – Daikatana – are enough for that passageway? The Yard were moving through the courtyard.”

Suedomsa: “They can handle it. Once you get some rest, prepare to head down with Excel. I need you to restart the Questron and then adjust and duplicate the texture needed for Algo’s second phase.”

Excel: “Understoo- Master Suedomsa! Switch to Sight Mode!”

Myst: “It’s the queen!”

<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

The midmorning sun entered the audience chamber.

The light shined on a large hole in the floor and the red carpet.

When the two old-style NPC Bodies entered the audience chamber, Akalabeth ran to the right side of the red carpet. She placed her feet on the very edge of the black abyss and turned to face Suedomsa.

He turned his head her way with the three program trigons still in his right hand.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

She attempted a closer look, but Suedomsa was only angling his eyebrows a bit. His eyes were not wide and his jaw was not dropping. He simply turned his lowered head her way.

Her shoulders drooped in a sigh.

“You’re still in Board Mode, aren’t you?”

<Of course I am. You are an elite who would choose death to preserve your honor. You were willing to recommend Yuo as a sacrifice, after all.>

After Suedomsa’s window appeared, he frowned a bit and spoke out loud this time.

“However…this world’s concepts have been changing since the city recovered from the format.”

“Since you love quoting the bible so much, I have a verse for you,” said Akalabeth. “It’s the one starting with ‘whoever finds their life’. Surely you know that one.”

Suedomsa’s expression did not change. He simply shook his head and responded.

“It is no use. Even if you do find your life and defeat me, it will not stop the godtact experiment. Because even if you do stop me, Algo will take over and activate the Questron in Babel. Just like the Son of God was resurrected after his death. …My godtact experiment is meant to make amends for the past, but his is a trial run for a new age. So for the present day, his godtact is the more important one.”

<So how about it, Akalabeth? Do you think you alone can stop a godtact experiment spanning two eras: the past and the present?>

“He will take over? You’re being ridiculous. Besides, you do not have a vessel other than Yuo and you can’t transport the Questron to Babel!”

<I assure you it is all very possible, Akalabeth. Think over it…during your eternal slumber.>

The instant those words reached her, Akalabeth saw something fly toward her from the large door forming the audience chamber’s entrance to her right.

It was a large icicle.

It had been launched by the old-style NPC Body standing at the entrance. That was Myst, the woman in a white dress. Her virtual pen shined on the other side of the flying icicle that gathered up some of the audience chamber’s darkness.

Akalabeth made a split-second decision. She lowered her hips and then leaped backwards.

She also Downloaded.

“Sorry, but none of this is over yet.”

A shattering glass sound came from her back and her center of gravity stabilized.

Her reddish-purple dress flew from the red floor and into the open abyss.

The tip of the flying ice spear got a shallow slice in on her stomach and a reddish-purple scrap flew into the empty darkness.

Past the scattering cloth, she had dropped below the floor and into the adjacent Page of the pit. That meant her voice would not reach Suedomsa while he was in Board Mode.

So with her face pale, she opened her mouth with her back to the abyss.

“I think I see your trick now. The Quartet will copy the Questron for you.”

She twisted her lips and eyes into a slight smile.

“I do appreciate the dedication of saying your successor’s plan is the more important one, Suedomsa! It means you are assuming you will lose! It almost makes you sound like the Son of God preparing for his own death and resurrection!”

That was the end of it. She said nothing more.

The fluttering reddish-purple was swallowed by the darkness and she fell into the adjacent Page.

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo and miniature Alternative sat at the entrance to the audience chamber.

There was a step tall enough to sit on below the large metal door. He sat on that and ate the portable food Alternative passed him. He coughed a bit and tore open a wrapper labeled x5.

“Phew. Do we have any tea?”

<We do,> replied Alternative in her window and produced a juice box of tea from behind her back.

He thanked her and looked forward again.

He looked down the large corridor leading to the audience chamber.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

A battle was underway there.

The blue smoke of tear gas filled the tall, wide, and long stone-floored space. But that smoke was swept away by a wind whipping up in the corridor – by a powerful wind pressure that stood in the smoke’s way like a solid wall.

The wind came from a metal staff held by a black-robed man. He was the old-style NPC Body called Anon3.

While wielding that wind, his black robe fell away.

The man within emerged as the cloth rippled to the floor.

He wore blue and white Japanese clothing with the joints tied tight. Above his sharp, slender face, his black hair was tied tightly back with a green hair tie. His hair shook after the falling robe caught it, so he pressed his metal staff against it to fix it.

As far as Algo could see, he was only armed with the metal staff and a wakizashi on his left hip.

The Japanese man stepped forward. He took a large step with his zori-clad foot to avoid stepping on the fallen robe.

Algo swallowed his food while watching the man from behind.

“Take it easy. The queen apparently threw herself into the pit in the audience chamber.”

Algo’s words triggered a response around him.

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Six soldiers in blue Yard uniforms ran toward them along the corridor walls.

They took up a semicircle formation around the metal staff man.

One of them operated the program control panel at his hip. He turned a dial and hit a button.

The numerals 1 through 6 appeared in blue light over the 6 Yard members’ heads.

At the same time, they all drew their submachineguns and aimed them at the metal staff man.

They took careful aim at his face, chest, gut, and legs.

After seeing that, Algo stuck a straw into the tea juice box Alternative had given him.

“I see.”

He nodded just before those six pulled the trigger.

A rupturing sound and scattering sparks signaled the beginning of the destruction.

Metal bullets took flight. They fired from six different directions without any hesitation.

The metal staff man in the center moved only slowly.

<Anon3: Uriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to C Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: Movement Stability>

Then he spoke the words of his will.

“It is no use.”

The Text came from the metal staff he held.

The ring of Text produced a metal gray emblem from the tip of the staff.

The emblem was surrounded by a laurel wreath symbol frame.

The man released his Text and wordlessly raised the emblem-bearing staff horizontally.

That was a defensive pose.

He leaned to the right.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

While holding the staff horizontally, he shifted about a foot to the right.

It was a small movement, but it created a slight difference in when the simultaneously-fired bullets would hit.

The ones coming from the right would arrive a foot’s worth of time sooner than the ones coming from the left.

He used the end of the staff to stop the first shot to arrive from the right.

The bullet ricocheted off the staff, producing a loud clang and a spray of sparks.

The bullet flew off somewhere or other.

The footwork supporting that split-second defense took him slowly to the left.

From there, it came down to a series of instants. After sharply deflecting the first shot with the right end, he caught the 2nd bullet from the right on the part of the staff a bit more than a foot left of the right end.

The 3rd shot he blocked with the spot a foot left of that.

The 4th shot he blocked with the portion left of that, where he held the staff with his right hand.

The 5th shot he blocked with the spot where he held the staff with his left hand.

The 6th shot he blocked near the left end.

He deflected them all.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

By the time he had deflected the final one, his body was already moving left.

While catching those bullets from his position a foot to the right, he had accurately moved himself two feet to the left.

The enemy attack was still underway. They were firing with submachineguns. The second shots from each gun arrived less than a second later.

Shifting himself to the left allowed him to catch this next barrage starting from the left.

He blocked the 1st shot from the left with the exact same spot on the left side of the staff he had used to block the 6th shot last time.

From there, he moved right to catch all 6 similar to before.

Then the 3rd bullets were coming. This time, the ones on the right were closer, so he caught the 6 shots from the right.

None of it stopped there. All the man was doing was holding his staff at an angle that let him sweep aside the shots coming from six different directions. The bullets used a batch program to sync their timing, and their aim was impeccable, but they were still only a barrage coming from 6 directions at once.

A barrage was a wall.

The man set up his own angle in relation to the wall, set up a priority list for himself, and deflected each bullet accordingly.

He slowly backed away to compensate for the speed of the bullets.

His first step was the only one taken forward. The rest took him slowly back.

The submachineguns stopped after their 32nd bullet each.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Gun smoke spread out through the corridor and the gunshots echoed on and on.

After the six lines of fire used up their ammo, the man remained standing before them with his staff held horizontally.

His feet were precisely planted in the center of the black robe he had dropped on the floor.

He was unscathed and the metal staff was not chipped or scratched.

None of the bullets had reached Algo or Alternative seated behind him either.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Algo looked back to see the royal flag covering the side of the door had been shot to shreds. The red and yellow coloration made the scraps look like autumn leaves fluttering through the gun smoke. The wall where the flag had been had its texture half destroyed by the bullet holes. The audience chamber’s inner wall was visible through the broken surface image.

<Surface image has been damaged. Would you like to repair it? Y/N>

No one pressed the Y or the N key. Algo ignored the message too.

The metal staff man looked back while fixing the women’s green hair tie he wore.

“How was that? I still do not think I have what it takes to take on the strongest opponent.”

“Don’t be silly. That was excellent.”

“Then may I name myself?”

“Go ahead,” replied Algo, placing a slight smile on the other man’s lips.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

The man’s eyes remained closed.

<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended>

DT Yard Captain’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle

<Yard Captain’s Over Reload>

Their chance arrived when the metal staff man finished retying his hair and turned toward the two behind him.

A wind blew through.

Someone had broken through the blue tear gas smoke with his shoulders while charging toward the enemy.

It was an elderly Yard member with a sword raised to shoulder height.

His hard boots rang loud on the stone floor, propelling him forward.

He saw the six still holding their submachineguns turn toward him.

“Captain!”

He did not respond. He kept his focus forward, on the enemy. With every new footstep, the distance between them shrank.

He ran through the gun smoke, scraped at the floor with his sword tip, and raised his voice.

“I am Carl Asb! I am the Yard Castle Station Commander! I challenge you to a duel!”

The metal staff man turned toward the rapidly approaching voice.

His eyes remained closed, but his expression did change. His eyebrows rose slightly and his mouth opened.

It was an expression of mild surprise.

“Oh?” he sighed as the Yard Captain approached.

The Yard Captain shouted like he wanted to destroy that breath.

“Name yourself!”

“Daikatana Uriel. I will define my Word Race soon.”

The distance between them shrank to 5 yards.

Carl opened a window.

<Carl: ASB Word Race Special Ability: Limiter Off: Activating High-Speed Movement Resistance>

He sped up.

Daikatana responded with his own movement.

<Daikatana: Uriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to C Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: Movement Stability>

Daikatana had lowered his staff to the bottom right and he swung it behind him. He performed the swing with only his right wrist and fingers, spinning it around to his back.

He raised the staff from his side to his shoulder and rotated it against his collarbone.

Then inertia sent the staff past his shoulder and around to the front.

He raised both hands toward his right shoulder and the staff spun over his shoulder and fell into them.

He grabbed it tight.

“No mercy.”

A sound like splitting stone came from the staff and an emblem appeared from its end.

Carl shouted in surprise when he saw that.

“I thought you were an NPC Body!?”

“Experience the answer for yourself.”

Daikatana lowered his hips and swung down the staff in his hands.

It took a rapid, straight line path.

Carl swung his sword up toward the descending attack.

Both lights intersected.

The battle was over in an instant.

Carl’s sword was shattered by the staff’s momentum.

“Kh!”

With a shattering glass sound, metal fragments scattered like sparks.

Daikatana’s staff sliced through even the loud noise as it continued down.

Then Carl’s hand reached his hip, where he wore a program control panel.

He hit a button there.

<Carl: Clothing: Data Conversion Program: Gravity Direction Change: Run>

<Changing gravity direction in the effected space: 90 degrees behind>

Carl’s body slid 2 yards backwards.

It was a short distance. It did not bring him out of the metal staff’s range.

So he took a defensive stance.

He raised his left hand overhead and lowered his right hand to the submachinegun at his hip.

Daikatana’s staff was a striking weapon. It might break Carl’s arm, but as long as his shoulder stopped it, he could still fire.

Carl held his breath to endure the impact.

That was when Daikatana spoke.

He spoke the powerful Text that surpassed a Download.

<Carl’s Over Reload>

Daikatana’s voice rang out.

“I am not entertained.”

“Nor am I bored.

“I am destined to dispassionately cut down foe after foe forever.”

A metal gray light arrived in the staff.

<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Moebius: Preparing>

The emblem at the end of the staff made noise. The deep, loud noise was like a stone being split.

Several windows opened in quick succession and surrounded him in no time.

<Activation authorized for 30M Lives within the virtual space.>

<Activating Pseudo Load Emblem: Run>

A string of text ran down from the emblem at the end of the staff. The 2D string drew out a spiral just once.

●Type-XX049: Imperial-class: Moebius●

<Activating Pseudo Grandload of Daikatana’s center of gravity: Removing limiter for all advanced subprogram loading and for blade strength.>

In an instant, the character string surrounded the top half of the staff.

The staff now had a 1.5yd hilt and a 1.5yd text blade.

This was not a standard Japanese or Western sword. It was a giant nagamaki.

Daikatana took a large step forward and swung the nagamaki.

The character string attack reached Karl’s raised left arm.

The character string itself passed through his arm. The Grandload text was only the sign of a load, so it had no mass.

What mattered was the power that Load Emblem had loaded. The staff’s power activated when it struck Carl’s arm.

The corners of the staff had their sharpness increased. That right angle line possessed the sharpness of a thick blade carrying the full power of the metal.

The nagamaki swung on through.

The staff’s corner never should have functioned like a blade, yet it formed a rapid slash.

The thick and short blade swept right through Carl with the character string still surrounding it.

The staff sliced through the raised arm and straight on down to the man’s crotch.

It sliced into 3 inches deep and continued down the entire way.

Carl’s left arm flew through the air and the staff passed through his flesh, slicing through his left lung’s ribs all at once.

The somewhat diagonal slash left through his side at crotch height.

Daikatana had lowered his hips to bear the full weight and inertial force of the nagamaki formed from text. The muscles of his arms bulged and the metal staff bent.

“Mh.”

A low grunt escaped his mouth for the first time.

A window opened above Carl’s head after he was sliced from shoulder to crotch.

<So it was a draw.>

He raised his right hand, lifting his submachinegun.

Just as he was about to get the muzzle up, Daikatana let go of the nagamaki.

The simple action caused the nagamaki to float in the air.

Daikatana leaped forward.

He placed his foot on the back of the airborne nagamaki, near the tip of the text blade.

The nagamaki’s weight supported Daikatana’s step and then spun downwards.

Carl saw something then.

<Yard Captain’s Over Zoom>

He saw Daikatana drawing his wakizashi while leaping toward him.

He wasn’t going to get his submachinegun up in time for the glinting wakizashi.

The blade was only a bit over a foot and a half and it jabbed toward Carl’s right side as he attempted to raise the gun.

It caught him on the side at the height of the solar plexus.

It stabbed in all the way to the guard.

His strength drained away.

The gun fell from his hand and his voice escaped his mouth.

The position of his body and arm made it look like he was embracing Daikatana.

Daikatana responded by placing his right arm around Carl’s back.

He moved without ever opening his eyes.

He grabbed the hilt in a backhand grip and twisted it.

That twist loosened the muscles that had tensed around the blade.

A breath left Carl’s lungs.

The blade slowly pulled out.

Blood spilled from the gaping hole in his side.

Blood also leaked from the split running down the front of his body.

Daikatana stood up to avoid the blood.

Carl tried to step forward and pursue.

<Carl’s Over Zoom>

He saw Daikatana take a step back and bend his back.

Daikatana spread his right hand’s fingers and raised it back behind his shoulder.

The nagamaki he had kicked downwards from the tip had completed a single rotation there.

The hilt spun upwards and right into his waiting hand.

He grabbed it by the pommel.

His next action was simple.

He used his shoulder as a pivot point to pull the hilt down with the principle of leverage.

The nagamaki’s blade accelerated and flew forward.

With just his right hand, the sent the metal staff flying forward in whip-like arc.

It whipped up the wind.

For a second slash, the blade surrounded by a 2D character string struck Carl.

The blade caught him in the exact same spot as before and it left through the exact same spot too.

The blade easily pierced through to his back.

The nagamaki passed through without a speck of blood or fat on it and Daikatana swung it around behind him.

It spun through a second rotation and then he caught the hilt under his arm to stop it.

His Load Emblem turned to light and scattered.

The laurel wreath symbol expanded into the space around him and then disappeared.

<Carl’s Over Zoom>

Daikatana turned to face Carl just as the emblem vanished.

Carl stared back into Daikatana’s closed eyes.

But then Carl’s vision began to tilt to the right.

He looked left to figure out why.

He saw a red cross section there.

That was the left half of his own body.

He saw various bumps with white or light pink tissue surrounding them. In the cross sections of his bones, he even saw the brown marrow wrapped in the more familiar white.

His left half collapsed in the opposite direction.

He tried to reach out and pull it back, but he lacked even a left shoulder.

So he looked to Daikatana as he fell to the right.

Daikatana spoke with his expressionless face turned Carl’s way.

“I have eliminated all sight programs from my blade and staff techniques. The speed of assembly is too great for the eye to follow.”

Carl could not say anything in response with his lungs already split.

His eyes saw Daikatana moving.

The man took a step toward Carl.

“It has been 4000 years, yet I have yet to find an opponent who can elevate me to the highest level.”

With that, he ran into Carl’s collapsing body.

Except he did not physically contact Carl.

His hair swaying behind him, he passed through Carl on his way to deal with his remaining enemies.

That was when Carl realized his body was already starting to disappear.

He flashed and vanished just before his two halves hit the floor.

<Carl has been fully destroyed>

Chapter 8: Final Takeoff

Due to an ongoing emergency, Nosrup’s Oracle Message Board is on hiatus.

The following is an apology message from Nosrup himself.

Welcome!

I’m so sorry about this.

One of our own is causing some trouble and the prison where I work may be helping evacuate everyone.

Anyway, this isn’t the time to be posting on a message board.

There aren’t many connections to the outside world available and all of them are needed to exchange information at the moment.

This should work itself out in less than a minute for those of you outside the city.

Oh, god. I’m so busy and scared my 2nd personality named Akemi and my 3rd personality named Shizuka are about to rise to the surface. Wait, why do my other personalities sound like hostesses!?

That was a joke, by the way!

Anyway, I have to go tell people to evacuate, so read the following passage:

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

(Matthew 13:16-17)

07/07/2000 DT 11:12 AM (-03:48)

Help Text

Babel

Babel’s official name is Babel 71. It is a global broadcast tower originally planned in 1971 and completed in Osaka, Japan, in 1999.

Since the Great Canopy covering the earth cut off the world’s communications network, Babel was designed to act as the center of a global network that sent data even to parts of the world the cable network could not reach.

The initial corporate plans had the top of the tower acting as a Babel Cannon in order to reproduce the word attack only launched twice in officially recorded history, both in Cologne during World War Two. The plan was for that to shatter the Great Canopy.

But to avoid the hit to the corporation’s reputation if that failed, Babel was left as a broadcast tower as per the initial suggestion and, at the request of the plan designer, some Japanese students at the time were given the right to use it first.

Babel acted as the divine pillar for a festival held in Japan after the country was reunified from its east-west split, but it also presented the possibility of tearing the country apart again.

Babel’s presence placed the center of Japan in the west. A corporation worked in secret to stop that and to recreate the east-west split and there was some turmoil as a result. These issues are still not fully understood and the related court cases are currently on hold due to Tokyo’s closure.

Babel was abandoned in March of 1999, but it was then moved to DT to search for a solution to Tokyo’s closure in August of 1999.

To accomplish this, Babel’s lower levels were remade into a ley line extractor designed to receive the prophecy of the Great God Lives created during a godtact experiment.

The ley line extractor modification received a lot of opposition around the world because it reminded people too much of Tristan, the German tower that caused a ley line disaster in World War Two and is said to have created the greatest blank period in Germany’s history.

However, an agreement was finally reached when Japan created an international equal opportunity prophecy extraction system and assured every country would have a chance to use Babel as a prophecy extractor free of charge.

Babel’s transport was carried out using a high precision virtual transfer from an artificial port constructed on Japan’s coast and a joint air transport led by the US and said to be the return of the West Berlin support transports. The transport was completed in only 3 months in the outside world and the settings changes and construction took only another half month in the outside world. During this period, many negotiations were held between Japan, Switzerland (DT’s managing state), and the US.

Japan received the right to borrow the Death Techno stored in the Swiss bank and approval to use the Swiss bank as not just a money vault but as a symbol of trust. Japan also requested that entrance to DT be restricted while Babel was in use, preventing any tourists from arriving.

Currently (March 5, 2002 DT), Babel is preparing for a prophecy extraction in DT and the operation will begin on July 7 when the boost settings are changed.

Aoe’s Continued Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in DT Yard HQ Street, a Top Page of the east district.

The current time is 11:12 AM.

There is a pile of rubble in front of you. A road stretches right to left. It is lined with houses.

There are many Bodies around. Your speech is restricted to Telyb and Fooblicky.

Aoe: <Looks like things have started.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The Yard members and NPC Bodies are performing rescue work in the surrounding rubble.

You are surrounded by people evacuating to the park in the south district.

Telyb is giving instructions to the gathered Yard members and sending them out into the city.

Fooblicky has opened a word mail window and is sending instructions to the other Yard stations.

Aoe: “Hey, old man. Can’t we do anything about the castle?”

Telyb: “Sorry, but the people’s safety comes first. There’s a Yard station in the castle. Unfortunately, we can’t cut off power to the castle because that might delete the data stored there.”

Aoe: “I thought we had lost contact with that station and the castle was under Suedomsa and the knights’ control.”

Telyb: “That doesn’t change anything. The castle’s residents are our friends and our friends have to come last. Do you have a problem with that?”

Telyb: “And there are only two of those residents: Queen Akalabeth and Yuo. If anything does happen, those two will be formatted and that’s it. Also…”

Telyb: “Once they get the power stabilized, I’m sure they’ll place a defense shield around the castle. That will prevent anyone from getting in or getting out. Do you see what that means?”

Aoe: “The enemy won’t be able to leave the castle?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky crosses her arms and nods.

Fooby: “That’s half right. Listen. Running their godtact experiment means having an enchanter transfer the great god’s lives and heat energy for the Questron from Babel. But…”

Telyb: “But that requires opening the defense shield. That is when we will break in.”

Fooby: “Our Spell Breaker counts as part of DT’s OS, so it can be transferred through a defense shield, but an ordinary enchanter is bound by the OS.”

Fooby: “Since Suedomsa didn’t try to convince us to help, he must intend to do this with an ordinary enchanter. That means they must open the defense shield before the godtact experiment.”

Aoe: “What if they create a shield connecting Babel with the castle?”

Fooby: “A shield that large would require a connection to Babel. Besides, the city exists between Babel and the castle. Why would they bring their enemies inside their shield?”

Aoe: “Mh. You have a point.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky brushes her hair back.

Fooby: “I think that about sums it up. But can I say one more thing? You aren’t thinking of rushing in to save Yuo, are you? When your power is being restricted?”

Telyb: “That would not be as praiseworthy as it might sound in your head. I do not recommend it.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Fooblicky is frowning and glaring at you. It is a look of displeasure.

Telyb is looking down on you with his mouth twisted. It is a look of displeasure.

Aoe: “…”

Telyb: “Listen. Like you pointed out, we have lost contact with the station there. So what could you accomplish by rushing in there? Everyone there is probably an enemy to you and to us.”

Fooby: “What would you even do when you’re so powerless? Use your lack of power?”

Aoe: “…”

Aoe: “Just so you two know…”

Aoe: <The expressions I just read sound like lies to me. I think you are testing me.>

Telyb: “You do, do you? And what do you propose you do about your powerlessness?”

Aoe: “I do this.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

As soon as Aoe switched to Sight, he saw the blue sky, the houses below that, and the pile of broken concrete.

Telyb stood in front of Aoe with the broken Yard HQ behind him.

Aoe swung his right fist before even checking the other man’s face.

“Mh!”

“I’ll find the strength somewhere.”

A shattering glass sound came from his fist.

The solid breaking sound was accompanied by a black spear emblem surrounding his fist as it flew out at full speed.

The strike flew toward Telyb’s face.

It whistled through the air and several display frames burst from it, turning it invisible.

It struck Telyb in the forehead, but provided no force.

The bone of the fist’s middle finger touched his forehead and stopped. It was stopped by the sweaty forehead.

A stir ran through the people inundated by alarms and sounds of destruction. The Yard members came to a stop and looked to Aoe and Telyb. But Aoe ignored that attention and spoke only to Telyb.

“You’re smiling.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

He gained a detailed view of Telyb’s face. The face with his fist against the forehead was pulled back to look down at him and the cheeks were bent. The bend came from the small, stiff smile of someone testing something.

Next to Telyb, Fooblicky was surrounded by windows and frowning while looking up at him in a troubled way.

“So you didn’t fall for the classic trick using the OS’s terrible expression interpretation, huh?” said Telyb, grabbing Aoe’s fist and lowering it.

“Mh,” grunted Aoe, brushing off Telyb’s hand and giving a quiet comment. “I will take back Yuo.”

“Oh? Even though you have no real power? I might be willing to help depending on your answer. So let me hear the voice of your Lives. What does a Plus dropout have to say now that he has been stripped of his deadly power?”

“Mh.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Telyb has no expression. He is emotionless.

Telyb: <I would love to hear why it is you want to go to the castle.>

Aoe: <Do I have to tell you?>

Telyb: <You do.>

Aoe: <A lot happened, but, well…>

Aoe: “Last night…”

Aoe: “…”

Aoe: <Yuo cried.>

Aoe: “And she told me a lot, but I didn’t have any kind of answer for her.”

Aoe: <And now that idiot is in the castle.>

Aoe: <So I will steal her away with my attack power – the power to steal away anything.>

Aoe: <Of course, the enemy has the strongest Minus power.>

Aoe: <I have no power capable of fighting that. But I will find it by fighting that enemy.>

Telyb: “That’s a will to fight and a fantasy, not an effective power.”

Aoe: <You fool. All power begins with the will to fight.>

Aoe: “I have trained with the Chancellor’s Officers for 1 year, GASAS for 6, and the Kobayashi School for over a decade. I will make it work. And I will take Yuo back.”

Aoe: “There is only one thing I can say for sure at the moment: As long as you have the will to fight, you can fight.”

Aoe: <When has that ever not been the case?>

Aoe: <In all things, you will accomplish your goal if you never give up.>

Telyb: “But…”

Telyb: <No, you once nearly gave up, didn’t you?>

Telyb: <You nearly gave up on the strongest power and on Yuo. As a Plus dropout.>

Aoe: “Hah. That’s ancient history.”

Telyb: “But nothing has changed since then. Are you finally going to stop giving up?”

Telyb: <Aoe.>

Aoe: <What?>

Telyb: <I have one word of warning for you. You said your attack power is the power to steal something from the enemy. But that is looking at it from the enemy’s point of view.>

Telyb: “A different word is more accurate and speaks the truth of your Lives.”

Aoe: “?”

Telyb: “You will be rescuing her from the enemy. Remember that.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has updated>

Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo finished dressing in her Yard uniform at about the same time as a window opened in front of her.

The system message window silently bloomed in the center of the room.

<The Yard force within the castle has been eliminated>

<Yard reinforcements cannot be called from outside the castle>

<As the only spare Yard force within the castle, Ensign Yuo Natas Wav can receive the authority of Castle Yard Representative>

A new window opened.

<Do you accept? Y/N – If you choose N, surrender is recommended>

Yuo reflexively reached for the Y.

But she stopped just before pressing it.

She pulled her hand back, shut her mouth, and flattened her eyebrows as she stared at the Y.

That letter meant accepting all responsibility.

So she kept that digital letter in the center of her vision and focused on her ears.

She could hear a cacophony of alarms and destruction from outside the window. But none of that destruction came from inside the castle. Earlier, she had heard some automatic gunfire she assumed came from Yard submachineguns, but that had since stopped.

“They really were wiped out, weren’t they?”

She shut her eyes and frowned.

She reached for the hair falling on her shoulder but stopped herself.

Then she spoke more forcefully with her eyes squeezed shut. Her tone said she was trying to convince herself of the words.

“Yuo Natas Wav served for three years as PR Chief of Japan’s North Kantou Chancellor’s Officers and has been trained as the machine force’s ace.”

A breath.

“Think back to 600 years ago when you first got into a fight in Japan. Remember those days when you worked under that stupid, ridiculous, laissez-faire, and harmfully perverted upperclassman – when you had such unique connections with your comrades, came up with plans, and went around both defending and attacking.”

She opened her eyes, faced forward, and opened her mouth wide.

The words that came out were from a song she had learned long ago.

“I shall move ever forward.”

After speaking the line, she restarted it as her Text.

“I shall move ever forward.”

Green light briefly surrounding her hands, followed by a shattering glass sound.

She raised her hands as they shook from the impact.

Then she slapped her cheeks with them.

The slapping sound in her ears and the sharp pain in her cheeks made her flinch.

But she soon straightened back up and viewed the window in front of her with tension in her eyebrows.

“I accept.”

She pressed the Y.

<Understood. Ensign Yuo Natas Wav will now be granted authority of the Castle Yard Representative>

She read that display, waited a few seconds, and took a deep breath.

“That will tell my dad and the others…”

She shook her head, forced the air out of her lungs, and restated that thought.

“This will tell the enemy I am here. The management and authority transfer windows will have appeared all across the affected area. They would never miss that window.”

She nodded and snapped her finger.

“Puppy! Connect me to the Yard station’s memory space. Enter my password and gather as much data as you can get while making sure it can’t be traced to us! With the enemy here, this is going to be a battle over privileges!”

She opened a transparent keyboard by her hands and opened a window that displayed her own abilities.

“I need to set my voice to window only mode.”

<There.>

She looked up to see a window opened there.

<Now I can make all the noise I want without anyone hearing.>

<Puppy, hey, Puppy! Can you hear me? You can’t, right?>

Puppy the ferret looked her way while rolling up a trigon.

The Mouse knew how to optimize data, so he could tell what Yuo wanted.

Bluish-white lines appeared along the movable range of the chair on the floor and atop the desk.

Yuo opened a settings window for that space and set all the voice settings to “off”.

All sound vanished from around her.

Good, good, she thought, opening a transparent keyboard on the desk and fixing its coordinate there.

She also opened a transparent display in front of her. The icons of various types of data floated inside the 20-inch flatscreen display.

Then she pressed the button on the top right of her transparent keyboard.

The icons in the screen emerged and floated above the desk.

She flicked the 3D spinning icons to spread them further apart.

She nodded once.

<Puppy, keep sending me everything you get. The station’s data shouldn’t have been hacked yet, so bring me all of the castle data the Yard has authority over.>

Puppy barked.

He let the data trigon float over his head, opened his mouth, and swallowed it.

An icon immediately appeared atop Yuo’s desk.

More icons appeared each time Puppy created and ate another trigon.

Yuo pushed the new trigons around with her fingers to silently sort them. She said nothing, but her thoughts appeared on her window.

<That Yard person said they had control of the castle’s map data, right?>

She glanced over toward where the door would normally be. There was only a wall there now.

<Since most everyone here is an NPC Body using shared memory, sealing away the memory related to the castle layout should prevent anyone but mom from knowing where my room is.>

That meant she could fight without anyone noticing her.

She suddenly found what she wanted among the icons.

The icon that appeared on the desk was a simple one depicting square rooms and hallways drawn on white paper.

<CasMap.dlb>

That was a collection of the castle’s map data.

She smiled at the icon and her hands raced across the keyboard.

Then she began to sing. A window opened to display her words, allowing her to sing in silence. First, she erased the castle map from DT in order to erase her own location, to obstruct the enemy’s movements, and…

<To find some way to fight.>

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Continued Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The corners of Telyb’s lips are rising. He is smiling.

Telyb tosses you a data trigon.

From your right shoulder, Monkey catches it for you.

Aoe: “What is this?”

Telyb: “It’ll probably be your trump card. It contains yesterday’s explosion. Once you contact Yuo and gain permission to open it, you can access the continuation of that explosion.”

Aoe: “You’re giving that to me?”

Telyb: “It doesn’t do anyone any good with me.”

Telyb: “I wish I could give you an unlocking program trigon, but as your manager, only Yuo has the authority to do that. Watch carefully. This is what happens when we try to do it.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Telyb tosses you a program trigon.

From your right shoulder, Monkey catches it for you.

As soon as Monkey catches it, the program trigon explodes into light and vanishes.

Telyb: “See? We can only directly install one for a brief period of time, so you need search out Yuo. She thought she was going to meet you at the castle today, but that backfired.”

Aoe: “Can you forcibly take over as my manager?”

Fooby: “Not in time. The OS has abandoned parallel processing and is assigning strict priorities to each task. A criminal manager authority transfer would be bottom priority.”

Telyb: “Plus, we have our own posts to be at. Still, we can find some time to help out a brave civilian who decides to rush into the castle to try and help. Some remote help anyway.”

Telyb: “Take the communications facilities once you get inside the castle. Once we can contact you, we will send you the best unlocking program for your Mouse and temporarily install it. You will automatically receive authorization to attack as soon as your Mouse receives the data. After entering the castle, move to the communication facility in the southeast tower. Then move to the castle roof where you can find the communications center in the central tower.”

Aoe: “Will I be able to contact Yuo from there? If only we could send people like word mail.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Telyb nods with a bitter smile.

Aoe: “Now, I need to get going. I doubt you will be giving me a gun or any other equipment anyway.”

Telyb: “An unusable gun would only weigh you down. Still, you should take a backpack of disaster relief goods and several charms. In case they launch tear gas at you.”

Telyb: <There is one other possibility I should let you know about.>

Telyb: <They said they intend to use Yuo as a vessel, but I doubt that is the end of it. Even if Suedomsa is stopped, Babel will still be extracting the great god’s Lives. And do you remember what Myst said about fighting for the summoning that was stopped in the past?>

Telyb: “Someone might be attempting another godtact experiment. To go with Suedomsa’s bible obsession, the son of god will be resurrected even if he dies once. So they must be prepared for a second attempt.”

Aoe: “Who is in charge of that second attempt? Algo? But who will they use as a vessel?”

Telyb: “That I don’t know. Algo himself is unclean due to killing his master and he isn’t immortal, so he couldn’t be the vessel. That is why I only said someone might be. Just keep the possibility in mind.”

Telyb: “Also, please be kind with Yuo once you find her. She was afraid you had given up on anything and everything. For the past 600 years, she was worried you had dropped out as well.”

Telyb: <Women always find some reason to worry about a man, even if they are younger.>

Aoe: “Sigh. What about you? Is there some reason your wife always stays in that smaller form?”

Telyb: <Oh, that’s just her pandering to my enlightened tastes. Gweh!>

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

When Aoe regained his sight, he first looked to Telyb.

Telyb was crouched down on the dirt road, holding his side. Next to him, Fooblicky had her back turned while she continued working at her window. But her ears were red.

So Aoe scratched his head without speaking a word.

Still not looking his way, Fooblicky held out a black bag and three papers.

“I threw together some disaster relief goods and windshield charms. The charms are for use against tear gas,” she said brusquely.

“Mh,” grunted Aoe, nodding and accepting them. Then Telyb stood up, still choking.

“But…are you really going, Aoe? You must still have questions.”

“There’s no time. And I doubt you would answer my questions if I did stay and ask them. Like why you sealed away Yuo’s past or why you have stayed with her despite your guilt.”

Telyb shut his eyes and lowered his head.

“Yeah, sorry. I honestly don’t think I’m the one who should explain all of that. I’m one of the ones who wronged Yuo, so if I explained it all…I just know I would downplay my own wrongdoing and present the facts to look more favorable for me. If anyone can properly explain what happened during the 2nd Godtact Experiment, it would either be Akalabeth who last spoke with Yuo when she volunteered as the vessel or Suedomsa who stopped the experiment.”

<You are saying they have the most accurate knowledge of what happened?>

“Make no mistake. If you want to learn what happened back then, you only need to ask them. But if you want to find the truth, you have to think for yourself about what they say. That is how we Minus Elites do things. If you want to know something, seek out the most accurate data. But if you want to trust that, you need to seek out the most trustworthy data.”

“So I need to learn the truth first and then decide whether or not I can trust that truth?”

“That is the system Minus people use to find which falsehoods to believe. Only fools are satisfied with no more than what they were taught.”

Telyb’s lesson reminded Aoe of something Algo had once said to him.

“The answer is not something that can be explained with words.”

Only when Telyb tilted his head did Aoe realize he had spoken aloud. He shook his head.

“Oops. People can see everything I think, so I’ve started saying it out loud myself.”

“That might be for the best. The bible says-”

“Don’t preach to me. Everyone’s been quoting the bible and giving lectures on Minus theory since I got here.”

Aoe didn’t bother hiding the annoyance in his voice and Telyb laughed.

“You have a point,” he said. “But do remember this. Suedomsa’s group is trying to summon a great god by following a biblical event while using Minus methods. In other words, they plan to recreate an event that occurred about 2000 years ago in the outside world in order to continue what happened about 2000 years ago in DT.”

“What, are they planning to hang Yuo on a cross?”

“Suedomsa’s Load Emblem is a cross actually, but he once led this same experiment to failure,” said Telyb. “But things are different now. He has exorcized Beelzebub, betrayed the one to become the son of god, and plans to use his cross to turn her into a great god. All to fulfill the prophecy. The prophecy Yuo gave 2000 years ago.”

Aoe sighed at what Telyb said. Doubt colored his face.

“What happens if Yuo is made into the vessel?”

“If any of the great god’s Lives enter her, she will become divine. And there is no undoing it.”

“I see. Then I will rescue the Yuo who I know. Because she would punish me if I was late.”

Aoe sighed and swiftly turned his back toward Telyb to view the castle.

“This is all such a pain. First, I have no idea what happened in the past. And now I learn that the godtact experiment might continue even if I stop Suedomsa and rescue Yuo.”

“If you go, you will learn exactly what happens. So get going.”

Telyb’s voice seemed to push him onward, so he took his first step toward the castle.

He felt the dirt ground below his foot.

This ground is fake, he thought before recalling the night before. He recalled his conversation with Yuo on the dirt walking path. He recalled the expression created by the subprogram controlling her PC Body.

“Rescue her, huh? Appreciating the irony of how much the phrasing matters might mean I’ve finally grown up.”

He clenched his fists and gathered strength in his knees.

“But I will still work to save her.”

A shattering glass sound came from his legs as he Downloaded his own legs.

His running legs reached full speed right away.

<That idiot better not be teasing her hair again!>

His ears heard the wind as he ran through the destroyed section of the city.

He ran at his full speed.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

Light shines down from the audience chamber ceiling.

Excel: “The defense shield is in place. It will take several minutes before it is functioning since it uses a standard program, but this will keep anyone from entering the castle. Just in time too.”

Suedomsa: “So the queen jumped down from here and the Yard station’s NPC Bodies have been eliminated. It seems strange to have everyone here. Well, except for Mekton who left for Babel.”

Algo: “The only remaining issues are the timing of the defense shield switchover and Yuo.”

<A new guest has entered this Page>

A single NPC Body has approached. They are Knight31 Asb.

Knight31: “Report: Data on the castle has been fully erased from our memory.”

Myst: “Hm? Was that Master Yuo’s doing? There was a window saying Yard privileges had been transferred to her. Did she seal a portion of the knights’ shared memory?”

Daikatana: “So she has taken their side.”

Algo: “This could be tricky. When the son of god prophesied his own resurrection and one of his disciples expressed disbelief, he replied: ‘Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ ”

Suedomsa: “It was clever of Akalabeth to give Yuo the name of human-minded Satan when she was meant to become a great god.”

Suedomsa: “Excel, can you intervene with your program?”

Excel: “If you wish. But I will need to do so while repairing the Questron, so I will have to resolve this with power rather than skill. An unfortunately inelegant solution, but it will have to do.”

Algo: “Oh? I believe the floor is shaking.”

<A new guest has entered this Page>

A single NPC Body has approached. They are Knight24 Asb.

Knight24: “Report: The defense barriers within the castle have begun to lower. The controls are not functioning. Someone else is controlling them.”

Algo: “Yuo is not playing nice. Myst, can you draw out a map of the castle?”

Myst: “Oh, dear. No rest for the weary, then. Right, Master Suedomsa?”

Suedomsa: “Please do this for me, Myst.”

Myst: “Yes, of course. Even if it is a pain. Have the knight open gridded drawing windows. Then I just need to take an hour-long stroll doing this the old-fashioned way.”

Myst: “Please give me a moment, everyone. I will search out Yuo before long. Then I will assist Excel in repairing the Questron and begin the copy for the second phase.”

Suedomsa: “Thanks for this.”

Myst: “Do not mention it. I once ignored you on Yuo’s request and supported her resignation. I am fortunate you were willing to forgive me and allow me to serve you once more.”

Myst: “So even if we are NPC Bodies…”

Myst: “We are glad to be here now.”

<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>

Chapter 9: Fighting in the Street

Hello!

I’ll be starting this back up in another 3 seconds of outside time.

All of the prison’s inmates have been evacuated and I’m the only one left here.

Which means I can do whatever I want!!

Wait, I already do that.

I will be using this message board as a place for public statements by government officials from around the world and as an FAQ for people who want to know what’s going on.

So earlier, a defense shield finally appeared around the castle, but the Yard is telling me a civilian volunteer is breaking in.

I wish him the best of luck.

Hopefully he can find some way of rescuing Akalabeth and Yuo from the castle.

Well, Akalabeth can take care of herself, but Yuo is still young.

I’ve also added a visitor counter to the site.

Commotions in this Minus World are always someone else’s problem, fake, and something from a far-off world.

But whether you’re here to see us die or to root for us, it means you see this false world as something real.

I’m curious how many such people there are across the world.

Now, time for another quote for the eternal #1 hit: the bible.

This is what the Son of God said when he last entered the holy land after prophesying his own death and resurrection.

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

(John 12:15)

07/07/2000 DT 11:44 AM (-03:16)

Help Text

Relationship Between Words Warn and Existence Lives

Words Warn is a Lives disease still shrouded in mystery that is said to have grown in prevalence ever since the creation of this world.

Words Warn has a long incubation period and, once symptoms present themselves, it begins breaking down the body’s Lives, starting with the vocal organs. So after producing the symptoms of a lung disease, it causes the patient to Ash.

This disease stands out from others because no one can escape destruction.

Since ancient times, both humans and nonhumans, such as gods and spirits, have lost their lives to diseases thought to have been Words Warn. Lives researchers and Tuners have long performed research in search of a cure, but when a British Fast Reader accessed and read the Spacetime Lives at the end of the 19th century, it was discovered this disease did not exist in the 5 eras preceding our current world. That means Words Warn was a disease someone added to the Concept Existence Lives to create our current world.

A research paper was submitted from a Japanese university in 1939 used this as a jumping off point. The paper predicted that the Words Warn system destroys the factors making up the target object. This implied that our current world has Concept Existence Lives for individual lifeforms such as people, but Lives analysis techniques were in their infancy at the time and it was impossible to observe them within people.

The paper was laughed off at the time, but it was reexamined in 1984. The US’s cable communications had just gotten started and the Lives of the human race were being analyzed to test the global computer network when they discovered string data that could be viewed but not understood.

The string was a second layer of data alongside the Lives data and it could be displayed on a computer as text or, inexplicably, perceived as an image, but it could not actually be read. It was eventually understood that these were the Lives in charge of inheriting Messages'.

The language it used could also be represented in our current world’s language, but it could not be accurately displayed and it would not function when reproduced.

British Tuners said this image, which possessed its own language, came from beyond our current world. When one of them went mad studying it, they defined the language as a transcendent language.

It is said this is found in all beings with Existence Lives. Some are passed between people through the process of reincarnation, but others are created anew or broken down and reproduced in the ley lines to be constantly redistributed throughout our world.

Words Warn occurs when this text string collapses (or more accurately, when it breaks apart), so no being can ever escape the destruction of Words Warn.

Knight09’s Board Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District

<Knight09’s Over Reload>

You are currently in Castle Entrance, a Top Page of Castle Street.

The current time is 11:44 AM.

A defense shield is in place beyond the street ahead of you. Passage between the castle and city is forbidden.

The wood bridge behind you crosses the castle moat and leads to the large castle gate.

A large dirt road stretches left to right in front of you. The castle moat and castle wall are also here.

A single NPC Body accompanies you. He is Knight57.

Knight09: <Nothing to report.>

Knight57: <Nothing to report.>

<Knight09’s Over Reload>

There is no one alongside the moat.

Morning market shops are lined up alongside the moat. It is deserted. Fruit and other wares remain in the shops.

A digital clock is visible past the shops. It indicates around 4 hours until the Day of the Oracle.

<One new guest has entered this page>

One PC Body has arrived. He is Aoe Shouzou Asb.

Aoe is a criminal. He is likely visiting the castle for his pardon scheduled for this morning.

<Knight09’s Over Reload>

He has arrived from the eastern adjacent page, Castle Side.

He is biting into a lemon likely from the morning market, skin and all.

Knight09: <Warning.>

Knight57: <Warning.>

Knight09: “Did he get in before the defense shield closed over there?”

<Knight09’s Over Reload>

Aoe is wearing a somewhat dirty black tank top and white shorts with full pockets. He wears sandals on his feet and a backpack full of disaster relief goods on his back.

Aoe: “Hey, sorry about this, but could you let me in?”

Kinght09: “We cannot. Leave at once.”

<Knight09’s Over Reload>

Aoe frowns. It is a look of modest anger.

Aoe: “I’m Aoe Shouzou and I was scheduled to receive a pardon inside, so can’t I get in?”

Knight09: “The castle is currently on high alert.”

Aoe: “Hm. And after I worked so hard to not be late. Who is in charge?”

Knight57: “Our current top commander is Archon Suedomsa Txt.”

Aoe: “Then how is Algo Everquest doing? Can you tell him his enemy has arrived?”

<Knight09’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe entered Sight Mode as he spoke the words.

His newfound vision showed the knights already in motion. With a complete lack of expression on their faces.

“They really are just dolls!”

The middle-aged knight reacted to his shout by drawing the submachinegun from his hip.

The younger knight on the left drew the long sword on his back.

But something else moved even faster: a pair of dogs.

The two guard dogs leaped toward Aoe on their third step.

Their red, open mouths displayed a pair of fangs each.

When Aoe saw the four white canine teeth, he formed a smile on his lips.

He took a step back, and…

<Come!>

The dogs accurately filled the step Aoe had taken back. They attacked.

But Aoe took control afterwards.

As the fangs approached from either side, he first stuck his hands in his shorts’ pockets.

When he immediately removed his hands again…

“Have a treat.”

He thrusted both arms forward with all his might.

A black metal spear symbol appeared on the backs of his hands as emblems.

A shattering glass sound came from the emblems.

The dogs leaped toward that sound.

Their jaws were opened wide to sink their fangs into his hands.

After assessing all of that, he instantly pulled his arms back.

He used a snap of his hands to toss the things hidden in his hands into the dogs’ mouths.

The yellow, somewhat elliptical objects were early summer lemons sold in the morning market.

The fangs tore right through the yellow skin.

With a sound like popping water balloons, the two dogs twisted their bodies in midair.

Both of them passed by Aoe without reducing the momentum of their jumps.

They tumbled behind him with a pair of yelps.

“A dog’s sense of smell is ten million times stronger than a human’s, so you need to watch out for citrus fruits. I know this is only your job, so no hard feelings, okay?”

With that, Aoe ignored the two dogs.

He faced forward and saw a submachinegun barrel.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo stared at the castle map window floating above her desk.

A locked padlock image was displayed on the bottom right.

The corridors on the map had a few red and blue lines drawn across them.

The red lines all said “working” on them.

And the audience chamber in the center of the 1st floor of the map had a square of red line displayed on its floor.

<Mom must have activated the pitfall into the basement.>

She spoke through her window and nodded.

<But this isn’t over yet, so the enemy programmer must have used some method of avoiding the pitfall.>

Her lips mouthed the words “this isn’t good”, but they only appeared on the window.

She leaned back in her chair and viewed the map again.

The word “warning” glowed red on the window’s upper right corner. Two other windows opened above that.

<Insufficient Yard members. Please contact an outside station and request reinforcements.>

<Unable to establish a connection out of the castle. Try again? Y/N>

The number of Yard personnel was displayed below the warning symbol, but that number was 1.

She could not display the locations of the castle guards since they and the Yard were on opposite sides of this conflict. They had refused to provide the data.

But in the same way, they couldn’t see her location.

The map showed a red dot by the south wall of the castle’s 3rd floor, but that was Yuo herself.

<Suedomsa is in charge of castle security, but the Yard has control of everything except for important equipment like the defense shield. Control privileges for the security system is spilt between the two groups.>

She silently spoke to herself while resting her head in her hand.

Then she looked over to the bed.

Puppy the ferret was sleeping while holding a box of pet food.

The box was empty. He was surrounded by two or three empty plates and containers.

He had just consumed all of the food there.

<I worked him pretty hard, didn’t I?>

Yuo sighed and checked the time: 11:50. The clock’s digital display also provided a countdown to the Day of the Oracle at 3 PM. She still had more than 3 hours until then.

<Why should I believe that prophecy. How is any of this better? Wait, that prophecy came from me, didn’t it?>

She sighed again, in exasperation this time. She twisted her neck to crack it and slowly stood from her chair.

<I should eat something too. I think there was still something in the fridge.>

She turned toward the kitchen to the east.

Just then, she heard gunfire from outside the window.

The rapid noise came from a submachinegun.

<Eh?>

Curled-up Puppy raised his head and looked to the window.

The gunfire came from the south, toward the edge of the defense shield.

<Isn’t that…really close?>

She could still hear the alarms and destruction coming from the city outside the shield.

But the noises she had heard earlier had been even closer than this.

Gunfire rang from the courtyard between the castle’s inner wall and outer wall.

The repeated tone of bursting gunfire echoed through the castle.

She looked to the window on her desk while she listened to the gunfire reverberate away into the sky.

The Yard personnel number was still only 1. Only her. But…

<Someone other than me…is fighting?>

Her eyes widened slightly and she looked out the window.

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe ducked as the gunfire whizzed by overhead.

The cacophony of gunpowder continued.

It shifted downwards to pursue his duck.

So he dodged to the left.

He slammed his right fist against the lowering barrel, but…

“No effect!?”

The punch thrown at the gun barrel bounced right off.

The force of his punch was sealed away.

<I’m not even allowed self-defense!?>

He threw all of his body’s strength leftward in order to escape.

“Mh.”

A shattering glass sound came from the back of his head as he Downloaded his center of gravity.

He quickly shifted his coordinate left by taking a crouching leap.

He hadn’t Downloaded his legs, so the movement was a bit awkward.

But he still managed to arrive in front of the younger knight who had drawn his sword.

He exhaled as a sword strike swung down from above.

He stood up.

As he did so, he moved back and left, shifting himself just enough to leave a slight gap between him and his enemy.

The sword grazed his right shoulder as it dropped down.

He heard the blade swish through the air while he thought.

<If none of my attacks will work…>

He placed his right hand atop the knight’s hands holding the sword.

He matched the speed of the lowering arms and pulled back toward himself.

The knight lost his balance.

The subprogram calculating his center of gravity for the downward swing had been thrown off by Aoe’s hand.

The knight staggered forward.

“Oh.”

When the knight planted a leg in front of him to catch himself, Aoe kicked that leg outwards with his right foot.

That would have tripped the knight had it worked, but Aoe’s kicking foot bounced off.

“Even that counts as an attack!?”

He swiftly pulled his leg back and shifted his body left.

The staggering knight passed him by on the right side.

Aoe kept his eyes to the right.

Because the middle-aged knight with a submachinegun had been there earlier.

He gathered strength in his toes and swung his body forward, toward the castle gate.

The bullets arrived just as his feet stepped on the bridge’s wooden floor.

The gunfire sounded light, like it was only a toy.

Eight shots flew and one grazed his right cheek, telling him these were not just a threat or a show of force.

They were meant to kill.

Since PC Body’s used Lives resonance to function, an injury would be sent back to the Lives data. If he was shot, it was all over. The Existence Lives of his real body could not be backed up because that would trigger a resonance breakdown. He only ever had just the one life.

He kept that fact in mind as he moved right, toward the middle-aged knight.

He sensed the sword knight recovering behind him.

But he didn’t care. He kept forward with a click of his tongue. He approached the middle-aged knight.

That knight moved the barrel of his submachinegun to pursue Aoe as he approached.

Aoe charged straight ahead.

The gun had him in its sights, but he didn’t dodge. He kept approaching, as if pressing his forehead against the muzzle. But his eyes were on the knight’s trigger finger.

He saw that finger pull the trigger.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe crouched in that instant.

The bullet grazed his bangs and the sparks flying from the muzzle singed his hair.

But the bullet flew past him.

Aoe knew the sword knight was standing there.

The 9mm bullet, which was designed to supply an impact rather than pierce, hit the knight behind him.

“Gah!”

He heard a scream behind him and felt the air move.

<That blew him away.>

His thought appeared in his window as he checked ahead of him.

The middle-aged knight was staring behind Aoe in shock.

The artificial emotion subprogram produced a nice expression for the shock of shooting his ally.

But that expression was erased soon enough.

His management program as a guard had taken precedence over the artificial expression display.

“Kh!”

His expression was now one of anger.

He glared down at the man crouched in front of him.

Aoe said nothing in reply. He was accustomed to having angry looks directed his way.

The knight swung his gun down and fired again.

The stream of bullets pursued crouched Aoe, but it soon stopped. The gun was out of ammo.

The middle-aged knight tossed the gun aside with panicked movements and reached the same hand toward the sword on his back.

He grabbed the hilt.

A sword strike was coming.

But Aoe did not run away.

He reached both his hands out and grabbed the knight’s hand on the hilt.

And he pulled himself toward it.

“Mh!!”

With a loud grunt, he slid his hips forward while practically swinging from the knight’s arm. He slid right between the middle-aged knight’s legs.

He kept his hands on the hilt as he pulled with his full arm strength.

The knight was already swinging the sword down, so he ended up having his arm jammed between his own legs.

“Oh.”

As soon as he was through the knight’s legs, Aoe’s hands were repelled by the hand they were holding.

This had been deemed an attack.

But the determination had come too late. Having his center of gravity rapidly moved down and between his legs caused the knight to trip. And he rolled, his head thrown forward.

He tumbled in a circle and then his head crashed into the ground.

The metallic sound of his equipment sounded like splashing water.

Aoe stood up and checked behind him.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The middle-aged knight remained motionless after crashing headfirst to the ground.

The shot knight lay collapsed on his back.

And the two dogs fed lemons were retching and unable to fully get the fruit out of their mouths.

“I wish I could say I was sorry,” said Aoe before taking a breath. He wasn’t even out of breath.

I can do this, he concluded with a nod, looking to the front of the collapsed middle-aged knight’s hips.

A ring of keys was attached to his belt with something like a carabiner.

Aoe crouched down and removed it.

Then he looked to the castle.

Telyb had told him he needed to enter the castle and reach the communications tower if he was going to fight.

“Monkey, do you have a map of the castle?”

Monkey tilted his head but opened the backpack. He dove partway inside and eventually pulled out a thin paper folded in quarters.

Aoe took it and found it was an old sightseeing pamphlet giving some history of the castle. It had a map of the areas open to the public, but no real details.

But he frowned when he unfolded it.

“What is this?”

The map was blank. It had nothing on it. A window opened instead.

<This product is updated in real-time based on a contract with the royal family, but its contents have been temporarily frozen because the Akalabeth family cannot be reached.>

“I can’t use this.”

He clicked his tongue, balled up the useless paper, and threw it away. Then he frowned and asked Monkey a question.

“Can you send a word mail?”

Monkey shook his head.

“Are you saying the enemy has complete control of communications in this area?”

Monkey nodded his head.

“Damn,” muttered Aoe with another look to the castle. His target was in the east.

An antenna dish sat atop the stone tower on the east corner.

That tower acted as the external communications facility. He had to take control of that, work around any privileges issues, and directly contact the Yard.

“It shouldn’t take long to get there.”

With that, he took off running.

He soon passed through the castle’s entrance and made his way inside the walls.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo switched to Sight Mode when he entered the audience chamber.

A red carpet formed a bridge crossing the hole where the floor should have been.

Three people stood on that bridge: Algo himself, little Alternative on his shoulder, and Suedomsa.

Algo opened a window in front of himself. It displayed the status outside.

It showed a tower jutting high into the blue sky.

The footage came from a camera on the castle rooftop and it was a bit lacking in clarity. But the blue smoke rising from below the giant structure was still plain to see.

“Looks like Mekton has successfully taken Babel. He might be cut off from us, but there’s nothing to worry about with his Pseudo Load Emblem, Tribes. That lets him become the commander.”

Then he looked to Suedomsa.

Suedomsa was looking at him, but his eyes were slightly unfocused.

That meant he was in Board Mode.

But Algo still smiled.

“Is something wrong now that you’re actually doing it?”

“I know they aren’t going to understand. It’s a feeling I haven’t felt in so long. The same one I felt during my Lives research in Japan, before I began calling myself a Minus Elite. No one but my family ever understood me, so I kept struggling and getting into fights with others.”

He offered the three program trigons in his hand to the dove on his shoulder. The dove hid them all away in its wings.

It had absorbed them.

“So a great god will soon be born. We once created every part of this city in order to summon that great god. We erased all trace of the original industrial city, erased all human presence, and spent hundreds of years creating a Minus city.”

Algo asked a sudden question.

“Is that why I see biblical references around the city even after it lost its memory?”

“Yes, it is. There were 12 primary researchers and we offered up a vessel to be turned into a god.” Suedomsa slowly turned toward Alternative on Algo’s shoulder. “Our vessel for the 1st Godtact Experiment was an NPC Body I had created. One equivalent to the current Michael-class. The Pseudo Load and Pseudo Grandload are both the result of us trying to turn an inhuman vessel into something greater than human…but that experiment was a failure. It all came down to my NPC Body.”

“And the godtact ended up reaching Yuo instead, didn’t it?” said Algo.

Suedomsa nodded once, but then he lowered and shook his head.

“The 12 researchers became 13 with the girl included. They reached the number of betrayal. Then the girl chose to become the great god and quoted a passage from the bible to the one bearing the name of Beelzebub”

A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.

Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Small Alternative trembled on Algo’s shoulder.

Suedomsa failed to notice and continued speaking.

“I wonder what she meant when she said ‘for my Father is with me’. Was it because I had been ignoring her for so long with my research and staying in Board Mode? Any Minus-leaning person who has a family will have to pay the price eventually.”

<But we know why you ended up like that, dad.>

Suedomsa shook his head when he saw Alternative’s window.

“I’m not going to blame you two, Alternative. As a Minus researcher, I was more a cracker than a hacker. I didn’t just want to show off my power, discuss all knowledge and phenomena, and reveal anything that was hidden.” He took a breath. “I wanted to actually use those things and that sometimes led me to forget what really mattered.”

After a pause, Alternative responded.

<You’re a lot like Shouzou.>

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Suedomsa suddenly looked up and turned his somewhat unfocused eyes their way.

Alternative accepted his gaze and placed a slight smile on her small lips.

<Six years ago, when that martial artist came to steal the title of Martial Arts Master while Uncle Ungyou and Algo were away, Shouzou came running even though it meant abandoning the precious time he had left with Yuo.>

<Which is why I think the Daughter of Zion is not afraid now.>

Alternative lowered her gaze.

<But there is one thing I don’t understand. Dad will hang my Minus dropout of a sister on the cross and Algo will nail her to it. But how will a Plus dropout like Shouzou wield the lance?>

Algo cleared his throat to respond, but Alternative placed a hand on his shoulder and opened a window.

<Personally, I’m not so sure the people who aren’t Plus Elites or Minus Elites really are wishy-washy dropouts. If they keep struggling there and refuse to give up, how can we really call them dropouts?>

She took a breath and patted Algo’s shoulder as his throat-clearing continued as a coughing fit. She also looked over to his face.

<Are you okay, Algo? Not even a Martial Arts Master can defeat a Lives disease like Words Warn.>

“Yes, I am fine. I was prepared for this. This was the only way to combine my impurely-obtained immortality and the purity of someone with a finite lifespan.”

He coughed again and spoke to Alternative.

“Master Suedomsa’s Lives collapse from Words Warn will occur at 3 PM. Yours will happen at 3:40 PM. That is why I made this choice. Once Master Suedomsa is stopped as a representative of the past, I can carry on as a representative of the present.”

He nodded.

“That is why I chose to combine with your Mind Lives, including your Words Warn, so we could always remain together as a new vessel.”

<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You are in East Castle Communication Tower, a Top Page of the castle interior.

The current time is 12:17 AM.

You are in a circular stone space with a diameter of 7 yards.

The only lights are the three windows on the east, west, and south and the lightbulb on the ceiling.

There is a door behind you to the north. The door is currently blocked by tables and chairs.

You are currently alone.

Aoe: “Hey, Monkey. Hurry it up!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

There is a parabolic antenna outside the southern window. There is a communication device by the window.

Monkey is on the wooden table holding the device. He is operating the device with its cords in his mouth.

There is a loud pounding on the metal door past the tables lined up behind you.

Aoe: <If only I could use my fists, I could easily fight them off!>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The pounding only shakes the door. It does not open.

Above and below the hinges, nails removed from the chairs have been driven into the gap between door and doorframe. You did that yourself earlier.

Aoe: <Why does a cutting-edge virtual world do everything so anachronistically?>

Aoe: “Are you still not done?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey looks back your way and raises his right foreleg. That is meant as an OK signal.

Aoe: “It’s working!? Way to go! Have a reward!”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You pull a x5 chocolate bar from your backpack and toss it to Monkey.

Monkey perfectly catches it between his forelegs.

But he tosses it back after seeing the wrapper.

You catch the returned chocolate bar.

Aoe: “Hm?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The returned chocolate bar is x5 milk chocolate flavor.

Aoe: “You don’t like milk chocolate? But I doubt you like the bitter kind.”

Aoe: “Then how about the white chocolate?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey shakes his head.

Aoe: “What about strawberry flavor?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey nods his head.

Aoe: “That one is mine, you fool.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You throw the bitter chocolate bar at Monkey.

Attack assessments are not made in regard to your own Mouse, so the bar hits Monkey, sending him rolling along the table.

Monkey weeps while lying on the table, but he still tears open the paper wrapping and begins eating the chocolate.

Aoe: “What a pain. Now, how do I use this communicator?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Monkey raises his left foreleg while weeping with his back turned.

A transparent keyboard appears.

<Voice data requires more data and can take longer. Word mail recommended>

Aoe: “I’ve never been good with keyboards, but I guess I have to.”

<Opening word mail window>

Aoe’s Word Mail: to telyb

its me. what do? reply soon. in trouble if dont

<A response from Telyb has arrived>

<Opening word mail window>

Telyb’s Mail: To Aoe

This is Telyb. I am busy preparing to attack the large knight, but I do have two things to send you.

The first is a map of the castle. The map is currently hidden by the management system. I had to access a certified copy from outside and convert it into an ordinary image file. Use it for reference.

The second is your management program. You know how to use guns, I hope? I will send your terminal a gun usage authorization program. It works with small and midsized firearms.

You will need to steal a firearm from the enemy. I put a lot of effort into increasing the time limit, so it will last 5 minutes.

You need to reach your next objective point in that 5 minutes. That point is the top level of the castle where you will find the central comm room that handles all of the castle’s communication equipment. Once you take control of that central comm room, you should be able to contact Yuo. Ask her where she is and go rescue her.

<Returning to Aoe’s Sight Mode>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe read the word mail and sighed. He ignored the noise form the door behind him and looked to Monkey instead.

Monkey was still lying down with his back turned, munching on the chocolate bar.

But Aoe did not hesitate to raise his index finger and poke at Monkey’s side from above.

Aoe saw Monkey’s limbs stiffen and back arch. Then he let go.

“We don’t have time for sulking. Show me that map.”

Monkey quickly turned around and swallowed the rest of the chocolate bar in a single bite.

A window opened in front of Aoe. It showed a hand drawn map of the castle interior. There were 5 windows on top of each other, showing the basement, the 1st floor, the 2nd floor, the 3rd floor, and the roof.

A large freight elevator to the north connected the roof to the basement and the central communication room was on the roof too.

“I just have to get there. Hey, where’s my authorization program?”

<Estimated download progress: 74%>

A circle showing the progress appeared next to the window. About ¾ of it was already filled with red and the number in the window next to it showed the numerical percentage ticking upwards.

Aoe sighed. He checked the map window in front of him and pressed the settings button at the very top.

He reduced its size and had it permanently displayed next to his head in transparent mode.

Now he could check the map just by glancing to the right.

Good, he thought, opening and closing his right fist.

“I would love some kind of power, whether it’s a gun or whatever else.”

He smiled bitterly at his own words.

<After I was so scornful of power.>

He looked to his clenched fist.

“Will I be able to avoid giving up?”

A shattering glass sound came from the back of that fist.

A transparent black emblem displayed a spear symbol on the back of his hand. When he felt a slight impact on his hand, he loosened his fist.

But he clenched it again immediately afterwards.

He nodded and checked the window over Monkey’s head.

The numerical progress had already reached 97%. The one’s digit ticked up to 8 and 9 before the number briefly showed 100.

He gathered strength in his fist and said “good” to himself.

The percentage on the window suddenly reduced to 67.

“Huh?”

He looked over to see Monkey backing away.

Monkey press his back against the stone wall and frantically shook his head.

He rapidly pointed his short forelegs toward a part of the window: the word “estimated” in “estimated download progress”.

Aoe smiled when he read that. He shook his head and worked to keep some kindness in his voice.

“Are you kidding me?”

He grabbed Monkey.

Monkey gave up resisting at that point. He didn’t even shake his head. The Mouse’s optimized decision-making process had concluded a lack of resistance was best by that point.

Aoe grabbed Monkey’s cheeks and stretched them outwards.

But he was distracted by a loud metallic sound behind him. It wasn’t more of the banging on the door. It was…

“A program!?”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The metal door shined bluish-white past the barricade.

<Target Dummy Data: Range Set>

<Excel: Effect Range: Elemental Change: Plant Material Conversion: Run>

A splitting stone sound came from the door and then it fell.

“What!?”

The door hadn’t been opened or broken.

The supposedly metal door had rippled and fallen like a poster torn from the wall. It hit the stone floor with a papery sound and gently folded up there.

Aoe looked past the barricade.

A man stood on the narrow landing through the open door.

The tall black butler had the knights behind him.

He wore a vest, a shirt, and black trousers and he stood tall, looking straight at Aoe.

He pulled a pair of white gloves from his vest’s breast pocket and put them on.

After applying the wrist clasps, he pulled a thin monocle from his breast pocket.

He put that in his right eye and stared directly at Aoe.

His thin lips parted and a low voice left them.

“I am Excel Raphael Sys, one of the Quartet who serve Master Suedomsa.”

Excel raised his right hand, rotated that in front of his chest, and bowed.

He never took his eyes off of Aoe. Nor did he smile. He simply bowed.

He straightened up again.

Aoe responded by reaching behind him, grabbing Monkey, and checking the window over the Mouse’s head.

<So it’s still receiving the program.>

A window appeared over his head. He gasped and looked up, but Excel was already speaking.

“I see. How fortunate for me that your attack power is still sealed.”

Aoe looked back down.

“You know who I am?”

“Master Algo has told us all about you. He says you are a Plus dropout who was defeated by him but has not given up on finding the strongest power.”

“Not the best introduction I could have asked for.”

“But it is the truth, is it not? I took the liberty of watching your battle yesterday and it all checked out. I heard you were here, so I thought, as a butler, I should come greet you on my way down to the Questron.”

“Did you? So are you with that Myst and Mekton I fought before?”

Aoe nodded and viewed Excel.

The knights next to Excel reached out their legs and placed their feet on the tables being used as a barricade.

They intended to kick the barricade away while simultaneously giving themselves a line of fire.

Aoe sensed that deep in his mind while another thought appeared in a window.

<But I need to hurry to Yuo’s room.>

Excel reacted to the name in that window. He frowned.

“Oh? Master Yuo, you say?”

<Mh? She is his master too? Not just Suedomsa?>

That question brought a change to Excel’s expression. He bent back a bit and gave a lopsided smile. Then he opened his smiling lips.

“That is a simple matter.”

He took a breath.

“The Quartet worked as Master Yuo’s caretaker 4000 years ago.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo lay collapsed in front of the fridge.

She was in her smaller size and sprawled out face down on the rug.

The fridge in front of her was small, but it had both a refrigerator and a freezer. The former’s door was sitting open.

All of the drinks in the door of the fridge had a boost factor of only x0.5.

The snacks on the shelves were all x0.7 or x0.8.

A window floated over her head while she faced them all.

<I didn’t make it in time. I never imagined going on a diet would come back to bite me like this.>

She sighed and got up, still in her smaller form.

She crawled over to the fridge and leaned against it. She reached out and opened the freezer at the top.

It was filled with frozen foods and frozen treats.

<Heating the frozen foods would use up a lot of power. They could locate me from that alone.>

The few frozen treats in the back of the freezer were x0.8 at the most.

<If I Downloaded now, I would run out of energy near instantly. I let Puppy eat all the high factor stuff when he was salvaging the programs.>

She opened the fridge again and saw a single x2 factor item. The small round container held…

<Mayonnaise. This was the only thing at the store that day, wasn’t it?>

She got up again, grabbed that, and removed the lid. She sniffed it with a serious look on her face and then noticed a pair of eyes on her.

Puppy the ferret was staring.

<Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat plain mayonnaise.>

Then she tilted her head and succumbed to curiosity.

<By the way, Puppy, what’s the boost factor on your food?>

Puppy stood up and considered it for a moment.

Then he quickly shook his head. He grabbed his empty food container and shook it to show how empty it was.

Yuo smiled bitterly at that and waved her hand dismissively.

<No, no. I wasn’t actually going to eat pet food.>

Puppy stared at her, still holding the container.

He didn’t believe her.

Unsure how to respond, she scratched her head.

She nodded, looked down at herself once more, and noticed her clothing had shrunk along with her like it was supposed to.

She carefully grabbed the mounds at her chest from below and lifted them a few times.

<Oh, they’re really there. I think I finally understand Telyb’s mini-size fetish.>

She looked to Puppy.

<So have you noticed anything weird going on?>

Puppy paused for three full seconds before responding.

He finally pointed his right foreleg at his own head. And jabbed it five times for emphasis.

<Huh?>

Yuo frowned just before hearing footsteps from outside the window.

<Eh?>

She started to rush over to the window but stopped. Being seen from outside would give away her position, so she used her ears to track the footsteps echoing in from the courtyard.

These were the footsteps of knights wearing a type of mobile armor known as a defenser. It came from the left from Yuo’s perspective, which meant the east.

<That means they’re on the way to the southeast communication tower.>

<And if the knights are gathering there, then the person who caused the gunfire earlier must be there too.>

After reaching that conclusion, she shouted her thoughts to Puppy who sat on the bed.

<Puppy! Show me a map of the southeast communication tower! I can seal the stairways better that way!>

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Excel stands before you.

Aoe: “You seem somewhat surprised. I should switch back to Sight.”

Excel: “No need.”

Aoe: “Why not?”

Excel: “Because I too have switched to Board Mode. Because Master Yuo once taught me to never take cheap shots in combat.”

Aoe: “Trying to sound cool, huh? And it all goes back to ‘Master Yuo’, does it?”

Aoe: “If she is that important to you, why would you want to turn her into some great god’s vessel?”

Excel: “Because that is what Master Yuo is meant to be. She gave up on everything 2000 years ago. She gave up on people – on Master Suedomsa – being able to heal Words Warn.”

Excel: “In other words, she dropped out of this Minus World. And she did so by choosing to sacrifice herself.”

Aoe: “How am I supposed to believe that!? I can’t speak to your experiences, but the Yuo I know is-”

Excel: “The one we know is the real one. The one who gave up, dropped out, and chose to heal Words Warn through the summoning of the great god is the original Master Yuo. We only need to reclaim that one once we find her.”

Aoe: <Ha. Once you find her, huh? Thanks for letting me know you haven’t captured her yet.>

Aoe: “And what is this about reclaiming her?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Excel nods and gives a shallow bow.

Excel: “I will omit the details, but we will remove the seal that the queen’s group placed on her memories after the 2nd Godtact Experiment. However, this will erase all of the memories she has made since the seal was applied.”

Aoe: “You mean…?”

Excel: “Yes, she will lose her memories of you and everything else that has happened since then.”

Aoe: “What!?”

Excel: “Once that Master Yuo returns, she will likely want to become the vessel again. And the time of the godtact experiment will be very close to when the countdown to the Day of the Oracle reaches zero. So in about 3 more hours.”

Aoe: “Mh.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Excel has lifted his head.

The corners of his mouth are raised. This is a smile.

Excel: “How does it feel to learn we know a Master Yuo who is beyond your reach?”

Aoe: “Oh, shut up.”

Aoe: “Even she’s forgotten about that part of her past, so what does it matter anymore?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Excel is frowning.

Excel: “Oh? Do you have anything capable of resisting our past?”

Aoe: “Well…”

Aoe: <Her panties yesterday and her nudity 6 years ago.>

Excel: “…”

Aoe: “…”

Excel: “What did you just say?”

Aoe: “Mh. I was only thinking to myself. Ignore it. I can’t control it.”

Excel: “…”

Aoe: “Personally, I want to know why it matters that you know Yuo from the past.”

Aoe: “If you’re going to drag out her Minus past and act like that’s all that matters, then I will present the Yuo I know and…”

Aoe: “And the Minus Yuo I have started to get to know as of yesterday.”

Excel: “Oh, really? How long-winded of you.”

Aoe: “Mh. But…”

Aoe: “Your past Yuo doesn’t stand a chance if I also present her underwear and nudity.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

When Aoe’s sight returned to him, he saw a knight kicking down the barricade.

On the landing, Excel fell back a step to the side of the knights who were readying their submachineguns.

They fired.

But Aoe reached his left hand back and grabbed the table there before they could complete their action.

“Kh.”

With his right hand, he grabbed the communicator from the table.

He forcibly swung the table around forward to use it as a shield.

He did not place the top of the table directly in the line of fire. He held it at a shallow angle, so even if there was a gap at his feet, he could deflect the bullets rather than try to stop them.

The gunfire began a moment later.

The 2-inch thick table top deflected the 9mm anti-personnel bullets into the wall behind him.

…Keep it together!

The table gave him what he wanted. As the bullets ricocheted, the impacts caused the drawers to fall out of the table and onto the floor.

He took further action while all of this was going on.

He adjusted the table in his left hand, grabbing it by the leg.

“I am not dying here.”

A shattering glass sound came from his left hand as it gripped the square table leg.

Then he ran right, which meant east, across the room with the table held up. There was a window there. That small window led outside the castle.

He gathered all his strength in his legs.

The communicator fell into a drawer that had fallen from the table, so he kicked that to the west side of the room.

The drawer containing the communicator skittered across the stone floor in the opposite direction he was running.

While the bullets and sounds bounced around, the cord on the back of the communicator reached its full length while moving behind the collapsed tables. It could not be seen from the bullets’ line of fire there.

“Good.”

Aoe looked to his running feet. Monkey was clinging to the right hip of his shorts.

The circle displayed over Monkey’s head advanced from 99 to 100.

He now had authorization to fire, so he gave a whistle as he ran.

He snatched up his backpack from the floor and held its strap in his mouth. He shoved his right hand into the bag as it swayed from his running and he searched for what he needed for his escape.

The enemy’s submachineguns needed to switch magazines at just that moment.

What happened next came as a surprise to them all.

A barrier suddenly appeared in between the stairs and Excel on the landing.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The knights were split between the front group on the landing and the rear group on the stairs.

“!?” they exclaimed while they and Excel looked behind them.

But Aoe’s mouth twisted into a smile when he saw what happened.

<Was that Yuo!?>

There was no doubt in his mind. He knew it had to have been her.

His body obeyed that thought in its own way.

“Run!”

A shattering glass sound came from his legs and a black spear emblem briefly flashed there.

He felt new strength there. At the same time, he threw the table he held toward Excel’s group.

Excel’s cheeks twisted slightly behind the table.

“I will not let you escape.”

“He’s Loading!?”

Aoe looked back to see the airborne table torn to shreds by the bullets of the new magazines.

The pieces of the table scattered like a fine powder more than splinters.

The sawdust produced a brown smoke.

Excel spread his arms in preparation beyond that smoke.

A sound of striking stone came from his arms.

Red glowing emblems appeared not on the backs of his hands but below the palms. The symbol surrounded by a rectangular frame was a lotus flower.

He looked to Aoe.

Immediately, he produced his next Text. The Text of a Pseudo Grandload that surpassed a mere Pseudo Download.

“Only one person may surpass me.

“And that person is not you.”

<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Lotus: Preparing for Use>

Low sounds came from his palms. Sounds of cracking stone.

Several windows rapidly opened behind him.

<Activation authorized for 28M Lives within the virtual space>

<Pseudo Load Emblem: Activating: Run>

Character strings emerged from the emblems on his palms and moved behind him.

●Type-XX016 – Imperial-class - Lotus●

<Activating Pseudo Grandload of Excel’s program control abilities: Loading highest-level subprograms and releasing upper limit on program control ability>

The emblem’s lotus flower glowed red. As soon as that glow grew brighter, diskettes drew out a triangular formation behind Excel. The three circles rapidly rotated and launched light from their centers to link together.

“In Eastern thought, the lotus is viewed as an expanding seat of data.”

Excel’s words were punctuated by the knights on either side of him opening fire with their submachineguns.

They fired every bullet they had.

The gunfire produced sparks while the formation behind Excel moved. The triangle rotated once to the right as if loading a bullet.

<Target Dummy Data: Range Set>

Bluish-white light surrounded the bullets soaring through the air.

<Poly-Combine: Unification: Beginning Range Reassignment>

The four knights had fired a total of 124 bullets and Aoe saw them all combine into one.

The bullets were now the size of a large artillery shell as they flew his way.

“What!?”

“A butler is meant to assist others. My Load exists to enhance others’ powers.”

Excel bowed with the lotus emblem behind him.

“This is goodbye. You may have been born in the Plus World, but you will die in this Minus World.”

Aoe made a split second decision in response to those words of farewell.

As soon as he saw the artillery shell approaching, he jumped out the window.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: On DT Castle Grounds

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe maintained Sight Mode as he jumped out and found himself approximately 16 yards up.

A water-filled moat awaited him below.

One of the castle wall’s viewing pathways was approximately 6 yards down and to the left, but the door into the tower was closed.

He stuck both hands into the backpack he held in his mouth and immediately selected the items he needed.

He chose a thin rope and a flashlight that had been part of the disaster supplies.

He tied the end of the rope to the flashlight inside the backpack.

A moment later, the tower wall exploded behind him.

That was the result of the artillery strike. The shockwave from the sound pressure hit him before the flying rubble could.

“Mh!”

He didn’t allow himself more than a grunt while twisting his falling body to face the castle wall.

<Is Yuo watching?>

He visually confirmed the viewing pathway sticking out from the castle wall to the left. The passageway extended due north, but it branched to the left partway through, connecting to the castle itself.

The white-walled castle was visible to the southeast. It appeared to be a square fortress.

He saw knights on the three-way junction connecting the castle wall’s viewing pathway to the castle.

Those were reinforcements for the tower.

“Not a problem.”

He once more Downloaded his right hand and grabbed the flashlight in his spread fingers.

The thin rope was tied to the middle of that and he threw it forward, toward the top of the viewing pathway.

The flashlight flew around 10 yards forward – toward the floor of the viewing pathway there.

His body drew out a parabolic arc as he fell.

He held the other end of the unraveling rope in his left hand. His right hand put the backpack on his back while he avoided the rubble catching up from behind.

He dropped lower than the top of the castle wall.

The stone wall seemed to be rising on his left. A single metallic clank came from its top. That was the flashlight hitting the viewing pathway.

“Please work!”

He spoke his wish out loud while pulling in the thin rope.

Still falling, he pulled on the rope without feeling it catch.

But just before he reached the water below, he felt the rope go taut.

He looked up.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

The fully extended rope was tight against the edge of the wall 10 yards above.

A sharp tug pulled it even tighter.

So he swung his legs. He used his swinging feet like a pendulum to accelerate himself forward while hanging just above the water.

“Mh!”

He kicked at the water’s surface to bring himself toward the wall.

Pieces of the broken tower fell into the moat as they caught up from behind.

The water splashed while he ran in his dangling pose.

Pulling with his left arm shortened the pendulum and increased the inertia.

He used that momentum to move left and plant his feet on the wall.

“Go for it!”

A shattering glass sound came from both his legs.

A black emblem briefly appeared on his feet before disappearing again.

He stood perpendicular from the wall and he ran up it. Up toward the sky.

He sprinted, his left arm reeling in the rope, always accelerating to avoid losing his momentum.

The 10 yards of vertical distance didn’t even take him 10 steps.

With his right hand, he peeled Monkey from his leg and placed him on his shoulder.

“Food!” he shouted and Monkey handed him a x5 chocolate bar from his backpack.

After confirming it was the strawberry flavor, Aoe tore the wrapper open with his teeth. By the time he shoved the entire bar into his mouth, he had arrived at the top of the wall.

His acceleration had been sufficient.

Just before leaping from the wall into the sky, he focused on his vision.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

In that instant, Aoe saw the three-way junction atop the castle wall.

The passageway leading to the castle’s 2nd story was directly in front of him.

The other two directions were the pathways along the castle wall.

Four knights stood on the left side of the junction. They were running toward the tower he had jumped from.

After noting that, he forced his body up and leaped.

He propelled himself toward the spot behind the running knights.

His accelerated body flew high to circle behind them.

He used that instant in the air to tug hard on the rope in his left hand.

The flashlight attached to the other end of the rope was now 10 yards behind him and it flew like a whip at his tug.

The flashlight acted as a counterattack on the knights trying to reach the tower.

He saw them try to dodge. They ducked low with well-coordinated movements.

The flashlight passed above their heads.

Then they followed the flashlight’s movement to turn toward him.

He smiled as all four’s eyes landed on him.

Instead of catching the incoming flashlight, he let it fly behind him and swing around him.

The rope swung with his arm as its fulcrum, so the flashlight took a large circular path.

The knights stood up and tried to turn to face him.

But it was too late.

The rope anchored by the flashlight had already reached them. It caught all four of them at the hip.

“…!?”

Once the rope’s circular movement was stopped by the knights’ bodies, it rapidly wrapped around them.

By then, Aoe had let go of the rope.

He leaned forward, crouched low, and ran toward the knights.

The rope wrapped around them hindered their movements, so Aoe approached one of them and used his left hand to swipe the submachinegun from that one’s hip.

He used the one hand to switch off the safety, made sure it had ammo in the magazine, and looked to Monkey on his shoulder.

Monkey nodded. The firearm control program had already activated, beginning its time limit.

If he pulled the trigger, bullets would come out.

“Mh.”

He aimed the submachinegun toward the neck of the knights’ defensers.

Four gunshots rang out.

The control devices on the backs of their necks were all destroyed.

That kept the defensers from operating, effectively immobilizing the knights.

“Because Yuo would probably cry if I killed you.”

With those parting words, he turned his back on the knights and took off running. A beat later, the knights started shouting protests, but he ignored them and directed his feet toward the castle’s entrance.

He worked his mind while running one step at a time.

He recalled what that man named Excel had told him in the communications tower.

<They plan to erase Yuo’s current Plus-related memories and bring back the Minus Yuo?>

He released his willpower on a level exceeding mere thought.

“I won’t let you!”

A shattering glass sound came from his feet and he accelerated.

He cleared the junction in mere moments and prepared to enter the Top Page inside the castle.

The inside looked dark from the outside.

But he did not hesitate to run in.

“I don’t have to be the strongest. You can call me deadly, a fake, or a dropout all you want.”

He definitely clenched his right fist just as he was entering that darkness.

“Grant me strength!”

Afterword

Kawakami Minoru’s Board Mode: Afterword – Pit In

You are in Afterword, the Final Page of Virtual City DT.

The current time is 3:57 AM.

You are at home, but the details will be omitted. Let us just say it is messy.

You spilled the heater’s oil all over the floor earlier. It caused quite a commotion. The damages were great, including your pajamas and your shoes. You aren’t sure what to do about it.

There is no one else around.

Kawakami Minoru: “Let’s get on with the usual then.

“We’re back to a modern city for the first time in a while.

“Virtual City DT is both like a fairy tale and like a video game, but all the talk of god and demons ties into the fact that there are many different interpretations of gods and demons in the City World. The interpretation seen here is not held across the entire City Series, so be careful there.

“Now, the real Detroit is seen as an industrial city, but starting in the ‘60s, labor conflicts over automation of the factories led to riots and the population decreased considerably. They maintained parks and such to help improve their image and the industrial side has begun to recover in recent years. You might enjoy looking into the prosperity of this city.

“I was fortunate enough to be allowed a high page count for DT. I have all of you to thank for that. So thank you very much.

“Now, onto the late-night chat with a friend.”

Kawakami Minoru: “Hey, are you doing well? We’re doing this even if you aren’t. Oh, yeah!”

Friend Y: “Why do you always do these chats when you’re in a weird mood? You showed me most of this one, but what’s even the point of giving me those super outdated manuscripts? I checked the latest version just now and found Yuo’s panty flipping seen was cut way down. What a disappointment.”

Kawakami Minoru: “It was her skirt that was flipped, not her panties, idiot. Anyway, how are you doing? You’re sort of on the leading edge of things like DT, aren’t you? Having another stupid meeting about selectively breeding humanity to look more polygonal since modeling humans with polygons is such a pain?”

Friend Y: “You make it sound like I’m part of an evil secret organization. And that wasn’t what that meeting was about. The idea was to find someone who looked really polygonal and use them as our photo reference to make our job way easier. Anyway, I know this is a sudden change of subject, but you know how people in DT have an emblem appear on a body part accompanied by a shattering glass sound when they get serious?”

Kawakami Minoru: “Yeah, it would probably surprise your partner if that happened when you were getting on, wouldn’t it?”

Friend Y: “How did you know what I was going to say? Anyway, those subprograms sound handy.”

Kawakami Minoru: “What subprogram would you want?”

Friend Y: “One for the summer of my 18th year.”

Let’s ignore the idiot while I give an update on my latest work. Zenon City – Tokyo and Image City – SF are being alternately published in Dengeki hp, released every other month by MediaWorks. Those cities are pretty standalone, so check them out if you have some time.

And now for a list of my virtual activities:

• My website: http://mediaworks.co.jp/~w-kawaka/

• Illustrator Satoyasu’s website: http://www.din.or.jp/~fnitt/

Anyway, my editing background music this time was Gimmick by Psy S, but I spent that time wondering: “Who was the real dropout?”

Now, then. Next up is DT’s second half.

December 2001. A morning of spilled oil.

-Kawakami Minoru

Satoyasu Page

I finally got to draw the long-eared heroine I've wanted for so long.

I hope you continue reading.

See you.

-Satoyasu

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