City Series:Volume8a Chapter7
Chapter 7: Wilderness[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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[edit]
<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>
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