City Series:Volume8a Prologue

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

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12/29/2001 AD 03:18 AM

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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.

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