City Series:Volume8b Chapter11
Chapter 11: Fade to Black[edit]
Welcome back!
Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Conclusion! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!
Sorry about all this trouble my friends are causing.
That said, I wonder how this will turn out. Telyb’s Yard is gathering in front of the castle right now.
The final battle is about to begin, but this seems kinda familiar to me.
Old Man Ogre isn’t saying anything, but I saw this same situation 2000 years ago.
I dunno if I should say this, but not even I’m sure what’s going to happen.
I’ve been thinking of evacuating along with everyone else, but I just know my weird friends will be along soon.
Anyway, today’s word is “violence”.
“Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
(Luke 22:52-53)
Racter Nosrup has entered the chat.
Railswest Leab has entered the chat.
Racter: So Mrs. RW, I’ve finished my status update already, so I was thinking of evacuating to the southern park. I have a bad feeling about this.
RW: Eh? What? You want to avoid Noma that badly? I’m pretty sure she wants to get some answers out of you.
07/07/2000 DT 01:15 PM (-01:45)
Help Text[edit]
Restrictions on Criminals in DT
Any criminal held in DT has various restrictions applied when their PC Body is created upon entry to the city.
The restrictions are not on the PC Body itself, but on the actions and reactions received from the PC Body.
A pardon requires authorization from the Yard that managed their city entry and the creation of their PC Body and authorization after an audience with the queen.
The basic restrictions are as follows:
- Proof of Identity
Everyone around them is informed they are a criminal.
Their window frame is black and any signature they provide for identification purposes automatically lists them as a criminal.
- Restriction of Expression
Certain actions or statements are automatically stopped.
Examples include attacking someone, statements that exceed an established threshold of lewdness, or expressions of an antisocial nature.
If they do engage in these activities, a decision by DT’s OS and the restriction settings set up by their administrator will shut down their ability to perform those activities.
- Restriction of Reaction
When they take certain actions, the target’s reaction will be canceled.
Just as their own actions are restricted through the restriction of expression, the tools or programs they might use will be locked down for safety purposes.
Since DT is boosted 100x, 100 years will have passed in the city by the time a single year passes outside.
Thus, countries can send their convicted criminals with extremely long prison terms to DT in order to finish out their sentence.
They can live here under the above restrictions and assist DT’s industries in the prison workshop.
However, any who are deemed to be safe and well-behaved can have a few of their restrictions removed and live in the city itself. If the abilities used to commit their crimes are considered useful, they are also recommended to assist in operations within the city in order to reduce their sentence.
So while the prisoners are trapped within DT, they are also given the right to put their combat abilities to good use in order to atone.
Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Yuo’s Over Reload>
Yuo was shrunken in the center of the room.
Her body and clothing were even smaller than before and she lay sprawled out on the rug.
<Ohh. I’m in real trouble this time.>
She had entered high performance mode the instant she stood up to grab something to eat before creating Aoe’s attack release program.
<Your heat energy reserves are low. Please be careful.>
She sat up on the rug that’s high pile was like grass around her.
She looked back to see Puppy the ferret atop the bed. He was looking down at her with his cheeks full. She stood up and sent a thought his way.
<This is a problem, isn’t it?>
She ran to the fridge which was now nearly four times her height.
She had to use both arms to pull open the pressurized door.
She used both hands to pull out a large juice box in the door. It was orange x0.8.
She couldn’t prepare a glass at her height, so she opened the lid and drank it from the box.
There wasn’t much room in her shrunk mouth, so she had to gulp five times more than usual.
<Ahh. This is the kind of drink you live for.>
She looked to the bed and Puppy nodded. He and his filled cheeks looked a bit smaller than before.
She had returned to her less small form.
She was silently celebrating when a word mail window opened overhead. She glanced up to check the sender.
<Senpai?>
<Opening word mail window>
Aoe’s Word Mail: To Yuo[edit]
Hang a white cloth from your window. Right now.
The enemy is working out your room’s location.
<Returning to Yuo’s Sight Mode>
Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Yuo’s Over Reload>
Yuo silently read through the message.
The look on her face changed as she did. It grew pale.
<Oh, no.>
<Yuo’s Over Zoom>
She looked to the bed. The sheets were a light green.
<White.>
She turned her entire body to look left and right, but there was no white in the room.
She ran to the kitchen.
“Towel!”
A shattering glass sound came from her feet, but the carpet’s threads tangled around her feet.
She fell. But she got right back up. She groaned, frowned, and wiped the tears from her eyes on the way to the kitchen. A towel was draped over the edge of the sink.
<I need to hurry. If they find me… If they find me…>
She grabbed the towel.
<I’ll forget about Senpai.>
She suppressed the emotion, tugged on the towel, and gathered it between her arms.
<There’s still so much I want to tell him.>
The towel was damp and smelled of soap, but she didn’t care.
<I still haven’t told him any of the important things.>
She left the kitchen and made her way to the window.
She was out of breath. She didn’t even have time to notice her panic before she gasped in front of the window.
She was too short.
<No!>
She held the end of the towel and swung it with both arms. The other end of the towel struck the windowsill, but it slid right back down. It simply made light thunk as it hit the wooden windowsill.
She tried three times before deciding to change tack.
She looked to the desk. There was a chair next to it. She threw the towel onto the floor and ran over to the chair.
<That’s it!>
Her feet tangled with the carpet again, but she made it to the chair.
Just as she placed her hands on the chair, she noticed a sound.
It was the quiet metallic sound of a key turning in a lock.
It came from the right. She turned to see the movement there.
<Yuo’s Over Zoom>
The stone wall to her right, where the door had originally been, was opening.
<Eh?>
Someone was entering. That realization made her reflexively let go of the chair.
<Just in case.>
She answered that thought by tossing a window to Puppy up on the bed.
It was a word mail window.
She also opened a transparent keyboard by her right hand, but…
<There’s no time.>
She changed the settings to voice input and made it a voice message instead.
She thought about the purpose of this message she was about to create.
<I need someone to read this just in case I don’t make it.>
She gulped at the objective meaning of what she had just said.
Her small hand hesitated before rising toward the hair fallen on her shoulder.
But she resisted the urge to toy with the hair and clenched her fists.
<I need to make sure Senpai will believe it even if I forget everything.>
She moved her lips to put her thoughts to words. She didn’t make a noise, but the word mail program recorded her voice as data. She only spoke for a few seconds, but she smiled in satisfaction afterwards.
Then she set the message’s send settings.
She gave two conditions for sending: the receive time and the conditions for opening it.
<This message will be sent only if all the conditions are met.>
She checked the time displayed in the window.
<Just in case I don’t remember anything myself!>
For just a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut as if making a wish.
After opening them again, she ran the program.
She used the word mail window to make sure Suedomsa had not retaken control of the central communications tower. A letter icon popped up and rotated to the side to say the message was sent.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
She checked the opened stone wall door. She sensed someone out in the hallway. They were checking inside the room.
She searched her hips for something she could use as a weapon.
She found a plate containing a program.
She turned the dial on the plate to set the air conditioning program. By setting the temperature to maximum or minimum, she could either roast the enemy’s skin or lightly freeze them.
<I won’t give up.>
She hid behind cover and kept her attention on the open stone wall.
<I won’t give up!>
Just as she had that thought, someone tall entered the room.
She prepared to hit the plate’s button, but she stopped. She recognized this person.
<Algo?>
During her moment of surprise, he turned toward her. He had long blond hair and wore a white robe. A miniature woman sat on his left shoulder.
That was Alternative.
When both of them looked her way, she gasped and prepared to hit the button at her hip.
A word came to mind on reflex.
<Senpai!>
<Yuo’s Sight Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe ran full speed through the castle.
He raced across the stone floor, jumped down the stairs, and grabbed the walls to swing himself around the corners.
He ran despite how loudly his feet were pounding on the stone.
The only light came from the torches in the hallways.
He rushed through the flickering crimson glow. He was reliant on the map Yuo had sent him on the see-through window he had left open and on Monkey who was leading the way.
Yuo had marked the location of her room on the map, so he ran toward the place indicated by a red arrow, leaving himself out of breath. He pumped his arms, tilted as far forward as he could without losing balance, and converted all his energy into speed.
“Yuo!”
He shouted and continued forward.
The window in front of him showed his current position as a blue dot. He was close to the red arrow. He only had to turn one more corner and descend one more flight of stairs.
He turned the corner. His sandals skidded across the stone and he ducked low while redirecting his momentum.
He pushed himself forward with a kick off the floor.
He sucked in a breath, released it, and took off running again. Monkey also slipped around the corner, but kept running.
He saw people in the hallways as he ran.
NPC Body maids, librarians, and civil officials. He also saw the occasional knight.
But none of them were moving.
<It wasn’t just the comm tower. Are all the NPC Bodies here frozen?>
He chose to focus on moving forward instead of on wondering why.
He ran.
He could see the stairs now. That meant he would arrive soon.
He descended the short, 6-step flight of stairs in only two steps.
At the bottom, he found a corridor stretching out ahead of him. A few knights and civil officials were frozen there.
He passed by their unmoving forms and found part of the southern wall sitting open. The arrow on the window said that was his destination.
<Yuo!>
After slipping between a final pair of frozen NPC Bodies, he rushed into the opening in the wall.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
This is 3F Private Rooms – Yuo’s Private Room, a Top Page of the castle.
The current time is 1:19 PM.
You are in a stone room. There are a bed and a desk carrying a support computer by the west wall. There are a kitchen and a closet on the east wall.
No one else is here.
Aoe: “Yuo!”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
The refrigerator in the kitchen has its door sitting open.
A large box of orange juice sits on the floor.
A set of pajamas is set out on the bed.
A window displaying a map of the castle is displayed above the desk by the wall.
Aoe: <Yuo!>
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
You hear a voice from the speaker on the room’s wall. It is Algo’s voice.
Aoe: “Algo’s!?”
Algo: “Hello, Aoe. I am sorry, but we can’t let you have the princess.”
Aoe: “Damn you!”
Algo: “Calm down, calm down. This is a broadcast being played throughout the castle. You should be able to guess where we are, so search us out later. Yuo is here waiting for you. But first, there is something I would like you to see as a participant in this fight. Is there a window nearby?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
There is a window on the room’s south wall. A white towel lies on the floor below the window.
Algo: “If there is, then please switch to Sight.”
<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe’s vision returned. But more than that, he was aware of all his body’s senses returning.
His heart pounded in his ears. All his subprograms were rapidly pumping his blood through his body.
He was panicking.
The subprograms were giving his body the ideal version of panic.
“Ugh.”
He groaned and heard a sound form the hallway behind him.
“Fireworks?”
He looked back to see a change in the hallway.
It was empty now.
“Mh?”
The frozen NPC Bodies were no longer there. They had disappeared.
A small flash of electricity raced through the dimly-lit hallway. He detected the scent of a burning wire.
“What is-?”
Before he could add “going on”, a window opened in front of him.
<Warning: Loading heat energy into Questron. All unauthorized personnel must leave the premises immediately.>
“Are they using the heat energy from all the NPC Bodies in the castle?”
His question preceded a tremor.
“!?”
The floor bucked up at his feet, leaving his footing unsteady.
“What!?”
A shattering glass sound came from his feet and his sense of them improved.
His Downloaded feet felt the floor, walls, and ceiling trembling. It was a small vertical tremor.
The entire castle was shaking, producing a rumbling noise.
He looked across the floor and spotted Monkey rolling on the rug where he had given up staying on his feet. The small creature was bouncing with the unending tremor.
A new window opened in front of Aoe.
<Warning: Beginning restart of Questron. All unauthorized personnel must leave the premises immediately.>
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Telyb’s Sight Mode: In North DT[edit]
<Telyb’s Over Reload>
Telyb stood in front of the shielded castle.
His Yard force was spread out along the dirt road when a sudden tremor knocked their feet out from under them.
The encirclement created from an artillery team cried out and crouched low.
The ground quaked, the houses shook, and the air tremored.
“Calm down! This will be over soon!”
Telyb’s voice brought them back to their senses, so they planted their feet firmly on the ground.
Then the tremor vanished.
A window had opened in front of all the Yard members who were not NPC Bodies within a half mile radius of the castle.
<Warning: Restart of Questron is complete. All unauthorized personnel must leave the premises immediately.>
Then Telyb saw a change come over the castle.
The defense shield surrounding it vanished.
It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
The curtain of light vanished from top to bottom, like a fruit being peeled.
The contents were revealed.
“The castle.”
The massive gray building now existed in the same space as the Yard.
Everyone sighed and began chatting.
But immediately around Telyb, none of the people forming the encirclement and none of the people preparing to charge the castle moved.
Their motionlessness was caused by a sound.
It came from behind them. It came from the tower rising toward heaven in the south.
A loud sound came from there.
Standing within the artillery team, Telyb asked Fooblicky a question.
“Should we turn around? I don’t want to take my eyes off the castle.”
“You’ll see something a lot more Minus-y than a castle captured by some outsiders.”
Fooblicky was already looking back, so Telyb turned to the south as well.
<Telyb’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>
Babel.
The word tower standing more than 2 miles tall was wrapped in light and producing noise.
A loud noise. The entire tower cried with a roar similar to the buzzing of insect wings.
At the same time, light resembling leaf veins shined across the ultra-tall tower.
Telyb and Fooblicky weren’t the only ones looking back now. Everyone gathered in front of the castle was.
Windows opened in front of those who were not NPC Bodies.
<Babel is activating. It will produce noise and light for a time, but this is an unavoidable part of the activation process. It will settle down in a few minutes, so do not worry.>
Babel’s noise grew louder and its light grew brighter while they read the identical windows.
Without warning, a color appeared in the southern sky: a white light.
The white light raced up from Babel’s peak and into the heavens.
<Babel activation complete: Control privileges have been granted to Administrator Excel Sys.>
<Babel Activation Phase 1 is stable: accelerating word particle extraction from ley lines. Conversion to virtual heat energy is possible.>
A light sound like a breaking lightbulb scattered through the air, but Babel still erupted with light.
In an instant, that light refused to be emitted into the sky and branched apart at the base.
“Their enchanter!? Are they sending power to the castle!?” shouted Telyb as the light bent before his eyes.
The light was directed toward the castle.
In an instant, the bright lightning in the sky covered the distance from Babel to the castle.
The light formed several thick beams and scorched the air with a sound like splashing water.
The light and noise shook everyone’s eyes and ears.
During the sizzling sound resembling splashing water, everyone’s eyes followed the light, showing them a glowing net set up in the sky.
A giant white object could be seen in front of the false sky covered by the power-propagating net of light.
It was the blimp.
The large white blimp normally floated above the amusement park, but it was arriving overhead now.
<Telyb’s Over Zoom>
Telyb gasped and moved his gaze from Babel to the blimp.
It had stopped at a position about 500 yards overhead.
Something like a white thread extended from its nose to the castle.
Telyb put his arm around Fooblicky’s shoulders.
He felt a single tremor run through her, but she said nothing and let him pull her close. He spoke after confirming that.
“Sorry. Being slow to act has always been a bad habit of mine. …Prepare to send the withdrawal signal.”
“Are two Minus Elites just not enough to challenge Suedomsa, the ultimate Minus Elite?”
Fooblicky sounded exasperated as she opened the window with the notice to send out to all the Yard members.
After waiting for her to open the window, he turned his eyes to the thread in the sky. It stretched from the blimp’s nose to the castle rooftop where the flowing net fell.
<Telyb’s Over Zoom>
The light illuminated a pair standing on the edge of the gray castle roof, with the tall communications tower behind them.
One was a black man dressed as a butler. The other was a woman in a white dress with some sort of long white staff in her hands.
The woman raised her white staff.
Light was already running through it. The crimson light formed an emblem symbol resembling a stone slab.
Red light formed a lotus flower emblem in the hands of the man standing by her side.
The effects of their emblems had already shown themselves.
The blimp.
Its white elliptical shape had changed.
Gun turrets had appeared on its round bottom side.
Large turrets like that couldn’t normally be installed on a gasbag. They were 125mm guns.
One of the Yard members muttered “it can’t be” when he saw the muzzles aimed their way.
The turrets in the sky produced light as if to prove that statement wrong.
In the center of the Yard group, Telyb added strength to the arm around Fooblicky’s shoulders.
<Telyb’s Sight Mode continues.>
Myst’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Myst’s Over Reload>
You are in Rooftop, a Top Page of the castle.
The current time is 1:25 PM.
One old-style NPC Body accompanies you: Excel Raphael.
Myst: “Well? Is the picture I drew functioning?”
Excel: “Yes, quite well. The 12 turrets are dispensing doom as we speak.”
Myst: “Good. Thank you for that, Excel. Sight tires me out so much of late.”
Excel: “Ha ha. Sight does speed up our deterioration. View the wind with your Board eyes.”
<Myst’s Over Reload>
A wind carrying heat energy is blowing in from an adjacent Page.
Myst: “What happened to the Yard?”
Excel: “It appears the humans and glossolalians under Master Telyb’s command have taken shelter, but the new-style NPC Bodies were slow to react. As I suspected, their shared memory slows their group actions.”
Myst: “While our individual memories allow us to make decisions right away.”
Myst: “It’s strange, really. We of the Quartet have refused to be formatted or have backups made because we fear losing our memories. Yet we still haven’t broken down so long after our intended service life.”
Myst: “Do you remember what happened so long ago? We were stationed in the amusement park and Master Suedomsa eventually introduced us to a girl – to Master Yuo who wanted someone to play with.”
Excel: “I do indeed remember. He was busy with his work, so he asked us to look after and play with her. She cried the first time we met, didn’t she?”
Myst: “But while we thought we were looking after her, it was really the other way around. It made us so happy to have her watch us. Daikatana would put on plays for her and Mekton would do circus tricks for her.”
<Myst’s Over Reload>
A wind carrying heat energy is blowing hard from an adjacent Page.
Excel is narrowing his eyes toward that Page.
Myst: “Wasn’t that when we had a discussion to see if we could do anything for Master Yuo since she was always crying but always stayed with us and watched us?”
Excel: “Yes, we wanted to do something that would convince her she didn’t need to cry and that would help her be strong.”
Myst: “I mentioned that to Master Algo in the audience chamber earlier. Because Master Alternative asked why we were so obsessed with Master Yuo’s resignation and with Aoe Shouzou.”
Myst: “When I did, Master Algo asked me what we would be doing right now if Master Yuo had not given up.”
Excel: “Oh? And how did you respond?”
Myst: “As I left, I said we would probably have repaid her in some way to ensure she would be able to get by without us…but I also said I doubted we would be able to do anything.”
<Myst’s Over Reload>
A wind carrying heat energy is blowing upwards from an adjacent Page.
Myst: “Because the only way to really prove that she could get by without us is to test her and see if she had surpassed us.”
Myst: “Excel, you taught her your Celestial Program Activator, but do you think you could seriously test her?”
Excel: “No. If I tried, I just know I would end up going easy on her.”
Myst: “Right? As Minus people, we can never go all out against a fellow Minus person like her.”
Myst: “I think Master Suedomsa is the same. I actually eavesdropped on their conversation a bit before entering and I heard a few things Master Alternative said.”
Myst: “She said Master Suedomsa was only able to shoot Master Yuo during the 2nd Godtact Experiment because she was becoming the great god and was no longer herself. So if he had arrived before the great god’s Lives were overwriting her own…”
Excel: “You think he would not have been able to kill her, just like we cannot go all out against her as fellow Minus people?”
Myst: “Yes.”
Myst: “But why is it we can’t go all out against Master Yuo?”
Myst: “Especially when that Aoe Shouzou can do it.”
<Myst’s Over Reload>
A wind carrying heat energy is blowing upwards from an adjacent Page.
Excel is looking your way. His eyebrows are lowered. It is a look of confusion.
Excel: “Aoe?”
Myst: “Yes, Master Alternative went on to say that man is Master Yuo’s opposite.”
Myst: “I have heard the current Master Yuo is stubbornly refusing to give up because she met that man in Japan…but that is something we could not do even as we served her to the best of our ability.”
Myst: “Do you think the same thing will happen again?”
Excel: “Preposterous. Are you suggesting the past Master Yuo we resurrect might abandon her resignation if she meets Aoe Shouzou?”
Excel: “She abandoned us to choose resignation. And the resurrection process will eliminate her memories of Plus Aoe.”
<Myst’s Over Reload>
A wind carrying heat energy is blowing hard from an adjacent Page.
You close your eyes and nod.
Myst: “But after hearing all this and speaking with them, Master Algo told me one more thing while telling me to remember it.”
Myst: “He said we may not be able to go all out against Master Yuo, but Aoe would be able to do so without hesitation because he is her opposite.”
Myst: “Excel. Could you remember those words too? I think I will ponder them a while longer. I feel like there is something to learn from them.”
<Myst’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe ran down the hallway.
“Damn,” he swore with Monkey taking the lead, sniffing the floor as he went.
Based on where Monkey was taking him, their destination was likely the audience chamber at the center of the first floor.
The artillery fire shaking the castle earlier had since ceased.
It had taken precisely 5 minutes for the low-altitude blasts to stop. That was at 1:30 PM. The large blimp doing the bombing had spent that five minutes moving along the major road linking the castle to Babel. It had eliminated the Yard forces encircling the castle and waiting near Babel.
When Aoe had checked outside from Yuo’s room after the glow of the bombing had faded, the road connecting Babel and the castle had already collapsed.
The heat had been visible and a few windows had appeared on the collapsed ground to inform of obliterated objects.
His vision was still burned by the light and he recalled the image of the aftermath while he ran.
“Damn.”
Telyb and Fooblicky had said they needed to attack when the initial shield went down, but they had been wiped out instead. Now there was only a deserted wasteland between the castle and Babel.
“They underestimated their opponents.”
Just before leaving the window, Aoe had seen a change in the bundle of light stretching from the top of Babel to the castle. It left a few thick strands there in the air while spreading out over a wide area. That formed a wall surrounding a vast space containing both the castle and Babel.
That was the second, larger defense shield.
Unlike before, the shield generated by Babel covered Babel, the amusement park at its feet, and the now-deserted road leading to the castle. The boosted bundle of light extending from Babel became an all-encompassing shield.
Then a new window appeared in front of Aoe.
<Preparing to alter some DT settings: The space within this shield will increase to a boost setting of x1000 in 90 minutes.>
<If you have yet to evacuate, please hurry to the south park. Creating additional defense shield.>
Aoe knew this was all the enemy’s doing.
He kept running. He parted the castle air that felt so thick due to the heat and shaking. He jumped down the stairs to reach the first floor of the castle now void of NPC Bodies.
He simply made his way to the location where Algo was waiting: the audience chamber.
He ran down the hall, raced through a large corridor, and saw his destination up ahead.
Large doors sat open at the end of the corridor. He ran full speed there and leaped.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
“I am here! To take back everything!”
Aoe kept himself in Sight Mode as he ran into the audience chamber and made a decision based on his sight data.
He was in a large stone-walled space. There was a red carpet on the floor.
He saw five people at the other end of the carpet decorated with gold thread.
One was an elderly man in a green robe.
One was the NPC Body in blue and white Japanese clothes who called himself Daikatana.
The next two were Algo and Alternative dressed in white.
But Aoe’s eyes focused on the last one.
Someone in a light green Yard uniform was forced into the center of the group while held in place by Algo.
It was Yuo.
As soon as his foot touched the carpet and produced a muffled footstep, Yuo looked up and opened her mouth.
“Senpai!”
He pressed his feet harder against the ground in lieu of answering.
“Mh.”
A shattering glass sound came from his feet and his run sped up.
He raised his voice and finally checked the enemy more closely.
He raced toward the white of Algo’s clothing. He dropped his backpack behind him to accelerate.
He passed Monkey and further accelerated with a leap forward.
Just then, the man in green on the far left of the four standing behind Yuo raised his right hand.
Aoe saw a program trigon in his hand.
<What is that?>
No one answered him. But the dove on the man’s shoulder ate the program trigon as if to show the answer.
Aoe’s mind was immediately switched to Board Mode.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
You are running.
Suedomsa: <Are you Aoe Shouzou? I somewhat illicitly removed Yuo’s privileges for your management program and took them for myself. You will do as I say for about 3 seconds.>
<Warning: As you are in Board Mode, your Download was canceled and you have been switched back to a movement subprogram.>
Suedomsa: <Try to stay put for now. Will this be enough to make you trip and fall?>
<Suedomsa→Aoe: Body Control Settings: Horizontal Reversal: Run>
<Warning: Your movement subprogram cannot function at such high speeds. You will fall as things are. Please switch to Sight Mode, Download, and reduce speed before switching back to Board Mode.>
Aoe: “Kh!”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
You trip as if twisting your body around. You roll once.
Suedomsa: “Isn’t this more exciting than simply stopping you from running?”
Aoe: “Damn! I need to switch back!”
<Warning: That setting has been locked by an administrator. Please reattempt the switch with administrative privileges.>
Aoe: <Damn! What is this city’s problem!?>
Aoe: <Everything is fake in this stupid city!>
Suedomsa: <You are an awfully noisy person. And I see you really are a Plus person who loathes fake things.>
Suedomsa: <Well, breaking through administrative privileges security is too exhausting to do for fun, so that should be enough. Now accept defeat.>
<Suedomsa has abandoned your administrative privileges. Your settings have returned to the default for a criminal.>
<Aoe’s Board Mode has updated>
Aoe’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
You are lying face down on the floor.
Some kind of stick is pressed against your back, preventing you from moving.
Daikatana stands to your right.
Aoe: “Kh. Is that your metal staff pinning me down? Then the person in front of me must be…”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo stands in front of you.
Algo stands behind her. Alternative and Suedomsa are there too.
Aoe: “So sis is my enemy too.”
Alternative: <Sorry for making my sister cry.>
Aoe: “Your sister?”
Aoe: <So they really were sisters, just like Yuo suspected.>
Alternative: <When she was in Japan, Uncle Ungyou and I didn’t have the…I guess you would say ‘guts’ to tell her.>
Aoe: “Ha. So even that was an attempt to preserve her feelings. That sounds like you. But…”
Aoe: “You say Yuo is crying?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo’s eyebrows are drooping somewhat. It is a look of sadness.
There are tears in the corners of her eyes.
Yuo: “Senpai…”
Aoe: “You idiot. Listen, Yuo. The only tears I want to see are tears of joy at me showing up to rescue you.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Her eyebrows are still drooping, but she is smiling a little.
Yuo: “H-how can you say that when you’re crawling on the floor like a frog?”
Aoe: <She needs a talking to later.>
Algo: “Optimistic of you to assume there will be a ‘later’, Aoe.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo is simply looking at you. He is expressionless.
Yuo looks back at him with her hands still held behind her back.
Yuo: “Algo, um, could you stop this?”
Algo: “Unfortunately, that is a question we have all asked countless times by now.”
Yuo: “Then…!”
Algo: <That statement does not lead to a ‘then’. We decided to follow it up with a ‘but’.>
Algo: “We left the task of stopping us in your hands.”
Algo: “Listen.”
Algo: “If it weren’t for you two, I doubt we never would have decided to do this.”
Algo: “It reminds me of what Master Ungyou said to me.”
Algo: “When I was feeling down after learning of Alternative’s day of destruction, he challenged me to a duel and gave me the position of Martial Arts Master and the strongest Minus power. Then he told me to look after the two of you if I was going to fall to the Minus side.”
Aoe: “Ha. You expect me to believe you learned the strongest Minus power from that Plus old man?”
Aoe: “The strongest power surpasses a killing power! How could you obtain it through killing!?”
Algo: “You have no right to ask me that when you do not know what the strongest power is or how it is fulfilled. You must find the answers for yourself.”
Algo: “And Master Ungyou also said you would never be able to obtain the strongest power from him no matter how much you worked at it.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo’s lips are bending slightly. It is a small smile.
Aoe: “Don’t you underestimate me!”
Algo: “I am not, I assure you. We haven’t gone easy on you, have we? And now we will do what it takes to end things between you and Yuo. Then we will move on to the next step.”
Algo: “I will tell you one thing, however. Or has someone already told you? Our fight will not end even if you do stop Master Suedomsa’s godtact experiment that is about to begin.”
Algo: “If you do manage to stop him, Alternative and I will take over and begin the next godtact experiment.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo is looking down at you with no change of expression.
Aoe: “So it was true!”
Yuo: “What!? How could you possibly do that!?”
Algo: “Myst and Excel are currently copying the Questron’s texture and control programs. We will be taking those to Babel and using them there. As for the vessel, we have Alternative and myself. Her, pure and unsullied. Me, a long-lived immortal thanks to my position as Martial Arts Master.”
Algo: “If we share our settings and make some modifications, we can be used as a single vessel.”
Aoe: “You can what!?”
Algo: “The problem is that we will not be indestructible, but that can be partially patched using the backup feature of the NPC Body containing Alternative.”
Algo: “Although at the moment it looks like the past debts will be paid and we will never have to play our role. Those 11 Demigods must feel guilty about their past sins because their heart isn’t in this fight.”
Algo: <Aoe, I know you are upset, but do you still think you can pay those past debts in their stead and reach your actual fight with us?>
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo’s expression remains unchanged. He is still smiling.
Algo: “As things are, we need Yuo, but this is the end for you, Aoe.”
Aoe: “Hah. So you planned that second godtact experiment just to be safe?”
Aoe: “Stop acting above it all. You think this is the end? This isn’t ending!”
Algo: “Even if Yuo loses her memories?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo nods just once.
Algo: “What reason does she have to be with you after losing her memories? You aren’t going to act like the law or righteousness has any role to play there, are you?”
Algo: “Losing Yuo should be enough of a reason for you to drop out, shouldn’t it?”
Aoe: “Don’t be absurd. I-”
Yuo: “Um, Senpai? T-time out on getting all worked up, okay?”
Aoe: “Mh?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo nods in your direction too.
The tears are gone from her face.
Yuo: “Algo, what happens to me if I do lose my memories?”
Algo: “Not much changes really. You will simply have different memories. So…”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo sticks his left hand into his white robe and pulls out Yuo’s Mouse.
Algo: “This Mouse’s memories will not change and your body will remain the same. The x5 hamburger you just ate to return you to full size will also remain in your stomach.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo holds the Mouse up in his left hand. That left hand is a prosthetic.
Yuo frowns and lowers her head. She appears to be thinking.
Yuo: “Umm.”
Aoe: “Mh. Don’t think too much. No one wants you overheating your brain.”
Yuo: “Is now really the time?”
Algo: “Have you arrived at a decision?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo raises her lowered gaze.
She looks to her own Mouse in Algo’s grasp.
Yuo: “It’s only my memories I’ll lose, right?”
Suedomsa: “Correct. Your memories of the past 2000 years will unravel and lose all meaning to you and the seal on your old memories will be broken. In other words, your old memories will be written on top of your current self.”
Yuo: “You mean my memories will revert to a time when I knew you were my dad?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo gives a small nod.
She closes her eyes and breaths in deep.
Yuo: “Um.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
She moves her head a little bit.
She sucks in a deep breath of air.
Yuo: “Listen, Algo…and dad.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo opens her eyes and looks first to Algo and then to Suedomsa.
Yuo: “Once I regain my memories, if I, at any time, choose not to give up on everything, please smile and let me go free.”
Suedomsa: “I…”
Suedomsa: “I know this is not a Minus thing to say, but that is not possible, Yuo. Your memories will return to just before the 2nd Godtact Experiment – just before you entered the Questron 2000 years ago. You will return to a time when you already had given up.”
Suedomsa: “And you say at any time, but you will have less than an hour from your memories returning until the godtact experiment begins. When will you even have time to abandon your resignation?”
Yuo: “That isn’t for you to worry about.”
Yuo: “It is true I think I would do everything the same if I forgot everything. But I also think I could change if someone gave me the chance. You don’t have to give me any power or any object. Just let me know that there is a better option out there than giving up.”
Yuo: “Once I know that, I will be able to act on my own. So when that time comes…please smile and let me go free.”
Suedomsa: “You sound confident this will happen. Why is that?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo looks to you with her eyes narrowed and her lips loosening. It is a small smile.
Yuo: “Because I know Senpai will come for me. He might lose, he might get hurt, he might even appear to have given up, but he has always come for me. It may have taken him 600 years, but he still came for me here.”
Suedomsa: “You think he will change your mind? But…”
Yuo: “But nothing!”
Yuo: <Everyone else might say ‘but’, but I’ve decided to say ‘then’!>
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo nods.
The motion of her head sends tears falling from the corners of her eyes.
Algo nods as well.
Algo: “I see. Then let me ask one thing: what happens if Aoe does not come for you?”
Yuo: “Then I lose and I will likely become your vessel.”
Yuo: “Oh, but you don’t have to apologize. If I win, the great god won’t be activated and you can’t save Suedomsa and Alternative. We are both working against each other here.”
Yuo: “I know that, but I still want to win. Strength is not something you are given – it is something you reach out and take. And something you take back if it is taken from you. Isn’t that right?”
Yuo: “I will not be lost. I know some small amount of me will remain in here somewhere. Deny it all you like, this version of me will not vanish from myself and from others.”
Yuo: “Just like my past self tried to bring back the me who had my last name changed. So even if my memories are erased to create a different version of myself, I doubt that me will be able to deny the me speaking to you now.”
Suedomsa: “I see. Algo, can you get the process rolling?”
Algo: “Let’s give them a minute to say goodbye. Aoe, switch to Sight Mode please.”
<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe gained his sight from his position pinned to the floor.
In front of him, he saw Yuo with her arms bound. She took a breath and bowed toward Algo.
Algo smiled bitterly and nodded back.
“Is there anything you need to avoid giving up?”
“No, not anymore. Besides, I am looking beyond that – into the future past my decision to not give up. That is why I sent a word mail as insurance before you entered my room.”
She smiled bitterly.
“You could call it a message of support to ensure my memory-erased self doesn’t pull away from Senpai after choosing not to give up.”
“Did you send it to Aoe?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know. No messing with the word mail settings to erase it. That would be cheating.”
Still smiling bitterly and turned toward Aoe.
Her bitter smile looked a lot brighter to his eyes.
She kept that expression as she approached him and crouched down.
He watched as she kneeled and sat down.
She was within arm’s reach.
So he placed his hands on the floor and shifted his body. The metal staff pushed down with more force, but he ignored it.
“Yuo.”
A shattering glass sound came from his back and he lifted his upper body.
She nodded at the Text of his will and reached out her hands.
She touched his cheeks to prop him up.
She leaned her face in, shut he eyes, and moved even closer.
“Senpai.”
A shattering glass sound came from her head.
Then their lips touched.
Aoe felt the damp sensation of her lips and…
“Oh.”
He heard a sound like striking pebbles from between their lips.
By the time he realized their teeth had collided, she was blushing and pulling her head back.
Her shut eyes bent into a smile.
“That’s three times now we’ve done the same thing.”
“Y-you fool.”
Aoe realized now was the time to act. This would be his last chance with her so close.
He gathered strength in his shoulders for just a moment in preparation to save her.
But something stopped his movement.
Yuo’s words. Her smile had lost its bitterness, but she shook her head.
“Senpai.”
That familiar title stopped him from moving. She lowered her eyebrows a little.
“Let me say one thing. I have always wished we could be together forev-”
Before she could finish, a sound like tearing fibers came from the back of her head.
<Yuo has been temporarily frozen while her Memory Lives are altered. Processing during the freeze will be handled by the DT OS.>
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo is collapsing toward your left side.
<Warning: Yuo is falling. Please support her immediately>
Aoe: “Yuo?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Yuo has fallen onto the carpet. Her eyes are narrowed. It is a small smile.
She is not moving.
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
She takes a deep breath and then another.
She is not moving.
Algo: “Your minute is up. Her memories have ben erased, but she will restart soon enough.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Algo sticks his right hand’s finger into the mouth of the ferret he holds in his left hand.
Aoe: <Did you feed that weasel a program?>
Algo: “Yes, because I know Yuo was unlikely to eat it herself. But more than that, look.”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
A window has opened next to you.
<DT OS→Yuo: Memory Lives Management Program: Recover and Normalization: Run>
<Alteration to Yuo’s Memory Lives detected. Changing her ID name. Please view her as a different person and give her a new ID name. She will now be known as Unknown Name>
<Unknown Name has lost her memories of using Wish Bringer, her currently set Load Emblem. The memory change may have returned her to a state from before she ever used Wish Bringer>
<Unknown Name has memories of using the Load Emblem named Mule, so it is recommended she changes that setting if she must use it after restarting.>
Suedomsa: “There is no need to return that to the way it was. The Mule was a symbol of the Virgin Mary while Wish Bringer is a symbol of the songstress prophet. Wish Bringer is works better as a sign of god.”
Algo: “Aoe. How about you follow the OS’s recommendation and view this Yuo as a different person? A simple Over Reload or Over Zoom will show her as Unknown Name, after all. If you think of her as a different person…”
Aoe: “Then this Yuo won’t be the Yuo I know?”
<Sorry about the wait. Unknown Name is restarting now>
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
You have Over Reloaded, but your mind has refused to provide a new ID name for Unknown Name. She will continue to be defined as Unknown Name until you change your mind.
Unknown Name’s legs tremble just once while she lies on the carpet next to you.
Algo drops her Mouse.
Her Mouse runs to your left.
Unknown Name: “Huh? Puppy?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Unknown Name’s Mouse places his front paws on her thigh and stands up.
The Mouse shakes his head over and over.
The Mouse begins striking her thigh with his right front paw.
Unknown Name: “H-hey. What has gotten into you?”
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Unknown Name pulls back her leg and the Mouse falls.
The Mouse falls on his back and begins flailing his legs.
Unknown Name: “Really, what is with you? Wait, what?”
Unknown Name: “Um, what is going on here? I thought it was just dad, me, and Akalabeth, but now Daikatana is here too. And Alternative?”
Unknown Name: “Then there are these men.”
Unknown Name: “Who are they?”
<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe switched to Sight Mode as if to cut off Yuo’s words.
He was still in a push-up pose on the floor with the metal staff against his back.
But he didn’t care about any of that as he pushed the breath from his lungs.
“Kah!”
The shout came more from his gut than this throat.
The person next to him flinched back. But…
<I don’t care!”
“Ohh!” he shouted while swinging up his right hand.
“Daikatana.”
His quiet voice signaled the beginning.
Daikatana spoke a Text directly above Aoe while jabbing his metal staff into Aoe’s back.
“Perish.
“For that will solve everything.”
Several windows opened in an instant and a splitting stone sound came from his metal staff.
●Type-XX049 – Imperial-class – Moebius●
Aoe took action before the text string could appear around the metal staff.
He sank down all of a sudden.
“Mh.”
A shattering glass sound came from his arms and a metal spear emblem floated above the backs of his hands.
He grabbed at the carpet with both hands to pull himself down faster than the force from above could push him down.
The force on his back vanished.
A moment later, he gathered strength in just his right hand and pulled himself to the right.
The swift movement meant the nagamaki blade intended for his back only graved his left flank and stabbed into the carpet.
The force of the strike sent the blade right through into the floor below.
“Kh!”
Daikatana sliced through the floor to swing the staff up again.
But Aoe looked forward instead.
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
His enemy was there. He ignored Suedomsa and Alternative to focus on Algo.
When his mouth opened, a yell shot out.
“Damn you!” he roared, ignoring Daikatana to race forward.
He stood up and swung his right fist as he ran.
The clenched first flew forward with the metal spear emblem floating above it.
A tearing sound surrounded the fist directed at Algo’s face, but Algo easily dodged it.
“You are overexcited. You can control your power better than that.”
At the same time, Aoe’s fist passed below Algo’s head.
The attack never could have produced any attack power, but by not hitting, it whipped up the wind.
Algo’s robe fluttered up in the gentle breeze, revealing half a body in a white tank top and with a prosthetic left arm.
Aoe also saw Algo’s left chest. He noticed a different color between the white artificial muscle and black connection material where the prosthetic arm was attached.
There was a point of green there.
It formed a 1-inch jewel near Algo’s left chest. It looked like glass and glowed with a faint green light.
“What is that?”
“You have already been shown the answer. This contains Alternative’s Mind Lives and is the most important part of me. She gave me her Words Warn, which left me with no choice but to live in the x100-boosted Minus world.”
Algo took a breath, raised his left hand, and slowly brushed Aoe’s right arm away.
“For your information, Alternative’s Words Warn day of destruction is today at 3:40 PM. If you stop us here, both of us will be destroyed at that moment.”
“Kh!”
Algo took a step forward, so Aoe reflexively took half a step back.
Aoe saw Algo clenching his right fist He also saw the pearl ring on his middle finger.
Algo and Alternative opened their mouths in unison.
“What will you do?”
With Algo’s words, an emblem symbol appeared on his raised right fist.
It was colored white and it depicted a long nail surrounded by a square.
The same emblem glowed on Alternative’s back.
Then they both spoke their Texts. The Texts for a Grandload.
“Is that all you can do?
“If so, this ends here.”
A wind blew out and hundreds of windows opened.
<Opening Joint Load Emblem>
“Joint!?” shouted Aoe when he saw the windows.
“Yes, because Alternative and I are together. We support each other’s Minus side.”
A text string emerged from the emblem as Algo responded.
●Type-Origin: God-class: Sudden Strike●
The rest only took an instant.
Algo stepped forward.
Aoe tried to take a defensive stance with his foot still half a step back.
Algo’s fist surpassed his defense speed.
“…!”
Aoe more sensed than saw the clenched fist strike him in the chest.
The moment after he realized something had hit him, he was slammed into the floor.
Not on the carpet.
Into the bare stone floor exposed by the hole Daikatana’s nagamaki had torn in the carpet earlier.
His back hit so hard he bounced back up.
All the air was knocked from his lungs and he doubled over, feeling oxygen deprived.
<No, not here!>
“I won’t give up! Not while I still don’t know if I am really and truly unable to ever obtain the strongest power!”
Algo sent out a second attack.
Aoe twisted his body to escape it.
A moment later, he saw a girl’s face.
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
<Yuo.>
His upward-facing vision saw a pair of eyes looking down at him.
Her pale face contained a look of surprise.
Just as he realized it was the look of someone seeing a stranger, a window opened over his head.
<Over Zoom of Unknown Name confirmed. Unknown Name’s ID Name has been updated from Yuo Natas Wav to Yuo Suedomsa Wav.>
The words he read there made him stop moving.
Algo’s second attack crashed into his chest.
“Gah!”
The voice that left his throat was really more of an abnormal breath.
But another sound brought that to a stop.
A crack ran through the exposed stone floor below his back.
That was where Daikatana’s nagamaki had sliced the floor. The white cement joining two stones there was beginning to break.
The collapse did not stop. The floor gave a great groan to let everyone know what was happening.
The floor gave way.
By the time Aoe tried to stand up, he was already positioned lower than the floor. A 2yd section of floor fell and the red carpet dented in like an antlion pit.
He didn’t have time to say anything before he was thrown into the darkness below.
“…!”
He fell into the abyss.
He could not return.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
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