City Series:Volume8b Chapter12

Chapter 12: Don’t Stop

Welcome back!

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

Hooray. I was all ready to evacuate, but I got so caught up chatting with a certain stupid woman…

I didn’t get away in time!! The shield closed me in!”

Oh, hell. But our chat did give me a good guess as to what’s going on: Suedomsa took over the castle in order to run a 3rd Godtact Experiment.

If that happens, all of you will get to see DT destroyed. So anyway, the topic this time is sin, so I think I’m going to shout that stupid woman’s sins at the top of my lungs.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:

“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him.

“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?

We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.

But this man has done nothing wrong.”

(Luke 23: 39-41)

Yeah, sorry about that. -Autodeur Noma

07/07/2000 DT 02:18 PM (-00:42)

Help Text

Rank System

The rank system is used to rank and manage people’s abilities and to monitor and restrict their actions.

It was officially established in a UN resolution during September 1999, which makes it a very young system from a global perspective.

In addition to the ranks determined by social status and titles, this applied official ranks to people’s effective abilities – such as attack power, development ability, and speed – and it applies restrictions on the actions of anyone above a certain rank.

The system was a direct result of the lockdown of Tokyo in August 1999. At the time, the entire world pushed in on Japan in order to surrounded locked-down Tokyo.

They entered Japan on the pretext of providing aid and security for Japan after losing their capital.

The foreign armies of course never moved beyond the seven seas or the continent, but the great warriors who hold the most military might in each country entered Japan as representatives of their countries and took up positions around Tokyo.

This put individual warriors with greater power than entire armies around Tokyo, creating a powder keg.

The interim Japanese government sent a request to the UN order to put a stop to this.

The rank system was the result.

Global ranks for individual warriors were established and any individual warrior of sufficient strength had to be placed under UN management and registered as a weapon possessed by their country or that country could no longer receive certain rights. Also, if any individual warrior of sufficient strength who was not registered as a weapon were to harm a country they were staying in, all rank holders and UN forces were obligated to subdue them. These measures were meant to prevent nations from using those warriors as a convenient way of waging war.

Starting from the strongest, the ranks and the numbers of each are as follows:

• Heavenly: 1

• God (Dragon): 4

• Sage (Emperor): 8

• Master (Monarch): 16

• Supreme: 32

• King: Unlimited

Any rank holder is required to register with the UN and Master or higher are required to register as a weapon belonging to their country.

Also, countries can establish lower ranks if necessary.

These ranks are established separately for weapons, martial arts, technologies, and so on.

After the establishment of the rank system, the preexisting Ten War Generals, Four Land Generals, and New Five Great Peaks were incorporated into the system, but most wandering schools such as the Sixteen Sword Masters, the Three Emperors, and the Divine Tool Alliance chose to wander from country to country to avoid being bound to any one state.

The Heavenly rank is an exception in that it is given to someone who acts a symbol of the faction in question.

Also, the God, Sage, and Master ranks are all immortal. Through their training and battles, their Lives have grown distorted, giving them that quality. Some groups, like a martial arts school, will pass down the method of achieving this, and thus pass down the rank, which is said to help stabilize the number of people with each rank.

Monarch, Emperor, and Dragon are special ranks given to the very few people who reach those levels of power without also becoming immortal.

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The next thing Aoe knew, he was staring up towards heaven.

He wasn’t sure if he had been unconscious or asleep.

He simply felt a sense of loss bordering on emptiness permeating his body.

He only saw the color black with a single point of white in the center.

The white was a small light seemingly shining down from heaven. It was actually the light coming from the hole in the audience chamber floor.

He didn’t know how far he was from that heavenly light.

He only knew he was at the bottom of a pit located below the audience chamber.

“Mh.”

He nodded and checked to make sure he was in one piece. He had the usual complement of arms and legs, but he was lodged in some kind of ditch. He couldn’t twist to either side or do much of anything.

“Mh,” he grunted as a new shadow appeared in his vision.

He could see the outline of a miniature dog in the heavenly point of light.

“Is that you, Monkey?” he muttered and Monkey nodded.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

He sensed Monkey sitting on his chest, but Monkey’s size and weight seemed to have changed. He was bigger and heavier. It was like Monkey had grown giant without changing his miniature proportions.

Aoe held his right hand up to get a look at it.

The hand he held in the white point on the ceiling had small, stubby fingers.

He stared at the hand and Monkey rubbed his wet nose against it. That tickled and gave him a look at Monkey’s face.

Monkey’s cheeks were bulging close to bursting, indicating he had program trigons in there.

<This is high performance mode. Was that your decision, Monkey?>

His thought appeared in a window which he could only see as a silhouette in the darkness.

Monkey reached a foreleg toward that window.

<Window Display Settings: Pseudo Backlight: This will exhaust your eyes, so focus on a distant object once every hour.>

The window became a light-emitting panel, palely illuminating his surroundings.

He saw several sharp cones jutting upwards. He was currently lodged in a gap between two rows of giant dusty spikes.

He looked back to Monkey on his chest.

Monkey appeared to be about as big as his torso.

Aoe nodded once to accept that he had shrunk.

The window overhead began to flash.

After five flashes, the light-emitting thought panel vanished.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

He again couldn’t see a thing. Silence and motionless surrounded him.

Monkey curled up on his chest and stopped moving.

Aoe filled his lungs with the dark air while lying between the spikes.

He looked up and stared at the white point of light.

He released his breath and placed words on it.

“Why…can I never win?”

He could not come up with an answer for his question.

He simply asked the question.

And a new question came to him.

“Why am I always too late?”

His voice faded away and vanished.

His audible exhalation soon changed to an inhalation.

“Yuo.”

The breath caught when that girl’s name came to mind.

A sandy sound came from Monkey’s mouth while the Mouse sat on his moving chest.

Then the point of light overhead blurred. His vision was distorting and bending.

Oh, no, he thought, but it was already too late.

A warm dampness fell from the corners of his eyes and toward his ears.

Monkey remained curled up on his chest.

He did that to hide himself from Aoe. He remained entirely still, as if to say he would play no part in his master’s emotions.

Aoe was surrounded by a vague darkness.

It was a false darkness. In truth, it was nothing more than the brightness setting being set to zero.

But he wept within that false darkness. He placed his feelings in the subprogram in charge of the tears and left them there.

He didn’t even wipe the tears away.

He exhaled and inhaled while his limbs trembled from the pain remaining in his body.

All of his movements were fake, but they managed to express a certain emotion.

He spoke through his trembling lips.

“Why…am I crying?”

He exhaled.

“If I could express it in words…would the tears dry up?”

He inhaled.

That was when a somewhat withered woman’s voice spoke from the previously silent darkness.

“Yes. So much would go so much more smoothly if we could express everything in words.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You have stopped crying.

Aoe: “Who was that?”

Aoe: “Monkey, can you display the data from when I entered Board Mode?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

This is BF3 – Pitfall Bottom, a Top Page of the castle.

The current time is 2:23 PM.

There is one PC Body with you: Akalabeth Bubezleeb Sys.

Aoe: “Akalabeth? You mean the queen?”

Akalabeth: <The very same.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

A woman sits on a ledge built into the wall. That is Akalabeth.

She is narrowing her eyes. It is a faint smile.

Akalabeth: <Based on the noise I heard overhead and your tears, I take it Yuo had her memories erased?>

Aoe: <Mh. That is correct.>

Akalabeth: “I see. Since we were both dumped down here, we need to try to get along and work together. That way we can escape here and stop the godtact experiment.”

Aoe: “H-hold on.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

You place your hands on the spikes around you and sit up.

Monkey falls from your stomach.

Aoe: “You plan to fight?”

Akalabeth: “Yes, I do. But I’m sorry to say the fighting will be your job, Aoe Shouzou. Cleansing our cowardly pasts, linking everything to this battle…”

Akalabeth: “And finding a reason to fight are also your job.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

A new window opens over Akalabeth’s head.

Akalabeth: <First, we can talk about Yuo to help get to know each other.>

Akalabeth: “That should give us the mutual understanding we need to work together.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Suedomsa’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

After switching from Board Mode and gaining his body’s senses, Suedomsa felt someone supporting his back. The touch felt so familiar. It contained the unique strength of a martial artist’s hand.

He saw Algo’s face with the stone corridor’s ceiling behind it.

Suedomsa had fallen and Algo had caught him in a hand with Alternative and Daikatana on either side of him.

“Are you alright, Master Suedomsa? You stumbled.”

“I am fine. Just a little unsteady.”

“Maybe you should stay in Board Mode for now?”

“No, we have begun a continuation of those events from 2000 years ago. I want to see it all for myself.”

He straightened up and looked ahead.

They were in a hidden passageway in the castle’s third basement.

The stone passageway was about 2 yards wide and had a single door on its wall.

The door was labeled “Ceremonial Ground”. Despite being in the castle, the door was not made of stone or wood. It was a composite bulkhead of polished heavy metal.

The heavy bulkhead opened with a deep groan.

Its two halves slid to either side. The one behind it opened to the top and bottom. The final one a short distance past that rotated like a camera’s shutter to open all at once.

“This seems awfully strict. Perhaps because none of the doors or surrounding walls are dummy data.”

Suedomsa stepped forward, passing through the open doors.

<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>

He saw two glowing panels past the bulkheads.

That was a virtual bulkhead.

When he stepped between the glowing panels, air blew down from above.

He placed his hand on the dove seated on his shoulder and let the wind wash over him.

After only a few seconds, he stepped out of the virtual bulkhead.

<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>

The space known as the ceremonial ground was there.

It was 40 yards long, 20 yards wide, and 10 yards high.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered by the metal panels much like the bulkheads.

The light shining down came from holes punched into the panels in an orderly fashion. It came from the fluorescent lights above there.

The room’s entrance area and back area served different functions.

The entrance area contained a giant round diagram.

That was a diskette program measuring 15 yards across. The program diagram carried a laurel wreath in the center and it had at least 7 layers of colors and carvings.

The floor, ceiling, and walls around it were covered in consoles, round buffer reactors, and barrel-shaped transformers.

The most notable features were the clocks on the cardinal directions of the diskette emblem. Their large digital displays clashed with the color of the metal around them and they were counting down to the Day of the Oracle.

The countdown had reached 25:56, with the seconds field soon turning to 55 and 54.

Past the digital displays, all of the machinery was connected to the plugs on the walls and floor by thick wires and conduits. Those were wrapped in black, blue, or red and they all passed around the giant diskette program before continuing on to the ceremonial ground’s back area.

Suedomsa looked up.

<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>

Excel and Myst stood partway along the path of those many wires and conduits. Myst was drawing detailed reinforcement parts and Excel was applying programs to their exteriors.

Past them was the device every will, virtual or otherwise, desired.

A large digital clock newly applied to the ceiling counted down to the Day of the Oracle, but below that was a massive composite machine.

That was the Questron.

<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>

It was shaped like a flower.

A very large flower. The metal flower had blossomed with 15yd-diameter petals.

The 16 petals were large virtual connectors aligned with well-balanced symmetry.

The stem leaves were anti-resonance buffering shield panels used to support the connectors.

The fruit at the center of it all was a pillar of light.

That green light was a 1yd-diameter defense shield linking the ceiling to the floor. It was produced by the Questron.

The walls of light were formed to protect their contents and an animal stood at the point where the bottom of the wall connected to the floor.

The animal was a ferret.

The long-tailed brown creature looked nervously up inside the walls.

There was someone inside the walls of the light.

A woman. A female silhouette floated inside, separated from gravity by the small diskette emblem at the bottom.

That was Yuo.

She wasn’t wearing anything and her expression was blank.

Her eyes were closed and her mouth opened slightly as she floated in the air.

<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>

Suedomsa spoke while watching Yuo from a distance.

“It’s all exactly as I remember it.”

“I thought you said the defense shield was not in place back then.”

“Akalabeth and the others likely felt guilty, so I think they left it so Yuo could leave at any time if she so chose. They had already ceased to be Minus Elites at that point.”

He shut his eyes.

“And that is why my bullet could reach her.”

He left it at that, taking a step forward.

He continued walking toward Yuo in the Questron, no one else accompanying him now.

He crossed the giant, multi-layer diskette program and passed the insulated wires and pipes.

On the way, he asked a question of Excel who had a settings window opened for maintenance purposes.

“How is Yuo?”

“No change from when she last spoke with you. She has agreed to perform the ceremony she attempted so long ago. She called it returning to her long slumber.”

Excel looked past Suedomsa to the entrance.

He saw Algo with Alternative on his shoulder.

He said nothing and Suedomsa, still walking, spoke on his behalf.

“Did Yuo make that decision after seeing Alternative? After seeing her younger sister is now older than her?”

“Yes. And she agreed to accept a program to help her concentrate.”

Excel bowed and held out his right hand. He held four program trigons between that hand’s fingers.

They were each printed with a different symbol: an eye, a musical note leaving a mouth, an ear, and lightning stabbing into a hand.

“We of the Quartet would like to keep these as a memento of Master Yuo.”

“I suppose she won’t turn around if you call her like she did for me back then. Because we aren’t as kind as Akalabeth. We perfectly trapped her in her resignation so we could seek out the proper past.”

Suedomsa nodded once and walked past Excel.

He looked to Yuo at the center of the steel flower petals spread out before him.

“This isn’t how it was 2000 years ago, Yuo. By the time I reached you then…you were already becoming a great god. You were no longer yourself.”

He nodded.

“But I have no right to criticize you for that. Still, Alternative may have been right that I managed to fire that bullet without hesitation because I was a Minus Elite.”

Yuo did not respond within the light, her eyes still shut. There were occasional subtle changes to her expression, like she was dreaming, which indicated she was in Board Mode.

But with her programs removed, she could not sense any outside sound, light, or vibrations even if she Over Reloaded. She could only read the thoughts floating in the other person’s window as part of the standard OS functions.

In Sight Mode, Suedomsa walked onto the flower. He passed between two of the petals and approached the defense shield.

He narrowed his eyes toward the ferret who turned around in front of the shield.

His dove produced a program trigon from below its wing and tossed it down to the ferret.

That was Aoe’s management program. When it rolled in front of the ferret, the Mouse immediately swallowed it.

“I don’t need it since I can use Akalabeth’s program and it belonged to you originally anyway.”

Suedomsa gave the animal no further attention as he arrived in front of Yuo with the glowing wall between them.

A window appeared over her head. She could not see or hear him, so these were her enclosed thoughts.

<This must be…for the best. I don’t know exactly what is happening, but I have a second chance at this.>

A new window appeared over her head too.

<But…I wish I could have spoken with everyone first.>

He read her feelings as text.

And he lowered his head. He looked to his feet and spoke through his clenched teeth.

“Yes, you probably do. But, Yuo, it is time to reveal the answer. Were we right? What did you want when you fell to resignation? And…will someone show up to stop your resignation?”

He put his thoughts to words without raising his head again.

“This is our way of finding all the answers…so it is time to finish what we started 2000 years ago.”

<Suedomsa’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth is talking. She looks to you and nods.

Akalabeth: <And when Yuo arrived, she quoted the bible and told us to use her as the vessel because she was no more use to anyone in any other way. At the time, her Load Emblem was Mule, which used the Virgin Mary as its symbol. She even said that was the perfect symbolism for the one who would help give birth to a god.>

Aoe: “So that idiot…had given up?”

Akalabeth: “It is hard to say. We all tried to stop her, but she refused to listen. She said her father only ever paid any attention to her sister who had Words Warn and that her father had come down with the disease as well, so she said she would do more good saving those two than staying with us.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth’s eyebrows are drooping and she is smiling. It is a bitter smile.

Akalabeth: “After that, she said she wanted us to erase her memories if the experiment were to fail. And that she wanted us to erase her father’s memories too. She said everything would get better if we did that.”

Akalabeth: <Perhaps our first mistake there was accepting the offer she gave us. We quickly modified the Questron below the castle for use with her. It has a defense shield meant to enclose the vessel, but we created a seam for the vessel to leave if she wanted.>

Akalabeth: <And when the Great God Lives extracted from the ley lines exploded along with her, she partially got her wish. Everyone in DT had their memories wiped, but the Demigods and NPC Bodies all retained their memories.>

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth has lowered her head.

Akalabeth: “You heard about the prophecy regarding the Day of the Oracle, didn’t you?”

Aoe: “That everything would get better in 2000 years, right?”

Akalabeth: “What do you think that meant, Aoe Shouzou? We only know that the great god responded to her will and gave a prophecy of the future based on that.”

Akalabeth: “So do you think that prophecy was meant for all of us because she had already given up on everything? Or do you think it was meant for her because she had not truly given up yet?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth sighs.

Akalabeth: “I do not know the answer. And I do not know what is going to happen.”

Akalabeth: “I wanted to know the answer, so after sealing away Yuo and Suedomsa’s memories as promised, I adopted Yuo as my daughter. But it was after she visited Japan that she started saying she would not give up. It was after she encountered the Plus in you, Aoe Shouzou.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Her eyebrows are somewhat lowered. It is a small smile.

Akalabeth: “Don’t you find it odd that a Minus person like her could overcome her anxieties and grow stronger through the Plus? And what happened to you then? Did your power turn toward killing when she was with you?”

Aoe: “Of course not. She never stopped lecturing me.”

Akalabeth: “Heh heh. That does not surprise me, Aoe Shouzou.”

Akalabeth: “The two of you were together as the Plus and the Minus, weren’t you?”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

She corrects her eyebrows and looks to you. It is a serious expression.

Akalabeth: “Now, I think it is time for a change of subject. We need to discuss you.”

Akalabeth: <From what Yuo told me and the report Telyb sent me, I gather you are searching for a certain power. You want the strongest power for a Plus attacker like you.>

Akalabeth: <I more or less know what that is.>

Aoe: “What is it?”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe sat facing Akalabeth in the light of a glowing window.

Akalabeth was stroking the head of the fox Mouse wrapped around her neck.

“You seem to think you may have already dropped out, don’t you? Then what is this ‘killing power’ that made you drop out?”

Aoe groaned in thought while seated cross-legged in the darkness.

He recalled what Algo had told him when they fought.

“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.”

<Then what does this killing power add and subtract with its equation?>

Seeing that question in her window, Aoe thought about what a killing power really was.

He looked down at his clenched right fist for a moment before nodding and answering.

“What else but life? That power places life in the equation by subtracting it.”

“Correct. That is not a power a Plus person like you should be wielding, is it?”

She gave him an honest smile and he nodded, holding up his right fist.

“No, I don’t think I should be using this killing power.”

“Correct,” she said again, her smile deepening. <That means you must not defeat your opponent with that killing power, can you? So you already have your answer, do you not? That should tell you what the strongest power is.>

“Huh?” he responded, so she explained.

“It is a simple. Think of it in reverse. If the killing power subtracts life and you must not defeat your opponent with it, then what is the strongest power?”

She paused to think for a moment before looking him in the eye and giving the answer.

“The strongest power adds or subtracts something other than life…and you are willing to defeat your opponent with it.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe rose from his sitting position when he heard Akalabeth’s answer.

Her argument was simple. If the killing power was something he must not defeat his opponent with, then the strongest power was…

“A power I am willing to defeat them with…but what the hell does that mean!?”

“That is the logical conclusion. Calm down, Aoe Shouzou. Do not reject it on reflex. Think about it: what kind of power would you be willing to defeat your opponent with?”

He shook his head at her question, clenching both his fists hard.

“That sounds too good to be true!

The shout of his willpower was followed by a sharp blow to his left cheek.

“…!”

Feeling the pain running through his cheek, he glared at Akalabeth and stood up.

“You-” he started, but he gasped when something damp dripped down his cheek.

“What is this?”

His cheek was wet. He touched it and found red on his fingers.

He looked again and noticed Akalabeth looked pale in the window’s glow. He frowned.

“Are you injured?”

“I can survive a fall by altering the settings, but I was struck by a blade shortly beforehand.”

She was holding her side. The stomach of her clothing was very damp.

But she smiled a little.

“Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have struck the person I am asking for assistance.”

Aoe fell silent. “Mh,” he grunted deep in his throat before clenching his teeth and sitting back down in front of her.

Seeing Aoe’s lowered head, Akalabeth sighed and spoke.

“Let’s continue, shall we? So back to a power that you are willing to defeat your opponent with.” She nodded. “I am an amateur when it comes to martial arts, but I believe such a thing exists. But it is definitely something you do not have. Also…”

She made it sound so simple.

“Whether or not you are willing to defeat your opponent with it is not even the most prudent question. What truly matters is if your opponent feels they are willing to let that power defeat them.”

“Wha-?”

He started to protest again (“What are you talking about?”), but he swallowed the words.

She had a point. He would be much mor willing to defeat his opponent with a power if they were willing to accept it than if he were forcing it onto them. In other words…

“A power someone would be willing to lose to.”

“Do you get it now? It is the opposite of a power you don’t want to lose to.”

Algo had hit him with plenty of attacks he didn’t want to lose to, so he understood.

He dug up the memory of his loss to Algo half a year ago, when all of this had started.

<I felt so frustrated and it revealed my fear and anxiety related to power.>

He fell silent there, but Akalabeth gave a small nod.

“Then a power you would be willing to lose to would be the opposite of that, wouldn’t it? A power that does not inspire frustration in the person it defeats and that erases their fear and anxiety related to power. So in the equation you mentioned before, that power would subtract regret, anxiety, and fear instead of life.”

He looked up.

He repeated her words under his breath, and…

“That power is only theoretical, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. It only needs to meet two conditions.” After a beat, she continued. “The first condition is of course belief that the attack will benefit your opponent. In other words, the answer it teaches them is how to believe, not anxiety or fear.”

And…

“The second condition is that you understand your opponent’s anxieties and fears and your attack surpasses those things. If you want to know they will accept defeat to your attack, you need to surpass their anxiety and fear and teach them that they will be fine without any fear.”

“I need to surpass their anxiety and fear?”

“Yes,” confirmed Akalabeth. “People fight in order to face their anxieties and fears. For example, Algo is driven by his anxiety and fear regarding Words Warn, which began with Alternative Kobayashi. So if you wanted to use the strongest power against him, you must understand his anxiety and fear and you must show him something that surpasses his reasons for attempting a godtact experiment. You need to show him he doesn’t need to do that.”

“Mh,” grunted Aoe, clenching his fist on his lap.

“I must believe in my fist so that I can understand and surpass my opponent’s anxieties and fears?”

“Yes. Do that and you will have the strongest power that your opponent will accept defeat to.”

Akalabeth clenched her right hand as well. She poured her willpower into the bloodstained fist.

“An attack like that could end a battle and leave both sides satisfied.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Myst’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Myst’s Over Reload>

Myst was painting a thick coat over a wire’s casing to reinforce it.

She looked to her hand on the virtual pen. Her fingers were shaking a bit inside the white gloves.

“Kh,” she groaned, her lips twisting when she saw that tremor. She heard a voice from the side at the same time.

“Myst.”

It was Excel. He stepped up beside her with a few text strings floating around him.

“The preparations here are now complete. I intend to head up for the preparations there.”

And…

“Are you still thinking about what Master Algo said?”

Excel’s question earned a twitch of Myst’s eyebrows and she eventually nodded.

“We cannot go all out against Master Yuo since she is also Minus, but we can do so without hesitation against a Plus person like Aoe. I honestly still don’t know what that means.”

She sighed and smiled like she couldn’t help herself.

“But I am an NPC Body with a duty all my own. Whether I understand or not, I will remain here to protect this place. But, Excel, do you think Aoe Shouzou is coming?”

“Yes, Plus people like him can be irritatingly persistent.”

Myst saw him nod and responded quietly.

“He kind of reminds me of Master Suedomsa during the 2nd Godtact Experiment.”

“The difference would be that Master Suedomsa is a Minus Elite and Aoe is a Plus dropout.”

Myst nodded, raised her index finger, and waved it.

“So before it was a confrontation of two Minus people, but now it is between a Plus and a Minus person.”

Myst stopped her raised finger.

“Master Suedomsa was too late and had to shoot Master Yuo. But I doubt he would have done that if she had not been in the process of being overwritten by the great god.”

“That is mere speculation. Myst, we do not have much time left. NPC Bodies like us should not let speculation about our master influence us.”

“True. But I do have one bit of speculation regarding Aoe. When he comes to stop Master Yuo, he will be here to reject her since she is his opposite.” Myst looked to Suedomsa at the top of the Questron. “But I think a Plus person like him will go all out against Minus Yuo even if she is not being overwritten. He pursues her in a different way from Master Suedomsa or us. He-”

Myst’s lips stopped moving there.

She gasped, shook her head, and shuddered.

“Could it be?”

Excel watched her shake her head again.

Past her shaken hair, her face had gone entirely pale. She looked to Suedomsa and Yuo as she opened her mouth again.

“Could that be the relationship between Plus and Minus?”

“Could what be, Myst?”

“Well,” said Myst, covering her mouth with the hand not holding her virtual pen. “It took me a while, but I have finally linked everything together. I think I know what Master Algo was trying to say.”

She took a breath and continued in a quiet but steady voice.

“The Plus and the Minus are drawn to each other!”

<Myst’s Sight Mode has updated>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mod: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe crossed his arms while seated across from Akalabeth.

“Believe in my fist, understand my opponent…and surpass them.”

Akalabeth continued smiling, but he tilted his head.

“But, ma’am, I can trust in my fist easily enough, but I can’t read my opponent’s mind. How am I supposed to understand their anxiety and fear?”

“Oh? Aoe Shouzou, you have already done so. Don’t you remember?”

That came as a surprise.

<You mean I have already used the strongest power?>

He wasn’t aware of that.

He looked back through his memories, but he couldn’t come up with anything. He grew impatient and brushed a hand through his short hair.

“Sorry. I have never been good at riddles. I bet Yuo could give me the answer if she was here.”

Only after saying it did he realized that could never happen again.

He hung his head a bit, his fingers still in his hair. And he heard Akalabeth’s voice.

“What has you so down? You just gave the answer.”

“?”

He looked up to find her smiling at him.

“Think about it, Aoe Shouzou. Why did you come to DT?”

“In pursuit of Algo, of course.”

“That was not your reason. Telyb told me you wanted to meet Yuo so you could decide if you were going to give up on your fist as a dropout.”

She spoke with her well-enunciated voice and in her window.

<You wanted Yuo, as a Minus person, to eliminate your Plus anxiety and fear.>

“Yuo is the same. She made you her assistant so you, as a Plus person, could eliminate her anxiety and fear over leaving you. Not to mention her anxiety of dropping out that she gained from the feelings and memories she gained in the outside world.”

Akalabeth took a breath there.

“You did the same thing out in the Plus world, didn’t you? You were always assisting each other.”

She fell silent and stared at him, but then she laughed quietly.

He frowned.

“What’s so funny?”

“That look on your face that says you have no idea what I am talking about. It probably came so naturally to the two of you that you weren’t even aware it was happening.”

He clicked his tongue at that, which only deepened her smile.

“That is the proper interaction between Plus and Minus. Eliminating the Plus anxieties and fears is a job for the Minus people who can face the killing power that Plus people fear so much. In the same way, eliminating the Minus anxieties and fears is a job for the Plus people who can reach out a helping hand to the Minus people cowering in fear of the outside world.”

“So by combining my Plus and Yuo’s Minus, we can cancel out our anxieties, leaving us with zero?”

<Yes. With two Plus people or two Minus people, they understand each other’s powers, coping strategies, and standpoints, so when they fight, they can sense their opponent’s pain so vividly they avoid the issue before going all out. Similarly, two of the same type can provide support for their anxieties, but they can never surpass and eliminate those anxieties.>

Akalabeth narrowed her eyes.

“You apparently said that Algo once told you his strongest power was only a partial answer. He likely meant that both he and Alternative Kobayashi are Minus people. He was expressing self-deprecation at the fact that they weren’t in balance the way you and Yuo are.”

<Right now, Suedomsa and the Quartet are trying to fulfill Yuo’s resignation, not eliminate it, right? That is because eliminating her resignation requires a Plus person like you or those of us Suedomsa said are not fit to be called Minus Elites.>

Aoe listened to her in the window’s light and nodded.

She nodded back.

<What do you think, Aoe Shouzou? Do you think Yuo could help you obtain the strongest Plus power?>

“If you can still eliminate Minus Yuo’s anxieties and fears, couldn’t you do the same for the other Minus people?”

“Well…”

“Is that a no? It is true no two people are alike. Everyone carries their own anxieties and fears. That is why you must find the correct power to use against each and every one of them. But the same applies to Yuo. So think about it. Think about how a Plus person like you would usually bring relief to a Minus person like Yuo. Then you only need to figure out how to apply that to other people.”

“Hah. So that’s it. That’s how the strongest Plus and Minus powers work.” He clenched his fist tight. “Sure enough, the strongest power isn’t something you can really put to words.”

<Yes, because it has no fixed form and changes to match the person it is wielded against.>

“If you understand that, then you must seek out how to wield the strongest Plus power. That is, how to wield a power a Minus person would accept defeat to. You must find a way to trust in your fist, understand your opponent’s anxiety and fear, and surpass them. That is your task, young man who has begun to lose faith in his fist and cannot read people’s minds.”

“Once you find that method, you will have truly mastered the strongest power.”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth has her arms crossed over her stomach.

Aoe: “Can I ask one thing? If Old Man Ungyou was a Plus strongest, why did he fight Algo and die? Would a wielder of the strongest power really do something that subtracts from himself?”

Akalabeth: “It is true the strongest power is unlikely to do anything that subtracts from your opponent or your own life. Because people generally do not seek death when they fight. So if it did lead to that…”

Akalabeth: “Yes, it must have been a battle where even death was a possible outcome.”

Aoe: “Does such a battle exist for the wielder of the strongest power?”

Akalabeth: “It does. For example, a battle over inheritance of the Master title.”

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth looks you in the eye.

Akalabeth: “Immortality is a requirement to hold the rank of Master and that requires an intense enough battle to greatly distort your Lives. But no one can intentionally cause that. Not even Kobayashi Ungyou, the strongest who was trying to pass his Master title to Algo.”

Aoe: “So as the strongest Plus, he could fight to eliminate Minus Algo’s anxiety and teach him the strongest power, but he could not survive the battle to pass down the rank of Master?”

Akalabeth: “I imagine it was a gamble. I have heard Kobayashi Ungyou was an old immortal since he only achieved the rank of Master in his 50s. The result may have been different if he had been younger.”

Aoe: “I don’t believe it! U-um, ma’am, why would he eliminate Algo’s anxiety, teach him the strongest power, and try to pass down the rank of Master? Especially when that would mean his death!”

Akalabeth: “I do not know why he made that gamble, Aoe Shouzou. If you wish to know, then do your own research. I am not your textbook.”

Aoe: “…”

Akalabeth: “If you wish to know what Kobayashi Ungyou sought, then fight. Surpass the battle between Suedomsa and me, rescue Yuo, and reach your own battle against Algo.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth nods. Her lips form a small curve. She is smiling.

Akalabeth: <Listen. 2000 years ago, Suedomsa was so Minus, he avoided speaking with Yuo and this led to tragedy. By the time he decided to speak with her, she was no longer human and her only words…were a prophecy.>

Akalabeth: <He was too late. But what about now? What about you?>

Akalabeth: “It looks to me like you can just barely arrive in time. You came to DT in order to speak with Yuo and you are doing everything you can to end her resignation.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

You click your tongue.

Aoe: <B-but she doesn’t remember me anymore. What do I do about that?>

Akalabeth: “Calm down. There is no need to panic. You are her savior.”

Akalabeth: <The current time is 2:49 PM. The enemy will have gathered and Yuo should be inside the Questron. Your battle should last only a moment. We will know soon whether the past will deliver a finishing blow to the present, or the present will inherit everything from the past. So…you need to prepare yourself.>

Aoe: <Mh. Just to be certain, is there any way of bringing back Yuo’s memories?>

Akalabeth: <None at all, save for a miracle.>

Akalabeth: “Are you saying you will not rescue her now that she has lost you?”

Akalabeth: “Your strongest power does not give up that easily, does it? Rescuing her is your starting line. The real struggle begins after that.”

Aoe: “So if I can pull this off with Yuo, I need to show off the strongest power with others as well?”

Akalabeth: “Yes. What kind of attack would you be willing to defeat Quartet and Algo with? You cannot read minds, but you must still come to understand your enemy’s anxieties and fears and surpass them.”

Akalabeth: “You must rescue Yuo, battle them, and ask them, Aoe Shouzou. Anyone can ask questions and anyone can find their own answer.”

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth’s eyebrows are bent and her eyes narrowed. It is a slight smile.

You wrinkle your brow and frown.

Aoe: <Ha. Trying to motivate me? I’m a complete stranger to Yuo now. To use the holy symbols you people love so much, I’m like the devil binding the son of god to the human world. You get that, right?>

Akalabeth: <That is fine. As the attacker, you might as well be a pitchfork-wielding stealer of souls. And there might just be a highly unusual princess out there who wishes to speak with and stand with the devil who comes to steal her away.>

Aoe: “…Mh.”

Akalabeth: <Hee hee. Aoe Shouzou, was that meant as agreement or disagreement?>

Akalabeth: <I imagine Yuo would be able to tell from the text alone.>

Akalabeth: <If that was an okay, then prepare for battle as soon as you end this Mode, Aoe Shouzou.>

Akalabeth: <You have an obligation to surpass us and then ask your question.>

Akalabeth: <Yes, we all see it that way. Suedomsa and I are finishing what we started 2000 years ago and you are finishing what you started 6 years ago and what you started here in this city.>

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth continues to smile and nods.

Akalabeth: “Now, Aoe Shouzou, As DT’s queen, I officially request your power as you seek out the strongest Plus power. Reach Yuo before the Day of the Oracle arrives. And…”

Akalabeth: “Find an answer for the questions of the past, reclaim everything, and begin your own battle.”

Akalabeth: “That is what the past demands of you.”

<Aoe’s Board Mode has ended>

Myst’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Myst’s Over Reload>

In the ceremony room, Myst covered her mouth with a hand and spoke to Excel with a tremor in her voice.

“In that case, Aoe’s only option is to stop Master Yuo’s resignation.”

“Why? She no longer remembers him, so why would she choose him over resignation?”

Myst nodded.

“When she first met him in Japan, she of course did not know him. And yet she chose him. She chose Plus Aoe Shouzou, who fought with a never-give-up spirit.”

Excel gasped and Myst shook her head.

“The thought scares me too. Not that Aoe could prevent her resignation, but that she might abandon her resignation but choose him over us and become our enemy.”

She took a breath and shut her eyes.

“Even if that does happen, I do hope she will consider what we used to have together and let us express our thanks before she becomes our enemy. Because if my calculations are correct, we should be able to thank her if she has Aoe with her!”

Excel frowned at that.

“Thank her? But how are we supposed to test her to prove she can get by without us? Teaching her she has surpassed us requires testing her with everything we have…but you just said earlier that isn’t an option.”

“There is one way it can be done. We remember what Master Algo told us to remember! We have a Plus person take her place!”

“You mean…”

“Yes. If she chooses Aoe, then we can go all out against him in a way we could not against her! We test the person she chooses to see if he has surpassed us and thank her through him!”

Myst wasn’t sure if she should say the rest, but Excel spoke before she could decide.

“Myst.”

She looked up with a gasp and saw him pulling a trigon from his pocket.

“This is my handmade Questron control program.”

“Y-yes. The one to start the second phase. But why give it to me now?”

She took the program trigon and he nodded with a smile.

“Because I felt you needed to find the answer to your question. I will head upstairs for defense as planned, but if Aoe Shouzou defeats me…it will mean you were correct.”

“Excel!?”

Her shout only deepened his smile.

“Do not look so worried. A butler is meant to greet the guests and let them through if they are worthy.”

“So what if Aoe arrives here and attempts to stop Master Yuo’s resignation?”

“Then you should fight to the best of your ability. Our administrator is Master Suedomsa, not Master Yuo, so Aoe remains our enemy even if Master Yuo chooses him. We must protect her resignation for Master Suedomsa’s sake. Do not forget to fight as one of the ultimate NPC Bodies he created.

“But,” he sighed, raising his right hand in its white glove. “If you care for Master Yuo and she does abandon her resignation and turn against us, that is when you must tell her to fight against us as our enemy.”

<Myst’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

When Aoe regained his sight, he saw Akalabeth seated in front of him.

Her complexion in the glow of the window looked even worse than before.

He scratched his head worriedly and looked her way.

“I will make it quick, so bear with it. Where is the exit route?”

She smiled bitterly at his demand and pointed overhead.

“About 20 yards above us.”

“That would take too long. I’m in a hurry.”

He pressed his right palm against the wall next to the ledge.

“What is beyond this wall?”

Her mouth fell open for a brief moment, but then she looked to his hand and the wall.

“You can’t be serious. That wall is 3 yards thick.”

“If it has a thickness, it has another side. No wall is unbreakable.”

He pulled a program trigon from his pocket.

“This lets me go all out for 180 seconds. So tell me: what is beyond this wall?”

“The large lift located directly above the underground Questron.”

“Mh,” grunted Aoe as a nod. Then he asked Monkey the time.

The floating window showed it as 02:56:12 PM. Akalabeth watched the seconds ticking up.

“Suedomsa should overwrite Yuo with the Great God Lives at precisely 3 PM, so you need to stop him before that happens. She should be contained in the Questron’s defense shield, so you can forcibly stop the godtact experiment by shattering that and removing her. That should be more effective than trying to take back control of the Questron at this point.”

“So another wall I have to break, huh? That I can understand. And what if I fail?”

“If you cannot break the defense shield, this is over. You will be killed and not even formatting her will be an option.” Akalabeth nodded. “Listen. I have already given you a pardon for your criminal identification. But be careful because your criminal management program is still active in Yuo’s settings. If the fight drags on too long, you will have trouble winning unless you get Yuo’s help in changing those settings.”

Aoe silently nodded and checked the clock on the window. 3 minutes and 10 seconds remaining.

He gripped the program trigon in his right hand and watched the clock.

5 seconds until 2:57. Akalabeth’s window appeared next to the clock window.

<Aoe Shouzou, young man who still has doubts about his own power. From what I heard up there, it seems likely your killing power is no match for Algo.>

4 seconds.

<You know the source of his power now, don’t you? It is Kobayashi Akon’s daughter who he keeps with him. She adds further Minus power to his strongest Minus power, making him too powerful for even a Plus power to defeat.>

3 seconds.

<Aoe Shouzou, this means you need not seek out the strongest power alone. Because the strongest power born between the Plus and the Minus is not as one-sided and self-righteous as the killing power.>

2 seconds.

<I believe that is why a Plus person like you seeks a Minus person like Yuo. You have already found the strongest Plus and Minus power with Yuo at your side.>

1 second.

“Go ask your question. Take back everything so you can ask it again.”

0 seconds.

Aoe gave no response to Akalabeth and tossed the yellow program trigon into his mouth.

A familiar flavor burst atop his tongue. It tasted just like the ramen at the place he and Yuo used to go together.

His cheeks bent into a slight smile and he prepared to move.

The narrow ledge was his only footing, but he didn’t need a long running start. His initial velocity and the gathering of his strength were what mattered.

“I will go ask.”

A shattering glass sound came from his arms.

Download.

A black metal spear emblem appeared on the back of his hands and he lowered his hips while speaking his Text.

“I shall move ever forward,” he muttered, remembering what Yuo had started to say her final moment.

<Together forever, huh?>

She had said that instead of that she didn’t want to forget. He thought on the meaning of that desire which went beyond simply keeping her memories.

“Right. So now I have to show her.

“That forgetting doesn’t mean it has to end.”

<Grandload: Running Load Emblem: Black Belt: Opening>

<Releasing Management Program: Striking Attacks Authorized: You may now act: 180 seconds>

The emblems floating by Aoe’s hands revealed their form.

The emblems roared. The loud, bursting sound was like shattering metal.

Many windows opened and a text string raced from the emblems on his hands.

■Type-AA0765: God-class: Black Belt■

It only took an instant.

A shattering glass sound came from his hands and fingertips before a shock ran through his entire body.

<Activating Grandload of Aoe’s arm strength: Removing limiter for all Lives Loading and for striking power>

He thought to himself while his hands grew tense with power.

<How can I come to understand what people are thinking?>

A tremor ran through him, but then…

“Damn.”

Just as he clenched his fists, he finally took action.

<All I can rely on right now are these silly false fists.>

His movements were fast, but generalized.

<But first…>

“I need to trust in those fists to reunite us!”

A shattering glass sound came from his arm and he his attack broke through the wall.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

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