Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 02
Honjou Tsukasa continues.
"Shiro, Kiri, Yousuke and Himi also did well. Maybe you aren't really needed for the hero team perhaps?"
"Maybe ~"
"What have you been doing?"
"I dozed off."
"Don't let this happen again. Otherwise we'll expel you from school."
"That'll be problematic so I'll do my best."
"My, that's a pretty commendable attitude."
"I've been a commendable guy since I was born......"
"Ah yeah yeah, I have no time for that, I'm hanging up. I'm tired as well."
The line got cut. I shrug my shoulders alone. And return the cellphone to my pocket.
I can't afford to get expelled from school now. Since I need to test the magic I just got hold of to see whether or not I can save the girls.
I can't afford to test this on my little sister right away.
"............"
I snap my fingers. And activate my 《Headphone Fuzz》. On doing that, the cursed song starts flowing from the 《Headphone Fuzz》.
【Deceiving the night ♪
Beguiling the world ♪
The darkness that saves the girl of the endless night ♪】
I pull the trigger that will activate the magic. On doing that, a silver sword appears. Shrouded by light, a shining sword. A sword of hypocrisy that resembles a sword that a hero carries.
However, the part of the blade is fake. This was a joke from Liezel who made the design a mismatch for me.
The actual range is shorter than even a knife.
And the true form of the magic resides in that short portion. Once it's stabbed deep into the heart of the girl, it has the power to sever the disease away.
"...... this is the completed product?"
As I murmur, I notice writings inside the 《Headphone Fuzz》.
The message in the writing is as follows.
"While you were sleeping soundly, I have installed the magic. Though I don't know whether you'll be able to use it effectively. In the instant you stab the girl, if your capacity isn't enough, your head will be blown to smithereens.
"Hey hey, don't joke with me."
"But with this, in theory, you can sever the disease from the girl without killing her. So pay me what you promised me. I'll carry on with my research. Since, with such a short sword, you probably won't even be able to touch the eternal labyrinth diseased girl with the highest level of difficulty in the world --- 《Apocalypse Alice》."
Right now, I'll be killed the instant I step into that labyrinth, not to talk about touching her. Since my little sister Saki is of rank 666.
That's why I need to become stronger.
I need to become much stronger.
I also need a limitless amount of money.
The money to boost the magic that I have now. The money for raiding eternal labyrinths. And maybe the money to hire mercenary magician troops for the purpose of raiding 《Apocalypse Alice》 as well.
Anyway, I need a lot lot more power and money.
I dispel the 《Holy Sword switch》.
I breathe out a puff of white mist from the cold.
It's terribly quiet.
Alone in the park, I murmur,
"...... ha, I don't have time to make any friends."
And stand up ---
At that moment.
My cellphone rings again.
I don't know who it is.
I pick up the phone.
"Who is it?"
"Onii-sama! Where're you right now!?"
It's Yayoi.
I scowl and say.
"I have nothing to say to......"
"Don't hang up! Please! And, if you're in the area of Kichijouji, please get away quickly! In the skies above Kichijouji --- inside a chopper returning from Saitama...... the labyrinth disease has broken out in Mizuiro Gunjou!"
"Wha."
My eyes widen involuntarily. For a moment, I can't comprehend what Yayoi just said.
The labyrinth disease has broken out in Mizuiro Gunjou......
The face of Gunjou that I saw today surfaces in my mind.
Her riled up face.
Her sad face.
Her tearful face.
The face that was seeking help.
And, she should have just saved the world. Killed the girl and saved the world.
But yet, that Gunjou has come down with the labyrinth disease......?
Yayoi says.
"Anyway, just get away from there! Onii............ damn, there's interference...... signal.................."
I have no idea whether Yayoi is telling the truth or lying. If she were lying just to call me to her side, it would be a little too elaborate.
Will there be a need to get away immediately?
In which direction should I run?
I have no idea.
Right now, I don't even know whether I'm in Kichijouji or not.
I look at my cellphone. It's clear that there's no signal. Signal interference. Labyrinths can cut out all kinds of scientific waves and signals.
In other words, I might be in Kichijouji.
"Damn, crap......"
I start running. Out of the park. I try to ascertain the address that is adhered to the telephone pole.
However, there is no need for that.
I can hear a voice coming from behind me.
"What, the hell's that!"
"A tower, a blue tower is swelling up!"
It's the labyrinth.
It's a consequence of the labyrinth disease swallowing up the land.
I didn't turn around. I don't have time for that. I start running in the opposite direction of that voice. I might not make it. The labyrinth is at least 2 km in radius, and can grow up to a few hundred km in radius. If the labyrinth this time is at few hundred km scale in size, then it'd been meaningless to run in the first place.
"Please, Gunjou......"
I activate my 《Headphone Fuzz》. Dancing my finger in the air, using my magic.
【In an instant ♪ In a flash ♪ In the time of a flash ♪
The flash of time, the flash of an instant ♪ In an instant ♪ In a flash ———】
I murmur.
"Acceleration switch ---"
And accelerate my flesh.
I can accelerate for one second.
But that's totally not enough. I jump. Over the wall, hopping onto the rooftop of a civilian house. I found the main street. And run towards there, zooming to the road. I catch up to a moving bike and hop onto it.
Then, I dismiss my acceleration magic.
"Uwah!?"
The rider is surprised. The bike almost turns over, but I forcibly push it down from the back.
"If you don't want to die, step on it."
The biker says from his helmet.
"W-Who, the hell are you......"
"The labyrinth disease!"
"Eh......"
"This place is going to get swallowed!"
"Eh, what......"
"Step on it!"
"R-Right!"
The biker switches gear. And the biker accelerates sharply. Luckily, the road is clear.
The light is also green.
Will we able to outrun it?
I turn my head around for the first time.
What stands behind me is indeed a tower.
The tall tower opens up a hole in the night sky, and its stoutness is gradually increasing, swallowing up the streets, the people, and the land.
At a dreadful speed.
At this rate, it'll catch up with us.
"...... we, might not make it......"
I murmur.
What can't be done, can't be done.
I can't do anything to escape from getting swallowed up by the labyrinth disease.
The bike accelerates.
But the tower is expanding faster than that.
Becoming huge.
With its scale spreading.
And, just as I thou
ght that we are going to get swallowed in another moment ---
"............"
The expansion of the labyrinth stops.
What is the scale of that labyrinth? What is its rank? Those are things that I still don't know.
The bike advances.
The tower is gradually getting further.
I face the front and tell the biker.
"Hey, stop. We've outrun it."
"Pew, pew, pew."
The biker's breathing is ragged. I won't want to die from a traffic accident. I tap his shoulder again. And speak into his ear.
"We've outrun it! Relax!"
"R-Really!?"
"Really. So stop. Calm down."
With that, the biker applies the brakes. The speed slowly decreases, and before long, it stops.
I get down from the bike. And turn around again.
The town is in a terrible shape.
Blazing flames that have arisen from car accidents light up the tower in red.
However, even as it is lit in red, that tower is of a fading blue in color.
Blue, azure, ultramarine.
A tower that fits Gunjou's name.
Yayoi probably wasn't lying. That's probably a labyrinth made by Gunjou.
She really came down with the disease.
I look up at that soaring spire that's piercing the sky......
"...... jeez, this is exasperating."
I murmur softly.
* * *
Chapter 3 - Super Hero
0:30 AM
It has been 3 hours since the onset of the disease happened in Gunjou.
I am in the hotel that I'm putting up at, alone, tinkering with and adjusting my 《Headphone Fuzz》.
It is a German 《Headphone Fuzz》 called 《Willer Corp. Manufactured Prototype 42》. Due to the fact that it places an overly large burden on the body and mind, it never entered production, but I went on to ask Liezel to further customize this device to a dangerous level that would immediately destroy the brain if it was not adjusted precisely.
I fiddle with it. Adjust it.
The news stream from the TV in the room, but it never touches on the disease onset that happened earlier in Kichijouji.
The information is being restricted.
Of course.
Since the onset of the labyrinth disease happened in a place that it should not, and at a time that it should not happen.
I finish adjusting my 《Headphone Fuzz》.
No one has contacted me yet.
But, so what if someone did? The labyrinth manifested by Gunjou is probably a hopeless one.
In the first place, in the event that a labyrinth is manifested by someone who is capable of using magic, then that labyrinth will be at an abnormally high level.
And Gunjou is a world-class famous magician. In that case, the labyrinth will probably be at a rank that can't be cleared.
By the way, if it's a rank 12 labyrinth, with sufficient preparation, a magician unit will be able to clear it without incurring any casualty but.
In the case of Asahi Momoka --- based on my experience, she's around rank 20. At such a tough level. People die relentlessly. As for the few of us who cleared that, we might even have become famous around the world.
The team which managed to clear a rank 20 labyrinth without sufficient investigation and within the limited amount of time.
Might even have been called the 『Hero Team』, I suppose.
"............"
However, in the past, I cleared a labyrinth of up to rank 40.
It was when I was fifteen.
It's a story in an unlawful, irregular, dark world.
A story of an organization managed by a military regime that thought nothing of human lives.
The name of that labyrinth was 《Holy Sword 40》 ---
It was the labyrinth from which I brought back the magic that formed the basis of 《Holy Sword switch》.
However, we are talking about an eternal labyrinth that had no time limit after all.
After a thorough investigation on the structure of the interior of the labyrinth, a team of 100 magicians was formed after meticulous levels of preparation, sent in, and the whole raid took a total of 1 month and 2 days, and to top it off, the only one who survived till the very end was me.
"............"
At that moment, my cellphone finally rang.
It's my homeroom teacher Honjou Tsukasa.
She's alive huh.
"...... hello."
"Ah, you picked up. So you're alive. Then, come to school now."
"...... because Gunjou turned into a labyrinth?"
"Oh, you already caught wind of it despite skipping the raid? Who did you hear it from? Your classmates?"
I don't have the contacts of my classmates. In the first place,
"I heard that Gunjou's disease broke out while she was on the returning chopper. In other words, the whole class 5's wiped out?"
Meaning that Shiro, Himi, Yousuke, as well as Kiri, have all been swallowed by the labyrinth.
"Oh, you already knew that much. But fortunately, our class 5 which has all the capable students are fine. And you skipped the raid as well."
"My, how did they survive?"
"At that time, Gunjou was riding the chopper which the relief squad was riding. That's why, together with that chopper, both class 1 and class 2 didn't make it. Ah, that Sakuma-sensei whom you tussle with during your interview got caught in it as well, you know?"
"Hmph. None of my business."
"Ah-haha, that goes the same for me. He's useless anyway. At any rate, come to school. Once the results of the investigation from Taikou Pharmaceuticals are out, we'll begin class right away."
But I smile at that.
"In the first place, is the school still there? The skies above Kichouji have been transformed into the labyrinth right?"
Honjou Tsukasa replies.
"That too is a lucky thing. Gunjou's labyrinth is a vertically tall labyrinth and the surrounding area that was enveloped wasn't that wide."
"It's a tower right?"
"Furthermore, thanks to the fact that it largely expanded in the opposite direction of the school, it didn't reach the school. If I'm not wrong, it's about 8km in radius."
That's a very wide area. An incredible number of people were annihilated.
"If the school had been destroyed, then it might be necessary to call in the labyrinth raid team from Kansai region. Rather, I heard that the students in the Kansai region are actually starting class at the same time. But, don't let them butt in. I don't care how good those Kansai brats are, but the ones who will clear the labyrinth is us."
I ask.
"What's the raid level?"
"...... rank 15. We might have a few people dying on us but ~, if it's you, Shinnosuke-kun --- 【Devil-Sword Devil】, the famous magician in the underworld, it'd be fine right?"
My eyes narrow. Hearing my old lame and meaningless nickname ---
"In the end, you checked on me, didn't you?"
"That's what I heard from the higher ups just now. And we still don't know anything about you save the nickname. Who on earth are you?"
"Just a timid high school student."
"Haha, whatever. But, you're probably the only one who can clear this labyrinth. So please do your best."
That's easy for her to say. I stroke my 《Headphone Fuzz》 in which my demon sword is stored with my finger and attach it to my ear. I have finished adjusting it. I can employ it right away if I were to enter a labyrinth right now.
But,
"If you want me to do it, then please don't lie."
I say reproachingly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"With someone as powerful as Gunjou, it won't be just a rank 15 labyrinth right?"
Honjou Tsukasa then laughs.
"Ah-hahahahahahahahahaha...... I'm hanging up."
"Don't screw with me. Answer me. What's her rank?"
 
; On hearing that, Honjou Tsukasa replies readily.
"42."
As I thought, it's hopeless.
A time-limited labyrinth with hardly any time for preparation at a rank of 42.
Just the task of infiltration is impossible.
It's the end for Mizuiro Gunjou.
And if we leave her as she is, she'll turn into an eternal labyrinth and her difficulty level will jump up by ten times.
She'll turn into an abnormally difficult labyrinth where entering or touching, let alone saving her, will be impossible.
The same fate as Saki.
No, it was already over for her when the disease manifested in her. Because a diseased girl does not have any options, except to either become an eternal labyrinth or get killed before she turns into one.
"Hey Sensei."
"What is it?"
"You don't really feel like raiding the labyrinth right?"
"But if we don't do it then tens of thousands of people will die."
"I can't really see you as such a person who's concerned about others though."
"Ah-haha, there are quite a number of important people living in that area, and I'd feel really good if we could take care of this --- there's a really big reward for it after all."
An acknowledgeable explanation.
Betting on not her own life but the lives of others, if she succeeds, her fame will rise --- in that case, why not give it a shot?
"I thought that our team might just be able to accomplish it. But, if it's impossible, it's fine to Escape right away. You guys are important pawns for me so I don't really want to lose you. Your value will go up just by entering such a difficult labyrinth."
"............"
"Well, that's how it is, so come over to school. And then, let's quickly kill the girl and save the......."
I cut her off and say coldly.
"Why don't you just tell me to kill Gunjou?"
On hearing that, Honjou Tsukasa laughs. With the sound of mocking laughter.
Then,
"I'll tell that to you as many times as you want if that'd make you do the work. Quickly kill Mizuiro Gunjou, and make me rich. Mr. Goody Hypocrite."
"............"
"Well then, see you at school ~"
She hangs up. I toss my cellphone onto my bed and lie down.
And look up at the ceiling.
"............"
The disease manifested in Gunjou.
Rank 42.
She probably can't be saved anymore. Those who got swallowed by the labyrinth as well.