“…!!” Unconsciously, his body froze, but there was not the slightest sensation of damage. When he glanced up at his health gauge, it was still full. That said, he did definitely have the strange sensation of something piercing through to the core of his avatar.
“…Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Your storage is totally empty, yeah?” Argon said abruptly in a quiet voice. Her words meant that she had seen into his item storage, which, as a general rule, was invisible to other people. “And you don’t have any Enhanced Armament equipped, either. No sign of fraud with some kind of buff or item, either…”
The sunshine of Argon’s voice had faded at some point, and in its place, a businesslike cool had appeared. Her voice had not a shred of interest in the subject individual; it was at best analyzing as an object of observation.
Snap!
Another spark in his head, this one a little stronger than the last. In his actual field of view, another scene floated up to overlay it.
Many human figures standing around the edge of a steep cliff, looking down at him. They were not real humans, but duel avatars. He was sure this was a scene he had seen somewhere a long, long time ago. No, not a long time ago. A dream. A scene he had seen in a dream a few days earlier?
Haruyuki held his breath and tried desperately to call up the hazy memory. The chronology was confused because the scene was from a distant past he had witnessed only in a dream. And it was not even his own memory, but one etched into a certain Enhanced Armament that no longer existed. The memory of the lone Burst Linker who had generated that Enhanced Armament in the first place and who had long since left the Accelerated World.
He mustered every ounce of his concentration and, bit by bit, cleared away the noise that filled the screen. What he had thought was a cliff was actually a curved surface, a large craterlike hole. One of the avatars standing on the edge had four eyes shining in an excessively large head. A faint, halting voice jumped into his ears.
“…ge full recovery…No depletion…attack gauge…about it, it’s Main…overwrite through…circuit.”
A voice he’d heard somewhere. A cold voice, as if reading off data, followed by a voice responding.
“It seems…deepening of concentra…indeed…phenomenon…fast. Although…controlled…different issue.”
The source of these words was a tall, thin avatar standing beside the large-headed avatar. But “tall and thin” wasn’t quite right. More like several thin panels lined up vertically. The first voice began again:
“True, true. And…with a Mental-Scar Shell strength…beyond…into metal…”
As Haruyuki almost squeezed out his own soul to somehow replay the information up to that point, he heard a quiet voice in the real world around him:
“Hmm, just like a metal color, y’know. Mental-Scar Shell’s thick; I can’t see too easy beyond that.”
Instantly, an incredible impact shook his consciousness, and the screen of his memory shattered into tiny pieces. But right before it did, all the noise disappeared, burning into his mind a scene so sharply defined, it was like a photograph.
They were the same. The silhouette with four eyes looking down from the top of the cliff in his memory, and the female-type avatar analyzing Haruyuki with four eyes in that very moment—they were the same.
And the layered avatar of thin panels that had been standing next to the four-eyed avatar had appeared before Haruyuki three times to torture him and his friends with strange abilities. It was the vice president of the Acceleration Research Society, the “Restrainer,” Black Vise.
Which meant—
Which meant…
Haruyuki froze, as the voice continued, getting back a little of its sunniness. “So then, not a single parasitic object. You kin relax, boyo. You’re not possessed by that armor no more. Quad Eyes here’ll swear it!”
Instantly, Cobalt and Manganese relaxed slightly on either side of him. Before him as well, Kuroyukihime and Fuko nodded at each other, their huge relief apparent, and Niko slapped a fist into her open palm. Pard gave him a slight thumbs-up as if to say “GJ,” while the Green King dipped his head faintly.
The Yellow King, seated on the opposite side, spread his hands in a sort of “oh well” gesture, and the Purple King merely shrugged, but Aster Vine (behind her) snapped her coiled whip. The White King’s proxy, Ivory Tower, showed absolutely no reaction, while the Blue King, seated in the center, nodded deeply before standing up, cloak flapping.
But Haruyuki could hardly focus on the reactions of the kings and their aides. In the back of his mind, a single phrase was repeating over and over like a siren: It’s her. It’s her. It’s her!
The Quad Eyes Analyst aka Argon Array was—
Black Vise’s comrade.
A core member of the Acceleration Research Society.
Beneath his slightly downturned helmet, his teeth chattered in fear and horror. If that had been the real world, rivers of sweat would have been pouring out of his entire body and his eyes would have even been blurred with tears.
“Naaaah, were you that nervous, boyo?!” He heard a smiling voice. From the top part of his field of view, Argon’s four eyes, the light almost completely gone from them, were peering at him. “Relaaaax. No one’s gonna be putting any bounties on yer head—” She cut herself off there.
The light in her four lenses, which had started to disappear, increased slightly in intensity. Blinking them like actual eyes, she got close, closer.
He couldn’t let her notice. She couldn’t find out what he had realized. If she saw through him, Argon would go against her previous words and declare that Haruyuki was still parasitized by the Armor of Catastrophe. Silver Crow would be found guilty and would be chased through the field as a wanted man— No, Cobalt and Manganese would undoubtedly take his head off before he had the chance to run. He had to somehow make it out of that place and tell Kuroyukihime and the others the knowledge he had gained.
Intently fighting the urge to fly back, Haruyuki stood quietly as Argon stroked his helmet with a gentle finger. And then, ever so faintly, so quiet that only the two of them could hear her voice:
“Boyo…you. Know me…?”
If Silver Crow’s face hadn’t been entirely hidden by his mirrored helmet, she might have seen through the look on his face. But he forced himself to turn his stiff head toward her, cocking his head questioningly.
Perhaps it was fortunate he didn’t—couldn’t—speak, because Argon didn’t push him any further.
“Nah. Just my imagination, I guess,” was all she said before pulling her face away. She patted the top of his helmet and stepped down the stairs.
He couldn’t let his relief show. He mustered up the last of his mental strength and pretended to stand there blankly. As expected, Argon turned around when she got to the bottom step and favored him with one final laserlike look. But he apparently passed this test as well, because the light in her four eyes disappeared.
The Analyst put her hands on her hips and turned to face the Blue King as he stood. “I said it before, but no parasite stuff is attached to Corvus there. Plus he’s totally naked of anything like an Enhanced Armament. Which means he can’t be the Disaster, basically.”
“I’m relieved to hear it, Quad Eyes. To be honest, I was concerned I’d have to fight that thing again.”
The Yellow King laughed at the Blue King’s straightforward words. Knight sent a glare his way that said “you’re no different,” before making the heavy armor covering his body creak as he loudly declared, “And that is the first item on the agenda resolved—”
“Er, may I speak?” The owner of the interjecting voice was the representative of the White King, Ivory Tower. They had been entirely silent, their miniature tower body motionless, until that point. The avatar raised its long and slender right hand, like a second tower, and continued in a flat, featureless voice, “I understand the matter of Chrome Disaster being detached from Mr. Silver Crow. However, in that case, wouldn’t the Armor then be sealed in a
n item card once more? Where did that card go, pray tell?”
Haruyuki’s head was full of the truth about Argon Array, but he could not fail to turn his mind to this observation. The cards for the two items that had been removed from Silver Crow through Ardor Maiden’s purification ability were currently resting safely in the home of the two Burst Linkers who had been the items’ owners in the past. Because he had left the key to the house inside with the cards, no one would be able to see the house, much less enter it.
But he couldn’t explain all that in this place. Because there might have been a secret way of breaking into another person’s house in the Accelerated World that no one in Nega Nebulus knew about. If the Yellow King or one of his ilk managed to get hold of the Enhanced Armament again—although there should no longer have been any way to fuse the two into the Disaster—he had no idea what they would get up to.
Bathed in the stares of the kings, Haruyuki was at a loss for words, but the Black King stood up on his behalf.
“The item cards were sealed in a form that will not allow anyone to get them ever again. Even I and Crow can no longer touch them. Are you dissatisfied with this answer, Ivory Tower? Or…do you wish to know the method of sealing and the place?”
At her cool voice, the avatar patterned after a tower and the color of an elephant’s tusk moved their head from left to right. “No, no, your answer is sufficient, Black King. I apologize for my interjection, Blue King.” And then they brought their hand down and fell silent, an ornament once again.
When Black Lotus sat down, she waved her right hand lightly, as if to encourage Blue Knight to continue. The Blue King nodded and then began speaking again. “That resolves the first item on our agenda. Quad Eyes, good work. And apologies, but now that you’ve become a dueler, you can’t burst out right away. Could you wait a bit until the end of the meeting?”
“No big, no big. I’ll just watch from a corner.” Argon Array moved to the left side of the plaza.
Haruyuki followed her quietly with his eyes. He was now certain that the girl, also known as Quad Eyes Analyst, was a member of the Acceleration Research Society, a disturbance to the Accelerated World…and at a senior-enough level to be able to stand alongside the vice president Black Vise. But since his proof was the extremely vague “I had a vision,” even if he did say something here, he couldn’t expect that he would be able to make the kings believe him.
Unfortunately, there was only one thing for him to do in that moment—to not make Argon suspicious again. He would have to somehow make it through the rest of the meeting and then report to Kuroyukihime and Fuko as soon as they burst out.
Haruyuki steadied himself and took a deep breath. “Um,” he said, raising his right hand. “Is it okay if I get down from here, too?” Miraculously, his voice came out without shaking or stammering.
The Blue King glanced at Haruyuki and nodded, signaling the direction of the Black King with his thumb. After Haruyuki bowed in return, he stepped down one stair and then also bowed neatly to the sister guards behind him. Turning around, he leapt down to the ground and trotted over to the Black King’s seat, being careful not to fall or break into a run.
He felt sure he had managed to move fairly normally, but even so, the instant he was standing by Fuko’s side, he felt such an enormous sense of relief that his knees threatened to give out under him. But this was not the time to be letting his guard down; he snapped his back straight and glanced at the opposite side of the meeting area—at Argon Array, standing behind Ivory Tower.
The Analyst had already closed the two eyes on her hat. Hands on her hips, toes tapping out a rhythm, she didn’t look anything like one of the leaders of an evil organization. But he couldn’t be careless. Just like Silver Crow’s mask, Argon Array’s lens-shaped goggles hid the direction of her gaze. Although she looked like she was standing lazily, she might have been secretly observing him.
Keep it together, keep it together, he chanted to himself.
Sky Raker, to his left, brought her face close to his and murmured, “Welcome back, Corvus.” The brief statement held all the kindness of the master whom Haruyuki adored, and his heart filled to the brim.
Without a moment’s delay, Black Lotus, who was sitting right in front of him, looked back at Haruyuki. “Nice work, Crow,” she said kindly, and real tears threatened to pour out of his eyes.
But the human being known as Haruyuki Arita was finally learning that it would be a huge mistake to lose his focus here; he simply nodded two, then three times. During this exchange, Cobalt and Manganese also descended from the dais, cut across the plaza, and took up their positions behind the Blue King.
“Fifteen minutes left, hmm? I’ll hurry, then. The second item on the agenda, the information provided by Great Wall about Midtown Tower.” He cut himself off there and glanced over at the Green King, who was sitting calmly on his chair at the far right end. “Maybe you could explain, Invincible?”
All eyes turned to Green Grandé, who—naturally—maintained his silence, moving his right arm only the slightest bit. As if this was a signal, a silhouette slid out of the fog behind him. Dark green armor with a metallic luster. Round headgear up top, large gloves on both hands…
“Oh, it’s Pound,” Haruyuki murmured.
The level seven who occupied the third seat of the Six Armors—the executive group of the Green Legion—“Fists of Steel” Iron Pound nodded at Haruyuki. He walked past his leader and approached the center of the plaza without the slightest hesitation. “I will be explaining the situation on behalf of our king.”
Given that he had once been a rival of “Strong Arm” Raker, Pound was himself a fairly old hand. And it seemed that he had already met basically everyone in the venue, as he began to talk without bothering to introduce himself. “I’m sure some Legions have already confirmed this themselves, but at Tokyo Midtown Tower in the west of the Akasaka area in the Unlimited Neutral Field, the Legend-class Enemy Archangel Metatron has appeared. Judging from this and other information we’ve obtained, we believe an object corresponding to the main body of the infectious ISS kit Enhanced Armament that has been plaguing the Accelerated World is on the top floors of the tower.”
For the next three or so minutes, Iron Pound neatly summed up a great deal of information for the kings: The fact that if you got within a range of two hundred meters of Midtown, you would instantly be evaporated by the super-powerful laser that Metatron released. That the only way to cancel out Metatron’s invincibility was to wait for the Unlimited Neutral Field to change into a Hell stage. And that they had waited for several months of inside time for that chance, but in the end, no Hell stage had appeared.
Once Pound was finished explaining the situation, there were a few seconds of silence, broken first by the Purple King, Purple Thorn.
“Well, that’s quite understandable. I could count the number of times I’ve seen a Hell stage in a normal duel field, much less in the Unlimited Neutral Field.” Her voice was a little boastful, and if he had to say, on the sweet, cute side, but it hid a will like a super-high-voltage current. She sounded as though, if she only got the chance, she would most certainly take the Black King’s head.
“Hell in the Unlimited Neutral Field really is hell, after all. All the Beast-class monsters turned into Devil-class Enemies? No, thanks.” This from the Blue King. The other kings and retainers nodded, as if in absolute agreement.
“Hmm, I just have an eensy question?” The high-pitched voice of Yellow Radio cut into the heavy silence. “I’ll accept that you can’t approach Midtown Tower from the outside. But in that case, what about from the inside? If you go up to the top floor of the tower in the real world and use the Unlimited Burst command, couldn’t you slip past Metatron’s attack range and infiltrate the tower?”
“Oh!” Haruyuki cried out unconsciously. It was just like the Yellow King said: Since the coordinates where you appeared in the Unlimited Neutral Field were based on your location in the real world, if you went u
p the real Midtown Tower and accelerated, it made sense that you would be instantly inside the enemy camp.
However, the idea Haruyuki thought was so brilliant was rejected out of hand by the Red King, sitting to his immediate right. “Now look, Radio. Grandé thought about that ages ago already. If the enemy base were inside Roppongi Hills, that might work. ’Cos you can ride to the very top floor for five hundred yen if you’re in junior high. But, like, I checked into it, too. A large part of Midtown Tower is a fancy hotel. Anyone not staying there is totally shut out.”
“Oh!” Haruyuki cried again.
In the center of the plaza, Iron Pound also nodded and added, “And the cheapest twin room is thirty thousand yen for one person for one night.”
There was a collective gulp. Even though the most powerful warriors—the Seven Kings of Pure Color and the senior members of their Legions—might have been Burst Linkers in the Accelerated World, in the real world they were a group of junior high and high school students whose only income was their allowances. Thirty thousand yen was not a sum of money any of them could casually shell out. At the very least, if they had a guarantee that they would definitely be able to destroy the ISS kit main body on their first infiltration, they might have been able to pool their money to scrape together the cost of staying there and send in attack personnel. But the first visit would probably end with reconnaissance. And thirty thousand yen for just that was tight. So tight it hurt.
A ponderous silence filled the venue once more, cut through this time by Black Lotus’s swordlike voice. “Trying to do something about problems in the Accelerated World with real money is heresy. It can’t possibly be that those fellows in the Acceleration Research Society saved up their money to move Metatron out of the Contrary Cathedral. We, too, should face this situation as Burst Linkers.”
“Oh-ho! Quite impressive, wonderful!” The Yellow King clapped his long, thin hands together. “That said, Black King, are you saying you have some sort of plan? Your specialty of surprise attacks won’t be effective on Metatron, I’m sure?”