Weird yellow-green light filled the sky. Bluish black tiles laid on the ground. Fang like projections decorated buildings, and a dense fog flowed between them.

“...The ?Demonic City? stage huh. Well, it could be said to match today’s objective.”

After the Black King, Black Lotus murmured that, her sharp tipped foot made a loud stomping sound on the tile below.

After looking at the loved and respected legion master’s flowing and ferocious shape for a while, Haruyuki stared at the sky colored avatar tucked away beside her.

This one was an entirely graceful standing shape. On the back of the delicate female type body, somewhat blue thick hair flowed down like wings. The two hands and two legs with smooth lines were not equipped with anything weapon-like.

However, Haruyuki knew. Right now, firmly stepping on the ground, the two slender legs that allowed the avatar to stand up, was her, Sky Raker’s proof of the miracle caused by her.

If Black Lotus was Haruyuki’s ?Parent? and ?Sword Master?, then Raker was someone that he should call ?Master?. For a long time, she retired from front line of accelerated duels and lived a secluded life on top of the old Tokyo Tower that was forgotten by most people.

The reason was that about two and half years ago, her two legs were cut off at the knees by her own will, and over half of her battle ability was lost. However, having a similar kind of power, ?Flight Ability?, which he temporary lost, Haruyuki met her, and through her initiating him in the ?Incarnate System?, she slowly recovered her passion for duels and then in the previous week’s ?Hermes Code Traverse Race?, she overcame the wound of her heart that chained her, and recovered her legs.

Haruyuki had thoroughly understood how incredibly hard it was to escape from under the influence of negative imagination after being controlled by Chrome Disaster once.

Probably, if at that time Chiyuri, Lime Bell, had not used her ?Rewind the target avatar’s time backwards? kind of transcendental power special ability to help him, then Haruyuki would probably be swallowed by the armor and hatred for himself and would have indiscriminately attacked the few hundred people of the gallery.

With just a few minutes of sinking into negative mind power, it was at a point that he could no longer return. And yet, Sky Raker cut apart the chains of fear and despair that continued to bound her for two and a half real time years. If this was not called a miracle, what else could it be called?

While being hit with deep emotion, he stared deeply at Raker’s two legs, then ——.

“Why, Karasu-san, do you like my beautiful legs that much?”

After being called out with that laughter filled sound, Haruyuki hurriedly shook his head and both hands.

“Th, that’s not it, no, of course it’s very beautiful, but it’s not that...”

“Hoo, you have a leg fetish huh. Sorry about that, I don’t have any calves or ankles.”

This time Kuroyukihime said with lights of daggers in her violet blue eyes. Haruyuki changed his face’s direction, and again pleaded.

“No, no way, I love senpai’s legs also... ah, it’s not like I have a fetish or anything like that...!”

Realizing that anymore he said will bog him down, he pointed to the southeast direction and shouted.

“In, instead of that, look, the guide cursor is pointing, in that direction! Let’s go, let’s hurry and go.”

Like Haruyuki said, in the center of his view were two grey triangles quietly pointing in the same direction. Over there should be the two aides of the Blue legion that was acting as host for today’s conference. Furthermore, above the cursors were two HP gauges lined up, with a countdown in the center. It should have started at 1800 seconds, and that was already decreased to 1750.

“Nn, I think it was strictly said to gather within 100 seconds. No choice, let’s run.”

The three people nodded to each other, then all started to dash southwards in the Demonic City streets.

In he normal duel gallery, in exchange losing rights to destroy the terrain, they are given the maximum movement and jump power. Haruyuki’s group sprinted up the wall of the building blocking them and this time moved forward in a direct line from rooftop to rooftop.

After running for about 20 seconds, they cut through the deep fog that was in front of them all the way.

The scenery that appeared before his eyes, made Haruyuki involuntarily call out.

“Uwaa..., Hu, huge...”

It was the ?Castle?.

A bit southeast of the position where the cursor pointed, stood a way to huge building that seemed to connect to the sky. The castle made up of steel towers shining blue light, and strange sculptures, released a stronger presence than anything else in the Demonic City stage, and could even be called something divine. It was surrounded by high castle walls and wide waterways, where an entrance like object was nowhere to be found.

During the numerous duels that he had in Suginami and Shinjuku, he had caught glimpses of the castle’s shape standing far in the eastern sky, but it was the first time that he had seen it at this close distance. As Haruyuki looked dazedly at the huge castle’s majesty, Kuroyukihime that was right beside him whispered.

“That, is the ?Imperial Palace? in the real world. Even in the accelerated world, it’s the only place that you cannot enter no matter what method you use.”

“Fl... flying is no good either?”

The one who answered his question, was Fuuko who ran at his left side.

“Yea. Above and below the castle walls, are set with invisible walls. That’s why, flying or going under ground is no good. At the beginning, a lot of methods were tried though...”

“Aa. Something like inside were hidden super incredible enhanced armaments, there were various rumors. However, still there was not a single person that manage to invade it. —— In the normal duel field, that is.”

Feeling something from the way that Kuroyukihime said it, Haruyuki asked in return.

“Wha... that, what does it mean?”

However, before the answer returned, Fuuko sharply whispered.

“Saw it... above that hill!”

He looked towards where the finger pointed. Then he could see it, above a small hill where they were heading towards, were two small humanoid shadows... no, he could see three of them. In the real world, that place was probably where the imperial palace ?East Gardens? was located. Different than the main palace, it was open to the public, and Haruyuki had also been there during a social studies field trip while he was in elementary school.

They slowed down slightly, and approached with caution. Even though he was attending at a no possibility of being attacked gallery, thinking about soon meeting the ?Pure Color Kings? that controlled the accelerated world directly, his body could not help but shake.

They crossed the bridge over a wide waterway, went through a magnificent gate, then started to climb up the stairs set on the side of the hill. The absolutely uninvadable ?Demonic City? stood just to the right side, but Haruyuki did not turn his sight that way, and just continued to stare at the top of the hill.

The steps eventually ended, and a wide stone paved space opened up in front of his eyes.

In the real world, it was the place where a wide patch of grass marked the Edo castle site. However there was not any kind of plant here, and in exchange, steel cylinders stood there, forming a large ring.

However, somehow, just one cylinder was a bit short, with about 50 cm in height.

Over there, a duel avatar was sitting.

Blue. Like it could suck you in, a transparent feeling of a deep blue color. Not the color of the sky or the sea, it was hard to compare with anything real- that was the pure blue that covered his whole body.

The armor type was fully a knight type. However without any of ?Disaster Armor?’s sense of scourge, it was the elegant shape of a legendary hero. On both sides of the visor helmet extended dragon like horns and a large and long two handed sword was worn on the left waist.

With left leg resting on right knee, the blue avatar's arms were crossed in a relaxed posture. His stature was not all that big. Standing up, he would be about Takumu, Cyan Pile’s, height. However, from that whole body exuded an overwhelming pressure like a meteor coming from outer space which made Haruyuki come to a stop more than 20 meters in front of him.

“...Th, that is...”

After he whispered that in a raspy sound, Raker next to him nodded slightly.

“Yea. That is, controlling Shinjuku area and Bunkyo area, legion ?Leonids? leader... with ?Vanquish?, ?Legend Slayer?, and many other nicknames, the lever 9-er Blue King, that is ?Blue Knight?.”

“Blue... Knight...”

In other games, it was an ultra simple name that could be given to small fry monsters, but when heard in the accelerated world, it gave the opposite of absolute one and only feel to it.

While the bottomless intimidation made his back shook, Haruyuki finally remembered. That knight, was not Haruyuki’s dueler. As for stance, they were both just gallery. If even though he was just an onlooker with no attack power or HP gauge, he felt that much pressure already, then if it was a one on one duel, he would be afraid of just thinking about it.

Then, at that moment. A small ‘Kin’ sound echoing released Haruyuki from his paralysis.

That was the sound of a footstep from Kuroyukihime who took taking a step forward. The Black King, Black Lotus walked forward a few steps while making the Blue King’s fierce aura seem like a breeze, then waved her right sword hand lightly.

“Since today you are the boss, I will say a greeting before you get mad. Still the same stifling look huh, Knight?”

To Kuroyukihime’s words, Haruyuki screamed in his head, ‘Wh why are you trying to provoke him!’. On top of that, beside him Raker laughed, so he almost back-dashed to flee, but fortunately, before that happened, the blue knight avatar said in a cool and clear young man’s voice.

“...You know, that can’t be called a greeting, Lotus. You still seem to be the same bad tempered person, even after two and a half years.”

With a ‘Clash’ armor sound, he shrugged. At the same time, the blood lust that was being released dispersed as if it was just a lie.

Somehow the Blue King, from his speech pattern, was a more informal person than he thought. Since the blue legion attacked the black legion area without pause every week, he thought the King himself was burning with desire to enforce Kuroyukihime, but somehow, it did not seem to be the case...

At the moment Haruyuki relaxed his shoulders, from both sides of the Blue King, from inside the wisps of dense fog, two humanoid shadows with very similar forms slid out without a sound.

—— Samurai!

He thought of that instantly. The slender and long armor, was a Japanese style armor made from overlapping horizontally long metal pieces. As for color, the left avatar was a deep ultramarine blue. And the right one somewhat bright bluish green. On the head, instead of a kabuto[1], was a tied hachigane[2], with bundled long hair trailing down. Based on the body figures, both were female.

The two female samurai, after moving forward with a few mysterious sliding steps, placed their hand on the handle of the katana on their left waist, and released a low sound.

“Saying rude words to our Vanquish, we won’t forgive even a King!”

“Traitor, be thankful that you are even allowed to be here!”

And then again, killing instinct that shook the air with a crackle blew by, making Haruyuki shake with a ‘Hiiiii ——’, a soundless scream.

Being one of Black King’s followers, he should spit out similar cool words here as a retort, but he felt that if he said anything, his head would be blown away, so could not even open his mouth. Since, without a doubt those samurai were the two Blue King’s aides that created this field, and that meant as ?Dueler?s, they have the right to remove disruptive people from the gallery when they both agree.

—— However, at the next moment.

“Why, after not seeing you for a while, you two seem to have became quite bossy mouthed, Ojou[3]-chans.”

The sound that was released with laugher, was from Sky Raker. With ‘Clop clop’ sound of high heels, she walked to stand beside Kuroyukihime, then extended her right palm towards the samurai, as she wiggled her finger.

“Can I hang both of you from the roof of the Tokyo government office building again, just like the old times?”

“Hi, Hiiiii ——”. Haruyuki again screamed soundlessly. ‘You really did that?!’, he shouted inside his chest, then accepted the fact that it would not be strange for her to do just that after all.

The two armored samurai, with burning anger appearing on their long eye lenses, gripped their katana handle at the same time.

““You bitch...””

The beautifully matched shout that came from different mouths, was covered by the Blue King’s wry smile mixed voice from behind.

“Leave it at that, Cobal, Maaga.”

““...Yes.””

With a quick nod, both stepped back at the same time.

After Haruyuki blew out a breath of relief, he belatedly looked at the two HP gauges in the top of his view.

Under the left gauge was, ?Cobalt Blade?. And under the right gauge, ?Manganese Blade? kind of avatar name shone. With name and looks matched to this degree, those two people must be very similar characters in the real world as well.

For example, if they were twin sisters, then the Blue King that had them as closest aides, must be an incredible person in all kind of meanings... As he had that and other strange things in his imagination, Kuroyukihime shook her shoulders slightly then again spoke.

“Setting that aside, Knight. Don’t just sit there by yourself. Shouldn't you prepare a seat for me too?”

“Oops, excuse me.”

The Blue King waved his hand to signal the two armored samurai.

Then the samurai lowered their waist, and once again place their hand on the handle of their katana. Without giving the chance for Haruyuki to cower in shock ——.

With high clear metallic sounds, two lines of bluish white flashes expanded in the stage.

With wide eyes, Haruyuki watched as the two people’s right hands moved like a fog, the katana brightly flashing momentarily, and again returned to their sheath. He could only capture the scene in those three frames of static pictures.

Right after, the white flowing dense fog was finely cut, and as if to chase after that, the huge cylinders to the samurai’s left and right side fell soundlessly, two at a time for three times. Next the total of six cylinders, crushed to the ground with loud echoes, then broke and blew apart as numerous bluish black metallic pieces. Afterwards, all that was left were mirror like cut surfaces remaining as ?stumps?.

“...No... no way...”

Haruyuki could only mutter while dumbfounded.

This normal duel field’s attribute was without a doubt, ?Demonic City?. The first special feature was that the terrain objects were unusually hard. When Haruyuki was training for the Incarnate System, to be able to pierce the same Demonic City stage tower walls a few cm actually required one week of fierce training.

And yet, Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade were able to cut down three cylinders with a flash of their katana. If it was Haruyuki instead of cylinders that stood there, then without doubt his head and body would have had a tearful goodbye from one hit.

‘—— That, was Lenoids’ most elite linker’s ability. And then the ?King?’s power should be further beyond that.’

‘—— I, we, were going to fight those people...’

Again deep fear grasped his avatar’s whole body, then suddenly his back was hit.

It was Sky Raker. The glamorous avatar without a single weapon, whispered to Haruyuki with her mouth close to his ear.

“Cutting down immobile cylinders, is just a show, Karasu-san. If you are that scared, then later I will have to punish you ?.”

Surprised.

Leaving the standing straight Haruyuki behind, the Black King and her sworn friend casually started to walk, where Kuroyukihime sat on the closet stump to the right, and Raker stood behind her. Even more afraid of his teacher Raker’s punishment than the samurai avatar’s katana, Haruyuki hurriedly chased after, and could only stand beside Raker with arms crossed and chest high.

The samurai again returned behind their master and the momentarily silent stage was broken by Kuroyukihime’s annoyed sound.

“...Well then, since the greetings to the host is finished, isn’t it about time you guys showed yourselves? 100 seconds have passed long ago.”

Actually, the time count had already about to cut below 1600. However, what did she mean by ‘show yourself’? This place only has, six people from Blue and Black legions...

Haruyuki thought that, and was about look around, but before that ——.

“Say what, I was trying to be polite and you had to say it like that, Lotus.”

A sound filled with childish innocence and immobile strength echoed from somewhere, then a ‘click’ kind of soft footstep followed it.

When he turned that way while startled, he saw that on top of the stump three meters to the right near them, appeared a silhouette.

A standing carnivore, that was the impression of the form for the dark red avatar. Without seeing the triangle sharp ears and long tail, he knew that was the ?Bloody Kitty? nicknamed Red legion ?Prominence? executive, ?Blood Leopard?.

And then on her left arm, was the owner of the previous voice, where a small built crimson avatar sat.

Two antenna extended in a twintail shape. Round and cute eye lens. Smooth and round armored limbs. The tiny size and shape made this girl seem as cute as a ruby, but she was the leader of Prominence that control Nerima and Nakano areas and was also the Red King, ?Scarlet Rain?.

The origin of her nickname ?Immobile Fortress?'s huge firepower containers had not been equipped. As he looked at the lovely face profile, Haruyuki was going to greet the girls as Rain and Pard-san, and got ready to open his mouth.

However, right after.

From the two red type avatars, an aura that was not any less than the Blue King’s was released, sealing Haruyuki’s mouth.

Different from mind power’s ?Over Ray?. This was invisible, pure fighting spirit.

In the accelerated world where everything was recorded in digital code, this ?Feeling of Aura? kind of phenomena was not necessary hallucination. Logically, it was said in an occult way that it might be ?The weight of battle information contained in the duel avatar was felt as pressure for others?, but actually, just the existence of the truly strong person overwhelm the underdogs. Like right now, the two red people making Haruyuki cower.

The Red King, real name Kouduki Yuniko that is Niko, and also Blood Leopard that is Pard-san, those two were Haruyuki’s friends that had shown each other their real self. And then Prominence and Nega Nebulas, also due to past joint battle, had signed an indefinite ceasefire agreement.

However, even with that said, they could not have close friendly relations everywhere, which those two’s strict face profiles told him. While feeling a slight loneliness, Haruyuki also felt that that was the correct thing. Since, after all, Brain Burst exists for the people who own it to fight each other and become strong.

No ——.

There was one more reason, that made it hard for Haruyuki to face Niko.

The Chrome Disaster that was currently on Silver Crow was supposed to have been erased when Niko, as the legion master, used ?Judgement? on the previous owner who was her ?Parent?. That meant in another sense, Niko had way stronger motivation than any other King here to insist on Haruyuki’s execution...

After forcibly stopping himself from thinking ahead, Haruyuki returned his face to the front. At the same time, Blood Leopard’s voice lowly echoed.

“Just the King and me from ?Promi?. Greeting completed.”

Niko jumped off the arm and sat on the round chair, then Leopard stood behind her, with her hands on her waist.

With this, three out of seven Kings have gathered. Of the seven cut pillars that drew a half circle, the Blue King sat on the center one. Towards the right end was the Black King. To the right side was the Red King.

Where will be next, as Haruyuki tried to change his posture ——.

What came echoing from far in the fog, was not a footstep, but a high pitched laughter from deep in the throat.

“Kuu, KuuKuuKu...”

The laughter that was clearly filled with ridicule and contempt seemed to be familiar. However he could not tell which direction it was coming from. He looked around, but soon the source went around behind him.

“Kuku..., ?King? huh? If I remember right, 'King' seems to refer to the ?Seven King of Pure Color?. But, the little kid that is sitting there... Isn’t that color a bit too cheap to be called red...?”

The words that were thrown out from somewhere, was clearly an insult to the Red King, Scarlet Rain.

Niko, was the only ?Second Generation? of the Kings that ruled seven large legions. The first generation Red King, Red Rider was gone. Two and half years ago, the Black King’s one hit made him lose his head, and, in the accelerated world where level 9 duelers have a sudden death rule, he was forever retired. Rebuilding the once collapsed ?Prominence?, and becoming the second generation master was Niko. To be sure, the avatar color was not pure red, but a somewhat brighter scarlet, which absolutely in no way made her a fake king. Since ——

“C, color makes no difference! Rain’s true power allowed her to reach level 9, and there is no other condition for a King!”

—— that is the reason.

Right then, Haruyuki finally realized that he had shouted with his mouth what he was thinking of in his head. Raker beside him snickered, and he felt that Niko sitting a bit away also let out a wry smile.

“...Since what I wanted to say was said by that Karasu, let me add just one more thing. —— As for cheapness, that’s a good comparison to your banana color I think. There is no time, come out already.”

After saying that, the Red King snapped her right hand fingers loudly, then pointed towards the center of three pillars on the other side.

Haruyuki hurriedly gazed that way, and on top of the short pillar that was empty till now, he seemed to notice that there was a small paper doll like thing standing there. After his head was tilted about 5 cm, he finally realized it.

That, was the same thing as what Kuroyukihime had used while hiding from assassins from the Kings, and still wanted to obtain information from the Accelerated World, the ?Spectator Use Dummy Avatar?. The voice’s owner took advantage of the fact that he connected to this field as a gallery, and changed his avatar to something that was very hard to notice.

Right after Haruyuki realized that, a puff of white smoke went up from the center of the paper doll.

After that was blown away by the stage’s breeze, what was standing on top of the pillar, was a fresh —— or poisonous yellow equipment, and slender clown type duel avatar.

A hat with largely curved horns on either side. A face mask with eyes and mouth in a thin smile. From round swelling shoulders and waist, were stringy long limbs.

Brushing his jaw with his needle thin right hand finger, the clown casually leaked out a chuckle.

“KuuKuu, banana color is a bit nasty. For me, I like to be compared to Uranium, you know? But well, there’s no choice. Since this is time it is determined by the monkey and child’s love of banana, Kukuku...”

This clown who continued laughing while swaying his head, was the person who set a trap for both Kuroyukihime and Niko, the ?Yellow King?, controlling three areas of Taito, Arakawa, and Adachi, including Akihabara, the legion ?Crypt Cosmic Circus?’s leader —— ?Yellow Radio?.

His gesture and glibness, did not show the heavy pressure from the other Kings.

However, he was someone who could not be underestimated, something which Haruyuki understood very well after seeing him and Kuroyukihime’s close combat at a distance. Radio is pure yellow, that is, a pure ?Indirect Attack Type? and he fought evenly in close combat with Black Lotus.

Somehow the Yellow King seemed to appear without bringing any companion. After stilling his laughter, he put his right hand to his chest, and bowed in courtesy. Then he slid down to sit on the pillar.

—— With this, four people.

“...And then, who’s not here are, let’s see...”

In Haruyuki’s ear as he was muttering, this time imposing footsteps reached him.

‘Crunch, Crunch’, kind of hard and heavy vibration shook the stage. It was coming from behind to the right. As he turned that way, it was the same time that a large avatar appeared from the broken fog.

It was large, but could not said to be huge. If it was just size, of course it could not compare to the fully armored Niko, and probably not even be able to compare to Blue Legion’s medium size member ?Frost Horn?.

However for Haruyuki, he had not met any other avatar that gave him this much feel of absolute weight.

The mask, shoulders, and the lower half were all covered with armor that felt like thick plates. However the waist was finely tied together, so that it did not give a ponderous impression. The right hand was empty, but the left hand held a surprisingly large shield.

And then, the color that dyed all the armor was, a deeper and fresher green than emerald.

“...Green King...”

Haruyuki lightly said the name of this avatar, that he only saw for a few seconds in a video replay in the past. Raker beside him nodded, and added in a whisper.

“Yea. That, controlling the huge area from Shibuya to Ota, the legion ?Great Wall?’s leader, ?Green Grande?. Nicknamed ?Invulnerable?.”

“For sure, his HP gauge never went to yellow once, right...”

When dueling same level people, even if won, Haruyuki’s gauge was usually red, and it made him whisper involuntary with a sight. Hearing that, Kuroyukihime who was sitting right in front, gave a small snort.

“That guy’s ?Duel? absolute values are small. The points needed to reach level 9, seemed to be mostly gained by solo hunting Enemy. Doing that alone could be said to be a great feat, though...”

“Hahaa...”

Haruyuki again leaked out a long sigh. For the variants of ?Enemy? stalking the Unlimited Neutral Field, even the small fry class hold outrageous combat power and when they are felled with difficulty, not many points are earned. For Haruyuki who love ?Earning humble experience points? in normal RPGs, he felt that he would avoid Enemy hunting as long as he was not in negative from normal duels.

Without even realizing that he was respectfully looked at from afar as a ?Level Up Craftsman?, the Green King approached the pillar between the Blue King and Niko with steady steps, then sat down there heavily. Same as the Yellow King, he participated without any companion.

He became silent without saying anything, but no one seemed to think that it was unnatural. Somehow he seem to be established as a very non-talkative character.

Returning his face forward, Haruyuki took a deep breath.

For the strongest ?Kings? entry scenes, after continuing till now, he finally got used to the pressures. Actually, his slightly shaking both knees had some time ago steadied, and the cold paralysis had disappeared from his hands.

‘—— That’s right, there is no need to be scared of anything. I am also, the Black King, Black Lotus’ underling... no, ?Child?. I just need to be casual like Raker-san.’

Hearing what he said to himself inside, he puffed up his chest —— or was going to, since at that moment,

“...e...!?”

Attacked by the feeling of a cold hand grasping his heart, Haruyuki had his highest ranking cringing with fear yet.

‘—— What is... this.’

‘—— Killing instinct...? No, not something like that. Much more assertive... the intent of elimination. Going to execute me, exile me out of accelerated world kind of... silent announcement...’

Crunch. Crunch.

From somewhere, high pitched footstep echos came.

Even while paralyzed, he desperately listened. North. The shape that walked towards the front of the half circle where Kings sat, approached with footsteps. With his tense head screeching, he looked that way.

Beyond the thick fog, was one silhouette.

From seeing just the shadow, he was positive that it was a female avatar. Since the long hair parts and the skirt type armor were swaying. The waist was an impossibly slim hourglass, and both legs were also like needles.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. The sharp footstep like swords stabbing into the ground, was probably caused by spike-->>

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