Chapter 10

Crimson.

The first thing that Haruyuki saw once they had passed through the tiny gap of the Imperial Palace’s south gate and had finally escaped to the outside world was that.

Swirling, raging deep crimson flames. However, it was not mere heat energy. The hieroglyphic shape of a huge bird possessing two enormous wings, a long neck, and two eyes that glinted like rubies.

The super-class enemy, the ?Divine Beast Suzaku?.

“Wh..why, has he materialized already..!”

Utai, who was clinging tightly to his neck, had shouted that in a hoarse voice.

Likewise, Haruyuki had also been surprised. Suzaku, who safeguarded the south gate, would begin to pop out above the altar established by the gate of the bridge at the point in time when someone intruded on his territory, which consisted of the large bridge of a total of five hundred meters in length and thirty meters in width. The time till he materialized and began to take action was about five seconds the last time they had witnessed it. As for Haruyuki, he had calculated to be able to escape from the gate and fly a considerable distance during the interval till Suzaku’s appearance.

Despite that, due to whatever reason, at the point in time where the two had left the gate Suzaku had already finished materializing. The distance between them was only about thirty meters. Haruyuki desperately spread the wings on his back and exerted his brakes, avoiding a collision with the bird of fire.

However, at his back the south gate was already tightly shut. Even if they returned, it would not open again. Last time, why the gate had allowed Haruyuki and Utai in was because Trilead—true name ?Azure Heir? had destroyed the seal plate for them in advance, but with every cycle of opening and closing the seal seemed to regenerate.

It seemed likely that Lead would be attacked by the ten-plus guard enemies and would perish, so obviously they could not hope for him to cut the plate again. What was what, if here they returned inside once more, they would have no face to meet with Lead, who had sent them out prepared to die himself.

—They had no choice but to slip through Suzaku’s flames and fly to the other side of the bridge.

Brushing aside his momentary hesitation, Haruyuki resolved himself to do so. Their enemy who possessed the name of a god and was staying practically right before their eyes looked fixedly at the two with his ruby eyes.

Abruptly, he had the feeling he heard a voice.

—Very puny one.

—Atone for the sin of laying waste to my sacred lands and slipping through them impertinently.

—Burn to ashes.

Predicting that a breath attack would come, Haruyuki concentrated with all his might, trying to make out its path.

However, the bird of fire did not open his beak but spread his enormous wings wide and flapped them strongly once.

“..No!”

The one who had shouted was Utai. At the same time, Haruyuki saw the bright-red, super-intense heat wave Suzaku’s wings had produced surge forth in a hemispherical shape. Not a line, but a face attack. No matter where he flew, there was nowhere to escape.

No way..were they going to die here? This easily? Going through all that pain, passing through the Imperial Palace’s inner sanctuary, and having the gate opened in exchange for Lead’s life—despite that, were they going to be arrested here in the cage of ?Infinite EK?..

“—I will not..let you do so!!”

In the arms of Haruyuki, whose thoughts had begun to fall into a stop, the young?miko?had shouted fearlessly.

She extended her small left hand out far. From that exceedingly slender palm, a scarlet wave greatly resembling Suzaku’s wave attack was released.

The instant the two energy waves made contact, a dazzling white light thoroughly colored the world.

The center of Suzaku’s heat wave was offset in a circular shape; the heat wave became a ring and passed through their surroundings with a deafening roar.

And then simultaneously, perhaps having received some sort of damage feedback, Ardor Maiden’s left arm instantly evaporated from the tip of her shoulder down.

“W..ah..”

With a thin scream, the body of the?miko?convulsed. Perhaps unable to stand the real, intense pain that the Unlimited Neutral Field caused to occur, in that state she made her head deeply droop.

Tightly embracing the body of Utai, who had lost consciousness, Haruyuki squeezed out all his remaining energy and reactivated his fighting spirit.

Fly. —Fly! If I don’t fly here, there was no meaning in having been born as an aviation-class avatar!

“Wh..oooaaaaa—!!”

Bellowing, he made his wings vibrate with all the power he had; Haruyuki charged straight forth.

On the other side ahead, Suzaku was again unfurling his wings. The same attack would come again. Earlier than damage could occur, he would run through it.

—Let us make it in time..!!

—However. Before Haruyuki’s eyes, like a heat haze the air shimmered and began to glisten red. The surface of his avatar began to be scorched in bits. A feeling of heat that seemed to blind his eyes assaulted him, and his HP gauge, which had close to ninety percent remaining, began to decrease..

Right after.

Again, an unexpected phenomenon impeded Suzaku’s attack.

Lances of light of two colors, red and blue, that had rushed toward the back of the enormous bird pierced his left and right wings.

He recollected having seen those colors of attacks. The blue was ?Lightning Cyan Spike?. The special technique of Cyan Pile—his good friend Takumu.

And then the red was ?Vorpal Strike?. The special technique of Black Lotus—Haruyuki’s parent, master, and the person whom he respected and loved more than anyone else, Kuroyukihime.

Suzaku’s super-intense heat wave, which was on the verge of causing Haruyuki’s and Utai’s bodies to evaporate, was torn to pieces and disappeared.

Grazing the large feathers enveloped in flames, Haruyuki at last passed to the rear of the Divine Beast Suzaku.

However, obviously the enemy changed direction, and while he apprehended Haruyuki with eyes smoldering with indignation, this time he opened his bill wide. A breath attack—.

That moment.

Haruyuki, who was plunging forward with all his strength and aiming for the south side of the large bridge, and a silhouette that had come flying at a fearsomely high velocity from that side crossed.

The perceptions of Haruyuki, who was accelerating to his limit, grasped the identity of that shadow precisely.

Burst Linkers. Not one, but two. The one below was a sky-blue duel avatar carrying a streamline-type booster on her back. The vice executive of Nega Nebulas who possessed the alias ?ICBM?, Sky Raker.

And then on her back there was one more person kneeling low. A jet black duel avatar possessing obsidian armor and long swords for her four limbs—the ?Black King? Black Lotus. The blue-white flarebacks extending long from Raker’s Enhanced Armament, ?Gale Thruster?, dyed her semitransparent armor a beautiful sapphire color.

The instant they crossed paths, Raker—Fuuko, and Lotus—Kuroyukihime gazed at Haruyuki with madder red and blue-violet eyes and smiled gently. The two’s voices directly reverberated in his mind.

..Welcome back, Karasu-san. Leave Suzaku to us.

..We’re entrusting the legion’s future to you, Haruyuki-kun. Now then, fly. Without looking back, straight ahead.

The stretched-out flow of time returned to its original state; Haruyuki, who was holding Utai in his arms, and Fuuko, who was giving Kuroyukihime a lift, rapidly drifted apart.

“Ah..”

Unable to apply the brakes on himself while flying at full speed, while only letting out a mere scream-like voice Haruyuki craned his neck with all his might and caught sight of the view at his rear on the edge of his field of vision.

Fuuko and Kuroyukihime, who had become a single warhead, skimmed past the vicinity of the right eye of Suzaku, who seemed just about to spit out a fatal flame breath now. Black Lotus’ right arm flashed and cut up the enemy’s eye in a straight line. Flames resembling blood spouted out in great quantities, and the strange bird roared with a howl of anger.

Suzaku stopped his breath attack and began to revolve his massive frame north again. His target had switched from Haruyuki to Kuroyukihime and company. Basically—

The two of them had a mind to die.

Their self-sacrifice was in a sense both equivalent to and different from that of the young warrior Trilead, who had attracted ten-odd bodyguard enemies in order to allow Haruuki to escape from the gate. The reason was that unlike Lead, who could avoid the state of infinite EK by immediately moving into a safe area the next time he respawned, Kuroyukihime and Fuuko had nowhere to escape at all. There was just the rectangular altar behind Suzaku—the very spot where Ardor Maiden had been ?sealed?—and if they died there, even the next time they respawned they would only be assaulted quickly by Suzaku and would instantly die again.

Kuroyukihime and the others had probably witnessed Suzaku′s sudden materialization while standing by and had seen through the fact that that was an action meant to hinder Haruyuki and Utai from escaping. And then they had resolved to do it in a moment. Letting them escape by using themselves as bait. Even if both Kuroyukihime and Fuuko became sealed.

—That was out of the question.

That was out of the question. It was absolutely out. The only existing goal for which Haruyuki was fighting as a Burst Linker was that of reviving Nega Nebulas and arriving together with Kuroyukihime beyond the ?level 10? horizon for which she longed. What meaning was there in sacrificing his legion master and sub-master and having only himself survive?

Haruyuki was assailed by a momentary conflict; at that time.

From below his path, a sharp hail reached him.

“Haru!!”

Taken aback, he turned his eyes there. The one greatly raising his left hand at a spot about two hundred meters from the foot of the bridge was a large-class avatar who had heavy light-blue armor, Cyan Pile. And then next to him was a yellow-green lightweight avatar, Lime Bell.

“Haru—!!”

Bell also shouted in a voice with all her might and greatly revolved the large bell equipped in her left hand. At the same time that an airy chime sound rang out, the bell was enveloped in a light effect of a fresh green color.

“—?Citron Ca—ll?!!”

Together with the enunciation of her technique name, she swung her hand bell straight down. The lime green light that effused out warmly wrapped up Haruyuki, who was in the middle of flight.

The damage received from the duels versus enemies inside the Imperial Palace and Suzaku’s heat wave from just a little bit earlier was healed in a twinkle. However, the wounds of Utai, who was still unconscious in his arms, remained as they were. Citron Call’s effect target was a single body, so it could not have two people recover simultaneously, but then in that case should she not have healed Ardor Maiden first, whose damage was great?

For an instant, Haruyuki had difficulty grasping the intention of Chiyuri, who was restoring Silver Crow’s health gauge here and now. However, the shouting voice that Takumu subsequently emitted dispelled Haruyuki’s bewilderment.

“Haru, leave Maiden-san to us!”

“..!!”

Haruyuki opened his eyes wide—right after, without hesitating he passed the body of Ardor Maiden, who was in his arms, to the outstretched arms of Cyan Pile below. Elevating his body, which had become light, in one go, he entered a loop turn with a tight radius. Piercing through the air howling in his ears, Chiyuri’s voice reached him.

“Haru, Senpai and Nee-san..!”

“—Got it, leave it to me!!”

Haruyuki’s two childhood friends had hesitated, suffered, and decided it in his stead. That they would not let Kuroyukihime and Fuuko die here. That by all costs, they would go home with everyone together.

Backed by Takumu and Chiyuri’s emotions, Haruyuki soared again northward.

On his path, the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had likewise turned northward, was craning his long neck in the shape of an S and opening his beak wide. There were maybe five..no, three seconds till a super-intense heat breath would be released.

In front of his line of fire, Sky Raker, who was carrying Black Lotus on her back, descended, drawing out a parabola. Gale Thruster’s jet exhaust flickered irregularly and was on the verge of disappearing. That Enhanced Armament displayed overwhelming thrust, but once it used up its energy, there was a long recharge time that was imposed till the next time one could fly. There were no longer any means for the two to escape from Suzaku’s flames. From his vast bill, a glimmering orange light spilled out. The surrounding atmosphere became a heat haze and shimmered—.

—I won’t..let you do that!!

“Wh..oooooooooa—!!”

With a force that burnt up all his remaining special technique gauge, Haruyuki caused the metallic fins on his back to vibrate. A faint light surrounded Silver Crow’s whole body. Penetrating the wall of wind pressure with the fingertips of his sharply extended hands, his avatar became a lance and soared.

Suzaku, whose right eye had been smashed by Kuroyukihime’s crushing blow, did not notice Haruyuki approaching from that side. Haruyuki plunged forth on a course that nearly grazed the large bird’s visage. He passed a couple dozen centimeters by the right side of his beak, which was trying to spit out a conflagration at that very moment. In one stretch, he sprung out to the enemy’s front.

At his back, overwhelming waves of indignation toward him, the obstacle, were produced.

In front, the two Burst Linkers opened their eyes wide in shock.

“Why..!?”

“Haruyuki-kun..!!”

With a momentum that made him nearly crash into them, under both arms Haruyuki carried the bodies of the two, who were trying to shout as if gasping. He held the slender waists of Sky Raker and Black Lotus, who were nearly equal size-wise, with all his strength, and in one gulp he changed his flight direction upward.

Their situation fairly resembled that of the ?Ardor Maiden rescue strategy? the day before yesterday, where he had picked up Utai, who had appeared in the center of the altar, from the south. However, one thing that was different was that unlike Utai, who was on the ground, Kuroyukihime and Fuuko were still maintaining an approximate elevation of twenty meters. From here, they still had the leeway to change their direction toward their sole escape route—namely, straight up.

Abruptly, their surroundings were stained a deep crimson. Suzaku had fired his flame breath at last. An overwhelming torrent of heat-attribute damage was imminent; if they took that hit directly, no matter what kind of Burst Linkers they were they would not elude evaporation.

“G..rrr..”

Clenching his teeth and bearing it, Haruyuki soared vertically with all the power he had.

Tch; the tips of his toes had grazed something. In one gulp, over a tenth of his health gauge was scraped away. He had probably touched not the main body of the breath but its surrounding damage zone, but he did not look down. He only glared at the cloudy blue-black sky of the ?Demonic City? stage and flew.

Even the slightest deviation from his path would not be tolerated. The reason was that super-gravity had been set on the left and right of the large bridge, which was a flight-prohibited zone, and invisible barriers extended infinitely along the gate of the Imperial Palace as well as the sky above the castle walls. The instant he touched those, his flight would be impeded, and they would fall.

What was permitted was only perfectly vertical ascension. He would fly straight up as far as he could fly, cutting off Suzaku’s target. After that, he would draw a large arc due south, fall down, and escape to the south side of the large bridge—.

Passing through the wind that howled like a dog, Kuroyukihime’s whisper resounded at his right ear’s side.

“..Good grief, you really..”

Following that, at his left ear was Fuuko’s suppressed laugh.

“Fufu.., somehow, I had the feeling it would turn out like this.”

“I’m sorry..after we return, I will fully apologize!”

Answering like that in the same manner as that of the day before yesterday, Haruyuki made the silver wings on his back quiver even more—

“Ah..!”

The one who had shouted was Fuuko. Feeling that something was abnormal, this time Haruyuki reflexively looked down.

The figure of the huge bird clad in flames could be seen to be surprisingly near. However, why. Though they had already reached an altitude near three hundred meters.

Basically—he had chased after them. The Divine Beast Suzaku, the protector beast who supposedly would not leave the south large bridge, its territory, was also ascending himself and was tailing Haruyuki and company.

The one remaining left eye of the enemy was narrowed as if sneering at them. Inside Haruyuki’s mind, a grave voice reverberated.

—Foolish.

—You cannot escape from my twin wings with those sham wings.

At the same time, Suzaku violently rang his wings, which were extended out twenty meters from side to side. His massive frame steadily accelerated, and the distance between them shortened.

“Kk..!”

Glaring straight up again, Haruyuki tried to raise his speed further.

However, immediately after, he noticed a terrible truth.

His special technique gauge, which was supposed to have been fully charged when he had taken off inside the Imperial Palace, was already beginning to be depleted. However, if he thought about it that too was obvious. He had continued to fly all-out carrying first Utai, then Kuroyukihime and Fuuko; even if his gauge were consumed at a pace even several times faster than that of when he flew solo, it wouldn’t be odd.

—However, if his thrust were lost here, they would rapidly be burnt by Suzaku’s flames, and the three of them would die all together. And then their respawn point was directly under, basically the altar before the Imperial Palace’s south gate. Without a doubt, all of them would fall into the state of infinite EK.

While fixing his eyes on his special technique gauge, which was vanishing at a fearsome speed dot by dot, with a momentary thought Haruyuki examined all the action options he had.

Letting just Kuroyukihime and Fuuko escape? —Impossible. If they fell from this height, they would die instantly from the fall damage, and before that they would be killed by Suzaku, who was chasing them from directly below.

Escape south right now with a loop turn? —Impossible. In a state of being targeted by Suzaku, even if they turned, before they managed to reach the surface they would just take a direct breath blow.

Having the two of them attack Silver Crow on purpose and having his special technique gauge charged again? —Impossible. If their speed slackened even slightly when he received damage, they would rapidly be seized by Suzaku’s attack range.

They could only fly.

Even if his gauge were exhausted. Even if it was proclaimed that in the Brain Burst program, flight greater than this was not permitted. He would fly, destroying the system’s limits with the power of imagination and overwrite the phenomenon of inability to fly.

Image. A true image of ?soaring?.

The sole and greatest power conferred to the duel avatar ?Silver Crow? of ?flight ability? had, in the Accelerated World, taken the shape of the emotional trauma that Haruyuki had always continued to carry.

His trauma was, namely, the feeling of wanting to run away. Cutting himself loose from the ground, which was full of things he detested, and wanting to go a place that was high to the ends of the world, far to the ends of the world. Wanting to go to a world that shook off anything and everything and where only the speed of light existed. And then, wanting to forget everything.

However—.

At present, Haruyuki was questioning whether that was really ?flying?.

There was no bird that could continue to fly forever. They all ate, slept, and accumulated strength in order to fly for a while. Living to fly. Flying to live. Those two were one and were inseparable.

If so, even without wings at their backs, people in the real world too could definitely fly. Carrying what they were aiming for and what they wanted to overcome in their hearts, forming an image of those things’ realization, and advancing one step, one step at a time. Not facing downward and being swept along from day to day while harboring discontent but looking fixedly at the sky—the place they wanted to reach someday, and actively stepping forth. When they could do that, people would undoubtedly make their invisible wings flutter and would fly.

“..Fly..!”

While staring with all his heart at the sky of the Unlimited Neutral Field swirling with dark clouds, Haruyuki yelled briefly.

Not causing his propulsion-use objects, his so-called metallic fins, to vibrate due to numerical energy, his so-to-speak special technique gauge—.

Making the wings produced from his own heart beat due to the power of his image and flying.

In the past, at the apex of the Old Tokyo Tower, Fuuko, who had first initiated Haruyuki into the Incarnate system, had said it. That “If it’s you, then one day you may become able to fly in the sky with Mind Power alone. However, it will take an unbelievably long time for that.”

As both a Burst Linker and a user of Mind Power, Haruyuki was still a fledgling. Neither his training nor his experience was sufficient at all.

However, if he were to fly, then it was now. If he were unable to fly now, then for what purpose had he been born crowned with the name of ?Silver Crow?1?

Imagine. Imagine. The meaning of flying. The meaning of kicking the ground and aiming for the sky.

In Haruyuki’s vision, the phantom of a small scops owl flapping its white wings and soaring twinkled.

“—Fly, Crow!!”

At his right side, Kuroyukihime.

“Fly, Karasu-san!!”

At his left side, Fuuko shouted.

They all melted together into one silver imagination, ran through Haruyuki’s body, and cohered at both his shoulder blades. And then, with the eyes in his heart, Haruyuki watched them. The ten metal fins extending from Silver Crow’s back sparkling dazzlingly, changing shape, and being overwritten into genuine ?wings? resembling those of birds of prey.

“Wh..o..ooooooa—!!”

At the same time Haruyuki bellowed, the last dot of his special technique gauge ran out. However, the thrust accelerating his entire body toward the sky did not disappear.

Flapping his wings, which were shining in a glaring silver color, with all the power he had, Haruyuki sonorously intoned the name of a new Incarnate technique welling up from the depths of his heart.

“—?Light..Speed2?—!!”

Page 307

Pah..his entire vision was surrounded in a silver resplendence. He approached the phantom of the scops owl flying slightly ahead, touched it, and assimilated with it. While carrying two duel avatars, with a fearsome acceleration he had not experienced before Haruyuki soared. The thick clouds of the ?Demonic City? stager drew rapidly near, and with a slight feeling of resistance he rushed into them.

The landscape was lost and was blotted out into a monochromatic deep gray. However, immediately a crimson light shone from below. Suzaku was pursuing them even further. The enemy’s ascension speed was also clearly increasing. The two bodies of contrasting size in flight vertically pierced the sky of the Accelerated World while drawing silver and crimson paths—.

A number of seconds later, suddenly his view became clear.

An unbounded sky tinged azure that seemed to absorb them. Below, a pure white sea of clouds that stretched out to the ends of the world. He could no longer even imagine how many hundreds, no, thousands of meters high their altitude was. However, Haruyuki flapped his silver wings still more powerfully.

With a sound of impact like a?bo, a vast hole was opened in the sea of clouds below. From its depths, what appeared was a giant bird clad in flames that blazed a still greater bright red. Filling one eye to the brim with the volition of burning the trespassers who had twice invaded his territory to ashes by any means, the Divine Beast Suzaku plunged forth at almost the same speed as Haruyuki, who was flying with the power of Mind Power.

—As you desire..follow me if you can!!

Roaring inside his mind, Haruyuki squeezed out all the imagination that he had and beat his silver wings.

The tint of his surroundings gradually changed. From azure to ultramarine, and then to black. Beyond, a number of miniscule points of light flickered. They were stars.

Furthermore, he noticed narrow silver threads glittering vertically in a space separated far from him to his front right. That was—the ?Hermes Cord?. It was the low-orbit-class space elevator that went around at a super-high altitude in the Accelerated World. It was probably just traveling in the Tokyo vicinity.

Before long, his ascension speed gradually began to become dull. Haruyuki’s Mind Power had not weakened. It was not that; they had reached the limiting altitude of his ?wings?.

As much as he tried to override things with his imagination, as long as the propulsion engine extending from Haruyuki’s back was wings, he could not fly without air. That was right—here was already nearly outer space.

The deep crimson brilliance below them hot on their heels sharply weakened. At the same time, a roar filled with rage from the great bird swayed the very thin air.

While stopping the beating of his wings and ascending leisurely with only inertia, Haruyuki looked down. The flames covering at all times the entire body of the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had closely tailed the three of them up to here, had nearly disappeared. It was because the surrounding oxygen was quite thin. His feathers, which had become exposed and were a glossy red, were covered in white frost from their tips—.

“—Now’s our chance!”

All of a sudden, Kuroyukihime had shouted.

“Crow, let go! Raker, you can fly, right!?”

Haruyuki reflexively opened up his arms, and in the world that had nearly no gravity, the jet black and light blue avatars drifted lightly. Fuuko nodded firmly, and turned her back to Kuroyukihime.

“Of course, Lotus!”

“All right!”

Black Lotus securely held Sky Raker’s back with her legs. With a turn, Raker changed the orientation of her body and lit a blue light at the nozzle of the Enhanced Armament that was recharged to the extent where there was an energy gauge.

“—Let’s go!!”

Briefly announcing that, Fuuko unhesitatingly opened her booster full throttle.

While trailing blue-white flames, the two integrated avatars aimed at the Divine Beast who was cruising below and charged fiercely. Different from Haruyuki’s wings, the ?Gale Thruster? that Sky Raker possessed was an energy-jet-type propulsion engine. Only she could fly even in space, where there was no atmosphere.

While the Divine Beast Suzaku caused his left eye to burn with a dreadful rage, he widened both his half-frozen wings and tried to engage the two. However, however much he flapped his wings his massive frame hardly moved. Giving up on advancing forward, he opened his beak and tried to emit a flame breath, but even preheating it seemed to take more time than on the ground.

“Too slow!!”

Kuroyukihime gave a cry, opened the swords of her two arms wide at Fuuko’s back, and in that state drew them tight backward in the shape of the letter V. It was a motion Haruyuki was seeing for the first time. Her twin swords were enveloped in a white-blue splendor that reminded him of fixed stars.

“HA..AAAAA..!”

A relentless shout of vigor poured forth, and her arms’ aura focused at several points of light. They were eight apiece in number left and right; in total, sixteen. Accompanied by the confluence of light that was just like an enormous constellation, Kuroyukihime made her voice, which seemed to reach the ends of the universe, resound in a dignified manner.

“?Starburst..Stream3?—!!”

Her two swords struck alternately at a speed so great his eyes did not catch them. With each blow, a ?star? that shone blue-white was fired one at a time, became a meteor, and directly hit Suzaku, who was far in the distance. Each time, a tremendous impact boomed and rocked Haruyuki’s body.

At the meteors, which had ridden even Sky Raker’s super-accelerated energy, were fired into him one after another, even the Divine Beast Suzaku had to strew about a shrill scream. From the huge body of the enemy who had lost his armor of flames, bright red feathers and damage scatter-->>

next page