Digital Devil Story: Warrior of the Demon City

by Aya Nishitani

  At last, Set had decided to fight directly.

  The surface of his protoplasmic membrane rippled, and as the tower of flesh undulated, it came over Narukawa's head like a tsunami. Not retreating a step, Narukawa fired an arrow of light at the fleshy pillar, which stabbed deep into it with a slimy sound. But that appeared to have done no damage to Set whatsoever.

  "Hurry! Hurry and escape with Nakajima! Hurry, while I hold him off! He is an important warrior!" Narukawa cried out to Feed.

  "...OK. Good luck!" Nodding regretfully, Feed smacked Nakajima in the back of the head with his pistol as he tried to run and help Narukawa.

  "Kerberos, run!" Putting Nakajima's unconscious body on Kerberos' back with surprising speed for a man of his age, Feed leapt up onto the beast after him.

  "Forgive me, Narukawa." As if in response to the tear-choked cry, volleys of light beams fired into Set's body again and again. But they soon became less and less frequent, and the Soga Forest was again surrounded in an eerie silence. The fleshy pillar writhed into the sky triumphantly, and increased the speed at which it fused the demon and human worlds together. In the center of that protoplasmic mass, Yumiko, tied to the Egyptian cross, cried tears of blood.

  PART 6:

  DEMON CITY

  CHAPTER 1

  "There was nothing we could have done. If he hadn't sacrificed himself so that we could get away, neither of us would be alive right now." Feed's voice sounded distant.

  Sitting on the soft leather sofa, Nakajima finally opened his heavy eyelids and looked outside the window in a half-awake, half-asleep daze. At some point the wounds on his arms and legs had been bound in bandages, but he had no memory of who had treated them or when they did.

  As if unaware that Musashino had turned into a demon city, the cars on the freeway sped past, their headlights forming a river of light. For a brief moment, Nakajima thought he saw the smiling face of Narukawa-turned-Tsukuyomi in those lights. More importantly, Nakajima could not understand why Narukawa had gone so far to protect him, even in defiance of his own organization. He could only think that there had been some sort of connection between them that defied logic, much like his own connection with Yumiko. All he wanted to do now is cling to the hope, however, small, that Narukawa had survived somehow.

  "Hey, where are we?" Nakajima opened his mouth as if something had just come to him.

  "We're in the American embassy. We're safe here." Almost right after Feed's reply came a knock on the door. A tall, elderly gentleman entered the room.

  "How is our guest doing, Professor?"

  The man's gentle, slender face turned toward Nakajima, and Nakajima realized that he had seen this person on television several times before. It was Blackwood, the American Ambassador to Japan.

  "He looks a lot better. Thank you." Feed responded with a calm expression that Nakajima had never seen on the man before. Looking at Feed speak so casually with an important American government official and getting a glimpse of just how broad the professor's world was, Nakajima felt a twinge of loneliness. He knew better than anyone else that he had no place that he belonged at the moment. As he hung his head in shame, the Ambassador appeared to have mistaken it for anxiety and came over to shake his hand.

  "Everything's all right. Professor Feed has told me everything. We will never hand you over to the Japanese government, even if they demand it." Blackwood's Japanese was flawless.

  Nakajima said nothing and took the man's warm hand to shake it.

  "By the way, Ambassador, have you arranged for a jet?"

  "We've got an F14 waiting. It'll depart for the US at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."

  "Thank you, Ambassador."

  "No need to thank me. Say hi to the President for me."

  As if waiting for the ambassador to disappear behind the door, Nakajima spoke to Feed.

  "Are you going back to America, Professor?"

  "Yes. About that..."

  Feed sat down on the sofa across from Nakajima and leaned forward. His eyes were glittering like those of a mischievous child.

  "I've finally discovered a fool-proof way to banish the demon."

  "What!?"

  "I know it's difficult to believe, but this is a sure thing. Remember what I said a while back? If there are two magnetic fields that simultaneously attempted to summon a demon, if the difference in their strengths was large enough, the demon would automatically be pulled to the field that was stronger. What is it that determines how strong the magnetic field would be?"

  "The makeup of the atmosphere, gravity, the geomagnetic polarity...and the state of mind of the people would probably also have a large effect as well."

  "You've got it. I'd have expected nothing less from my best pupil." At some point, Feed had decided that Nakajima was his student. Confused, Nakajima shook his head at Feed's words.

  "Don't you understand what I'm getting at? Here, take a hypothetical example. What do you think would happen if you could create a magnetic field that had no interference from the atmosphere, gravity, and geomagnetism?"

  "Well, of course, in theory it would be immensely powerful. But trying to artificially create such an environment would take enormous amounts of time and money, and..."

  As if he had thought of something, Nakajima stopped in the middle of his sentence.

  "I get it! In outer space! You're going to use a satellite!"

  Feed nodded in satisfaction.

  "There's no way to predict what a demon banished into outer space would do. But if we were able to pull Set onto a satellite raised into dead orbit, he would never be able to meddle on Earth again so long as the computer kept running. There would be plenty of time to develop a weapon capable of taking him out in the meantime. I have to return to the US to get the government's approval to use a satellite in dead orbit."

  "Is there a satellite with a computer powerful enough to summon a demon?"

  "Of course. My country has launched a satellite in geosynchronous dead orbit at 135 degrees East as a base to control the future SDI satellites. Currently it's only operating at 30% capacity. It'd be perfect for summoning Set." Feed's voice was full of confidence.

  "What will you do? Trying to take on Set all by yourself at this point would be nothing but foolishness. I would think it be best for you to stay here until everything is resolved..."

  As if chasing an illusion, Nakajima's eyes drifted to the window.

  "I think your plan has a very high chance of succeeding. But there's something you forgot, Professor."

  "What?"

  "If you pull off your plan, Set's temporary body, which is currently fusing the human world with the demon world, will experience a tremendous shock as its environment suddenly changes. I think it would be safe to say there would be no chance of saving Yumiko, who is currently inside him."

  Feed was silent.

  "I'm going to fight Set again. But before that, I want to find the goddess Izanami. Izanami may have some wisdom as to what to do..."

  "So I fight for humanity, and you fight for your girlfriend. Well, that's fine, then."

  Feed stood up and offered Nakajima his hand.

  CHAPTER 2

  Early the next morning, two Cadillacs under heavy guard drove away from the mist-enshrouded American Embassy toward the west. One headed to the Yokosuka Military Base, and the other headed west down the Tomei Expressway. A black sedan tried to follow them, but perhaps was afraid of the guard, as it quietly made a U-turn as soon as the two cars split up to head to their respective destinations.

  CHAPTER 3

  Later that afternoon, Shimazaki visited Ota's office in Nagatacho. Not yet aware that Isma had died, he drew closer to Ota with an air of confidence.

  "Now you've done it, Chief Secretary. Professor Feed has left the country!"

  "You said that all you wanted is for his project to be dissolved, so what's the problem? I'd have thought yo
u'd be pleased that he decided to leave the country of his own accord."

  "That's true, but that high school student Nakajima has apparently disappeared..."

  "Oh, come off it! Do you really think someone of my stature can be bothered with some high school student?" Ota's voice was laden with irritation.

  "He might become a great interference in our plan."

  "Our plan?" Ota looked at Shimazaki haughtily.

  "I don't ever remember asking you for anything. Events just happened to turn in my favor, that's all. Rather than dealing with that sort of nonsense, rumors of the bizarre occurrences in Musashino Ward has become a real problem for the cabinet. Using Fujita and Hamano I've managed to keep things from getting out, but if things start spreading to the 23 wards, we can't just sit by and do nothing. You better ask your precious Saint to stop playing demon."

  "I'll do what I can..." Shimazaki responded with a long face.

  Without Isma, he had no teeth; Shimazaki could not approach the opening to the demon world. Furthermore, since he didn't know just how much power the demons had, if Ota put on a bold front, there was nothing he could do to counteract him.

  "At this rate, we may just have to use the SDF." Watching Shimazaki's expression, Ota spoke as if trying to gauge his reaction.

  "After all this, you want to oppose the demons!?"

  "Too much of even the best medicine will make you overdose. It wouldn't bother me in the least of the demons just up and vanished."

  "If the demons heard you saying something like that..." Shimazaki was clearly losing his compsore.

  "Oh, don't worry. What I say now will never leave this room. At all..."

  Baring his teeth in a grin, Ota snapped his fingers. A tall man who was waiting in the adjacent room approached casually. Ota pointing with a jerk of his head, the man slipped around behind Shimazaki. Shimazaki stiffened reflexively and a slight stabbing pain shot into his thick neck.

  "What are you doing!?" Shimazaki leaped up from the sofa.

  "I won't let anyone try to pull anything funny on me--even you, Mr. Ota!"

  However, greasy blobs of sweat were already appearing on his red face, and his legs started wobbling.

  "You'll die painlessly. That was an anesthetic they use to execute prisoners in Texas. Go ahead, take a nap...though you'll never wake up."

  "What...?" Shimazaki's body tumbled forward as he bit hard down on his lip.

  "OK, Kuroda. I leave the rest to you. The Cabinet is waiting for me."

  Acting as if nothing had happened, Ota strolled out of the room, not once looking at Shimazaki's corpse sprawled on the floor.

  CHAPTER 4

  In his manor, about a dozen reporters were crowded around Prime Minister Nakasone, who remained impeccably dressed in a business suit despite the heat of the summer.

  "Prime Minister, what is this emergency cabinet meeting about?"

  "Is there any progress regarding this autumn's election?"

  There was no end to the reporters' questions. But there was a look of irritation on every one of their faces. The mass disappearances centered around Musashino Ward were now an open secret. But under strict orders of silence, none of them could ask nothing about it.

  While Set had craftily been gathering only the residents of an individual ward, after losing Isma, his Assiah-word co-conspirator, he had started indiscriminately absorbing humans from all over. The situation had gone far beyond the point where it could be concealed.

  "I only wish I had the answers you are looking for." Leaving this one comment, the Prime Minister disappeared into the cabinet room with a pained expression on his face.

  "I have been waiting for you, Prime Minister." Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita's cracking voice called to Nakasone as he entered the cabinet chamber.

  The prime minister looked painfully at the tired face of the loyal retainer who had been the motivator of his rise to power.

  He's been the one who has been fiercely insisting on keeping the disappearances quiet. Now that things have gotten as bad as they are now, I have no choice but to make him take responsibility.

  Having to do so was one of the weights on the Prime Minister's mind. He had no way of knowing that the Chief Cabinet Secretary was possessed by an Apep.

  "Minister of Home Affairs, report on the situation."

  "As of 10:00 Am this morning, the number of those missing ranks at 42,500. The areas hit have spread to Nerima Ward and Suginami Ward in the east, and Koganei City in the west. Immediate measures must be taken." Minister of Home Affairs Hanashi, who had been forbidden to send out any search teams, replied with an irritated voice.

  "Have a look at the area right now." Defense Minister Kurihara stood and pressed a button on the table.

  The image of the streets of Musashino City flickered on a screen in front of them.

  "This is footage taken from one of our RPVs. (Remotely Piloted Vehicles)"

  Since Set had started indiscriminately hunting people, the veil of fog that had blanketed the area had started to clear more and more, and the RPV sent a clear picture of the surroundings for two meters all around to the liquid crystal display. The business district in by Kichijoji station, the great green scenery of Inogashira Park, and quiet residential districts sped by onscreen. The image looked eerily peaceful as hardly anything onscreen was moving at all. Spinning the dial by his hand, Kurihara zoomed in on the screen. The rays of the sun reflected off the hoods of abandoned cars strewn about Inogashira Avenue. Cats wandered the human-free town as if they owned it.

  "What on earth is going on?" Murmurs broke out in the room.

  Shortly the RPV started moving toward the west. All of a sudden, it appeared as if the scenery onscreen had changed to that of a tropical jungle.

  "What the hell is that?" There was a stir amongst the entire cabinet.

  Manipulating the dial, Kurihara zoomed the camera in even further, and its bizarre form filled the screen.

  The wet, slimy, gelatinous thing appeared to be an immensely enormous one-celled organism. It was clearly alive, as the membrane enveloping its central core throbbed gently. Silently, Kurihara moved the RPV, rotating it around the otherworldy creature, which appeared to be like a skyscraper of flesh jutting into the sky.

  "Hey, isn't that a human?"

  Nobody responded to Nakasone's exclamation. The ghastliness of the scenery had stunned everyone. A line of people, hundreds of them, led out of the forest, advancing toward the tower. As they approached it, they tore off their clothes and naked, extended their arms in front of them like sleepwalkers before being absorbed into the protoplasm. The transparent jelly dissolved their bodies almost instantaneously, fusing them with the lump of meat that was its nucleus.

  "Chief Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Minister Hamano, it was you two who so forcefully suggested we cover this up, no...?" The speaker was Minster of Education Shiokawa. But even the Minister of Education's voice, known wide for its forceful complaints, sounded dry and scratchy.

  "This was an unexpected development. There's nothing we could have done!" The words sounded nothing like those of the Prime Minister's right-hand-man, the man so well-known by everyone for being forthright and honest.

  Has he gone mad?

  The thought was in everyone's heads as the sound of a telephone broke the silence.

  "I told you to shut out all calls during the cabinet meeting, no matter what they were!" The officer that picked up the phone spoke into it in a hushed voice, but as soon as he heard the speaker on the other end, his face drained of color.

  "Prime Minister, we have an emergency phone call from President Reagan of the US."

  "What is it!?" Suspiciously, Nakasone took the receiver. Nakasone was famous for being the most fluent speaker of English amongst Japanese politicians. Still, he couldn't help but cry out "I don't believe it!" in Japanese during his conversation with Reagan.

  Right at
that moment, there was a scream from behind him. As Nakasone turned around, he nearly dropped the receiver, forgetting for a moment that he was speaking to the President.

  Fujita and Hamano were screaming in laughter, yet without out making a sound. Their faces became more and more purple by the moment. Fresh blood spewed from their lips, their ears burst, and their eyeballs, staring emptily into nothingness, were expanding as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. A horrible rotting smell permeated the meeting room.

  "Let the SP and the paramedics in! Don't let any of this leak to the media!" Ota, who had come to his senses earliest, ordered the officer who had picked up the phone, who was standing still, his mouth agape.

  Well, I suppose it can't be helped. If these two die here, nobody else will know my secret. Ota's greatest wish had come true.

  The heads of the two men, whose features were now distorted far beyond anything normal, limped loosely, and their bodies dissolved into puddles of slime like rotten fruit on the ground.

  In the chaos of people running about in the room, not a single person noticed the two small white snakes slip out of the now two formless bodies lying in a pile on the ground.

  Meanwhile, Ota was laughing inside as everything had seemed to proceed as he had planned, but the next instant, his face twisted in an expression of terror.

  The red eyes of the snakes were watching him closely.

  "Aagh!"

  As Ota reflexively took a few steps backwards, his feet slipped on the blood-drenched carpet. He tumbled to the ground, and the two serpents quickly slithered toward his head.

  Meanwhile, the enormous pillar of flesh continued to display onscreen, though nobody was watching it any longer. All of a sudden the camera angle changed sharply. It appeared as if the entire screen shook for a moment before it was filled completely with green as the flow of data from the RPV stopped.

  CHAPTER 5