Armor of Catastrophe

by Reki Kawahara

“R-right! That’s exactly it!” Bobbing his head up and down, Haruyuki was suddenly and belatedly self-conscious about the absurdity of this idea, and he flinched in preparation for the beams of eye-rolling power sure to snap into laser focus on him at any second.

  Unexpectedly, however, not a single one of his comrades gathered around the table laughed or sighed or did anything else to indicate exasperation. Even Takumu, who hadn’t actually seen Suzaku directly, narrowed his eyes behind frameless glasses, as if he was thinking hard.

  In the silence came once again the light sound of Utai’s fingers tapping on her keyboard. UI> AT THE VERY LEAST, IT’S CERTAIN THAT THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN SUZAKU’S BEHAVIOR ALGORITHM SINCE THE FOUR GODS OPERATION THAT LED TO THE DOWNFALL OF THE FIRST NEGA NEBULUS. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO, SUZAKU GAVE PRIORITY TO TARGETING THE PERSON DOING THE GREATEST DAMAGE TO IT. HOW WAS IT WITH BYAKKO AT THE WEST GATE WHERE YOU FOUGHT, SACCHI, FU?

  “Just as you say, Uiui,” Fuko murmured, nodding. “I recall that in the previous battle, Byakko also seemed to set its sights on the main attack squad alone, regardless of the position of the attack subject.”

  “Mmm. I’m certain of it. That’s exactly why I was able to act as bait to allow the other members to retreat in the end,” Kuroyukihime affirmed from the opposite end of the table, narrowing her eyes sharply before continuing. “But this time, there was indeed a part of Suzaku’s behavior that I can’t believe was the Enemy simply obeying increases and decreases in Hate. That said, there was no sign of remote operation by a third party or a simple algorithm anomaly.”

  Takumu, seated directly across from Haruyuki, brought his right hand to his chin and opened his mouth. “But, Master, it’s almost as if Suzaku saw that our objective this time was not to defeat it, but rather to rescue Shinomiya. In which case, that’s no longer within the realm of AI. It’s as Haru said: It has powers of insight, perhaps intelligence.”

  Again, silence fell for several seconds. Finally, Kuroyukihime smiled softly. “We’re not going to be able to get an answer to that now. But I will add just one more piece of information. When Suzaku was responding to my Incarnate Attack and advancing, immediately before targeting Haruyuki, I think I saw that bird open its beak as though it was sneering at me.”

  Yes.

  Haruyuki was sure he’d heard it. Suzaku, on the verge of releasing its flame breath, in a voice that was not a voice. Small one, become ash.

  “But, like!” The very first of their downturned faces to pop up was Chiyuri, speaking forcefully. “Whether that bird’s got a will or intelligence, or if maybe it’s actually a real god, it only half got us, right? The operation wasn’t a total success, but it wasn’t a total failure, either, Kuroyukihime. I mean, like, Haru and Ui are alive, aren’t they? They’re alive, and on top of that, they flew right through those gates. Right, Haru?” she shouted, catlike eyes glittering as she leaned across the table, hands clenched. “I seriously can’t take it anymore! What’s it like in the Castle?! Did anything happen?! Hurry up and tell us everything, start to finish!”

  Haruyuki darted his eyes about, flustered and bewildered at the abrupt interrogation.

  To his left, Kuroyukihime raised her voice in laughter. “Ha-ha-ha! Hard-hitting as ever, Chiyuri. I’m sure that many Burst Linkers would pay ten, no, a hundred points if they could hear that story. I was even restraining myself here.”

  “Hee-hee, it’s true. Just thinking that Burst Linkers who have set foot in that impenetrable Castle and succeeded in returning with information about the inside are sitting before my eyes has had my heart pounding this whole time.” Fuko made a show of pressing a hand to her chest.

  The right side of Haruyuki’s face turned upward in a somewhat complicated smile, and he exchanged looks with Utai. The fourth grader and one corner of the Four Elements of the former Nega Nebulus tilted her head to the side as if to say, I’ll leave this to you.

  And when he thought about it, if she tried to explain everything that happened in the Castle via chat, she’d have to type out so many characters her hands would cramp up. I’ll just have to do what I can here! Stepping up to the plate, Haruyuki looked at his clock once more before giving a bit of an introduction.

  “Umm, I think it’ll take a relatively long time if I tell you everything from start to finish. Is everyone okay for curfew?”

  The time was just shy of eight o’clock on a Tuesday night, but there wasn’t a single person who shook their head, including elementary student Utai.

  The main cobblestone road stretching out straight to the north from the south gate of the Castle and the groups of terrifying Enemies patrolling it. The massive inner sanctuary with its successive layers of connected fusuma doors adorned with brilliant paintings. The great hall at the center and the two pedestals placed there. The names DESTINY and INFINITY carved in plates with the Big Dipper.

  When Haruyuki got to this point in the story, Kuroyukihime and Fuko seemed to suddenly exchange a look with each other. However, neither of them tried to interject, and since the real center of the story was from this point, Haruyuki didn’t dwell on it and continued speaking.

  The young azure samurai avatar that suddenly called out to them in the hall. The enormous underground space at the bottom of the stairs he guided them to. And the golden light flickering off in the distance. The seventh Arc, the Fluctuating Light.

  By the time he had finally managed to finish telling the story—with occasional comments from Utai—up to the point where they left the Unlimited Neutral Field because their companions cut the connection, a full thirty minutes had passed.

  While Haruyuki expelled a long breath and drank the rest of his second café au lait, no one made a move to speak. A few seconds after he placed his mug on the table, Kuroyukihime finally said, almost muttering, “The owner of the fifth Arc, Infinity. Trilead Tetroxide…Fuko, have you ever heard that name before?”

  Fuko, the most senior Burst Linker there alongside Kuroyukihime, quickly shook her head. “No. This is the first I’m hearing of the Enhanced Armament and the Burst Linker. I don’t even know these English words trilead and tetroxide. Although it has the sound of a molecular formula…”

  If the sole high schooler among them didn’t know the words, then the other five—still in junior high and elementary—could hardly be expected to.

  “Shall we look them up?” Takumu said, pushing up the bridge of his glasses and running a finger along his virtual desktop. Naturally, his search skills were impressive, and in less than ten seconds, he had found the terms. He lifted his head and nodded once. “Raker is correct. It is a molecular formula. Three lead, four oxygen.”

  Even with this information, it was hard to suddenly picture what exactly it was. Haruyuki furrowed his brow. “Taku, so, lead, that’s a metal…right?” he asked in a small voice.

  “That’s right.” A ridiculously kind smile spread across his good friend’s face.

  Haruyuki cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment at having apparently asked a dumb question and put a serious look on his face. “But he—Trilead didn’t look like a metal color at all. He was this clear, pretty indigo, or maybe navy. Even his weapon—all of him was a solid blue type.” Haruyuki cocked his head to one side, remembering the crisp presence of the young samurai.

  Kuroyukihime, to his left, folded her hands together on the table. “At any rate, at present, our urgent business is not to solve the mysteries of the Castle but to get Utai and Haruyuki out. If we can’t purify the element of the Armor of Catastrophe parasitizing Silver Crow before next Sunday, Haruyuki will become the second-biggest bounty in the Accelerated World.” Here, she glanced at him, and a momentary smile slipped across her lips. “Although, naturally, if that were to happen, I wouldn’t allow you to be hunted so easily as that.”

  “…Kuroyukihime…”

  “Okay, cut! Cut!” Chiyuri slapped the table with both hands as they were about to slip back into stare-at-each-other mode. “That reminds me, Kur
oyukihime, there’s something I’ve been wondering about ever since I heard about this bounty thing.”

  “Wh-what is it, Chiyuri?” Kuroyukihime cleared her throat.

  “How are the Seven Kings going to check whether or not the Armor of Catastrophe parasitizing Haru has actually been purified in the first place?” Chiyuri asked, spreading out both hands. “You can’t see another person’s item list, and doesn’t the armor not show up in the item list anyway?”

  “Oh! N-now that you mention it.” The words slipped out of Haruyuki. Even though this was about his own self, he had never once even entertained this most basic of questions. He couldn’t actually be more careless.

  Seeing him like this, Kuroyukihime grinned wryly, but soon regained her serious expression. “Most likely, a Burst Linker with the ability to see other people’s statuses will show up at the assembly on Sunday. The kings probably intend to have this person examine Silver Crow’s purification.”

  “I suppose so.” Fuko nodded slowly on the other side of the table. Her normally gentle, smiling eyes were cut by a hard, sharp light. “The quad-eyes analyst. I expect we’ll be seeing her appear for the first time in a long time.”

  The instant he heard this name—a nickname rather than the Burst Linker’s particular name—something inside him clicked. It was definitely new to him. He knew he had never heard it before; he hadn’t even known there was an ability to see a person’s status in the first place. And yet something deep in his memory itched and throbbed. This sensation spilled out to his central nervous system, ran up his spine, and arrived at a single point on his back.

  Thmm. Thmm. In sync with the sharp pain, distantly—someone’s voice.

  …Destroy…

  Destroy them, devour them…Release…this rage of ours…

  At some point, he had clenched his right hand so tightly his nails were digging into his palm. But then something soft touched it abruptly. He looked and found Utai gently pressing his fist under the table. In the large eyes she sent glancing at him, there was a hazy note of apprehension. He hurriedly spread his hands out and nodded his head to say he was okay. Fortunately, the others were talking about the purification verification and didn’t seem to have noticed anything unusual about him.

  “In the worst case, perhaps we can have Ardor Maiden purify Silver Crow inside the Castle and make it in time for the meeting on Sunday?” Takumu suggested.

  Utai pulled her hand back and tapped at her keyboard with both of them. UI> I WOULDN’T SAY IT’S DEFINITELY IMPOSSIBLE, BUT IF POSSIBLE, I’D PREFER NOT TO USE A LARGE-SCALE INCARNATE TECHNIQUE WITHIN THE CASTLE. THERE IS A RISK OF THE WAVES OF A STRONG OVERLAY CALLING HIGH-LEVEL ENEMIES.

  “Mmm. And the higher the level of the Enemy, such as Beasts or Legends, the less impact Incarnate attacks have, while at the same time, the more aggressive they become to Incarnate users. Most likely, the abnormal local load due to the Incarnate System causes their Hate to increase irregularly. We should also assume that this reaction is only stronger when it comes to the Enemies guarding the Castle,” Kuroyukihime remarked, and snapped to attention in her chair, looking around once before continuing. “Well then, Silver Crow, Ardor Maiden, we’ll have to have you leave the Castle before Sunday. To that end, although he is an unknown, I believe the best route is to petition this Burst Linker Trilead Tetroxide for his aid. Utai, Haruyuki, when you meet him again on Thursday, in the name of the Black King and Nega Nebulus, tell him that you will pay him an appropriate price for his assistance.”

  By this time, it was ten to nine in the evening, so Kuroyukihime finished by adding, “Today’s mission is over for the time being.”

  Fuko had come by car after going home briefly, so it was decided she would take Utai and Kuroyukihime, and the three of them got into the elevator first for the parking lot. Then Chiyuri and the plate that had been so full of sandwiches returned to her home two floors down, leaving Haruyuki and Takumu in the hallway on the twenty-third floor.

  “Okay, Haru. See you at school tomorrow.” Takumu started walking toward the passageway that connected the separate wing of the condo.

  “Taku, you still got some time?” Haruyuki stopped him in a small voice. His old friend turned around, head cocked to one side, and Haruyuki asked, falteringly, “So, like, how many times have you dueled since the beginning of this week?”

  “Huh? Two, three times on my way home from school every day. No more than ten times, I think,” he replied, before blinking as if guessing at something. He lowered his voice and continued. “Ohh. If that bit about me and Chii giving you points if you do end up with a bounty like we said yesterday is still bugging you, don’t worry about it. My win rate’s the same as ever, but Chii’s getting some serious skill lately. If we’re not careful, she’s gonna jump right past us to the next level.” A self-deprecating grin slid onto Takumu’s face as he spoke.

  “Th-that’s not it.” Haruyuki hurriedly shook his head from side to side. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Umm, during those ten duels, did you notice anything weird?”

  At this vague question, Takumu got a doubtful look on his face before smiling a little wryly. “That question’s already weird. I mean, ‘something’? I don’t know what I should be remembering.”

  “O-oh, yeah, I guess so.” Haruyuki scratched his head, and an embarrassed smile popped onto his face. What he was trying to ask was if any of Takumu’s opponents had used a technique with a power that went beyond the framework of a normal duel; more specifically, if there had been any close- or long-range Incarnate attacks clad in a black aura.

  After school the previous day, a Monday, Haruyuki and Utai Shinomiya had fought a tag-team duel together in Suginami Area No. 2, their opponents Bush Utan and Olive Grab from the Green Legion. Haruyuki had been left to take Utan and had gained an advantage in the fight after using the “way of the flexible”—a guard reversal technique Kuroyukihime had shown him.

  However, in the middle of the battle, the moment Utan summoned a bizarre Enhanced Armament, the nature of the fight was flipped upside down. With two types of Incarnate attack—Dark Blow, an attack with a fist covered in a dark aura, and Dark Shot, which shot a beam of darkness from his palm—Utan had Haruyuki up against the wall, completely at wits’ end. It wasn’t hard to imagine that that would have been the end for him if it hadn’t been a tag-team match with Utai.

  Utan called the black eye-shaped Enhanced Armament affixed to his chest an ISS kit—in other words, an Incarnate System study kit—and said that someone had given it to him. And if Utan was able to instantly use the Incarnate System, which should have required long hours of training, by simply wearing it, then this was a situation that threatened to shake the very foundations of the Accelerated World.

  With this in mind, Haruyuki had asked Ash Roller, Utan’s motorcycle-riding big brother figure, for a closed duel on his way to school that morning and explained the situation. Ash Roller had then noted in an unprecedentedly serious tone that if this ISS kit could be copied infinitely, then it was probably already too late. It might have been handed out any number of times and proliferated beyond a number it was possible to deal with.

  Which was why, in a certain sense, the ISS kit could be said to be a much more serious issue than the element of the Armor of Catastrophe that was parasitizing Haruyuki. He should have tabled the appearance of the ISS kit for discussion at the meeting that day before the start of Operation Rescue Ardor Maiden. Or he could have raised his hand and said something when Kuroyukihime announced the end of that meeting only a few minutes earlier.

  However, Haruyuki had done neither. First of all, he thought everyone should concentrate on the rescue mission. But he felt that wasn’t the only reason. He could see that somewhere inside, he didn’t want to tell his friends about the ISS kit. He couldn’t say what he should. Maybe his guilty conscience had prompted him to call out to Takumu.

  Takumu. His best friend, the person he had gone up against for real, who he had exchanged real blow
s with, who had pulled through a truly difficult battle with him in the whole Dusk Taker thing. He was sure that Takumu of all people would undoubtedly share this burden he had picked up at some point. But…

  In a corner of the dim hall, he looked up at the face of his tall childhood friend, and the moment he went to explain everything, Haruyuki felt the brakes put on his own mouth once more.

  Why? Why am I hesitating?

  This is Taku. A friend above all others, my partner at the front line of the Legion. The best partner, always cool and collected and helping me out when I don’t think. There’s no one better than Taku to talk to first about the ISS kits.

  So why am I so freaked out about it?

  Still staring at Takumu, who was looking more and more doubtful, Haruyuki took a deep breath and pushed back the mysterious clamor in his heart.

  “The truth is…” Even after he started to speak, his tongue froze and his throat ached. Working to ignore this feeling, Haruyuki continued. “The truth is, Taku, something weird’s happening in the Accelerated World right now…maybe. It’ll take a while. How about we talk inside a bit more?”

  The pair returned to Haruyuki’s living room, and as he spoke absorbedly, wetting his lips with the remaining coffee, the strange uneasiness in his heart finally disappeared.

  Bush Utan. The ISS kit. The Incarnate attacks cloaked in a dark fluctuation.

  Once Takumu had heard it all, he clasped his hands and pressed them to his forehead, elbows on the table. He was silent for a while, his face turned downward. Just when Haruyuki was starting to become uneasy with the fairly long silence, he finally lifted his face back up. The usual intellectual light shone behind his glasses.

  “So what do you think?” Haruyuki asked, heaving a sigh of relief for no reason he could understand.

  “Hmm.” Takumu took a sip of cold coffee. “To be honest, it’s hard to really process this all of a sudden. I’m only too aware of how hard it is to learn the Incarnate System after my training with the Red King. I don’t know how many times I ripped an enormous hole in my left hand trying to learn to stop my own Pile.”