by Kamiya Yuu
At that moment, AnchoR knew–that on this day, the dream known as eternity would end.
“Balance Wheel, number 13–beginning ‘Self-destructive Movement’.”
She would burn for eternity. Within the flames, the girl transformed into a woman.
Her limbs grew longer, the hair infused with massive heat fell like a waterfall.
The armor melted and fell off, the light red glossy dress showing off an alluring body.
“Chronofork–beginning Perpetual Gear imaginary output, appear.”
And then–
In this still world, the pretty girl AnchoR who burned herself to her limit and changed her appearance–
Said the second terminal line only she out of all the Initial-Y series possessed.
“–Ending Movement ‘Steel Weight’–”
That was the obituary indicating her demise.
The Perpetual Gear–the function that proved the concept of eternity, had an error, and continued with the noises of activation.
The delusion of the eternal girl was breaking apart. Reality was denying herself, awakening.
However, the ending movement proved one thing.
The illogical fallacy of the ‘Trishula’–that there was nothing indestructible in these three thousand years.
–It was simple.
Unlike Unit 01 RyuZU , who ruled the Imaginary time, she could use infinite heat to forcefully rip through time distortions–but this act in itself would bring about friction, inertia, gravity, recoil. She removed the forces that were protecting her from being affected–increasing the output on the premise of self-destruction.
That alone allowed her to continued running at the maximum output–as per her announcement of the name Perpetual Gear.
–For eternity.
Until her body, frame and parts reached their limits and broke apart.
The eternal was performing a requiem–and as this paradoxical melody was played.
The pretty person rebelling against the universe ripped aside the world shackled down by all physical laws–and leaped forward
AnchoR continued to move forward in this compressed world.
There were 8 balls floating behind her.
Those were originally miniature orbits attack drones, but AnchoR leet these orbits move along with her movement output and resonance chain–increasing the output to the maximum.
The cannons became something similar to boosters, shooting out invisible flames.
With the massive thrust from the 8 units, AnchoR accelerated.
She charged towards the ‘target’ at a speed nobody on this world could observe.
(–Get in–!)
AnchoR raised the broadsword with both hands, striking a pose.
There were gears of particle size spinning rapidly on the blade. Typically, it could sever everything, ignoring the thickness of the material.
But in this moment, when time appeared to have approached infinity and stopped–the ‘current’ that was between the gap of zero and one second, the gears on the blade would not be able to move at that speed. If she was to do so, they would be vaporized along with the accelerated orbits.
Thus–AnchoR raised the sword, timed herself, and swung it down.
Using the endurance of this gear sword, at a speed beyond human comprehension, and the reliance of the laws of physics as though it was normal–
“—!”
The blade went through.
The sword creaked–actually, there would not be sounds coming through in this space–AnchoR merely felt the sword cut, and continued to move.
She kept ‘throwing’–the 8 orbits that were following her.
The orbits hit the cut surface on the armor at lightspeed, damaging and spreading a tremendous amount of energy, which peeled off the electromagnetic armor, vaporizing it.
AnchoR charged through the opening she made that was barely enough for a person to squeeze through.
And so, she charged into the inside of the ‘Yatsukahagi’–
(–…!)
–Then, she collapsed.
At that instant, of the shock removers that exceeded 30 in numbers all over her body, 12 of them were severely damaged.
AnchoR felt the frame creaking, everything, from the tiny parts in her body, starting to break apart, and–
(Auto Gyro–is okay…it’s fine!)
She shook off the shackle of gravity, leaped up, landed on the wall, and started moving her feet.
–Once she reached the first target, her right leg that reached out was wrecked due to the heat and the impact.
The frame was contorted, the shock removers blown apart.
–She was so heated that the temperature inside that machine had no effect, and several parts were already at melting temperature. At this part, AnchoR was so giving off far more than than the amount required to remove the magnetism.
However, she ignored that too.
AnchoR continued to swing the sword at the partition wall right in front of her eyes.
She continued to slash at a speed that would drive the universe insane, and instantaneously reduced the partition wall to plasma.
Before the plasma spread, AnchoR stomped on the floor and accelerated–only to sense her legs were damaged–but she ignored it.
She reached the room, and affirmed what seemed to be the movement–31 of the 1033 coils Naoto mentioned.
The piston that took the form of a giant, intricate screw, with tremendous electromagnetic power.
(…Ah…aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!)
AnchoR let out a silent roar.
She put aside the ‘pain’ that was cutting away at the connecting function of her arms–and with one swing of the sword, she obliterated everything on the floor.
–……
The human in this machine–the only living heat source–Gennai remained unmoved.
To be correct, he could not move. No, he probably could not realize that.
AnchoR, in that ‘Steel Weight’ mode, was unable to deduce the difference between the external time and the time she was experiencing.
But from the time AnchoR cut into the inside of the armor and destroyed the partition world–even after destroy 809 coils, a mere 0.24 seconds had passed.
It would take–at least 0.3 seconds until the shock spread out, Gennai’s mind recognized that impact, and his mind converted it into ‘shock’.
–……
For every step she took–the manipulators were irreversibly damaged.
For every step she made–the shock became heat, causing the actuator to melt.
And despite this, AnchoR continued to swing the sword–until her right arm was ripped off.
The broadsword flew along with the forearm to a completely unexpected place–at a speed far beyond the railgun of this massive weapon, embedded deeply into the wall at the side.
However, AnchoR ripped off her arm from the hilt, and used her remaining left hand to grip the sword–
(Ha–ah, ahh–ahhhhhh–!!)
With that, she swung the sword using brute force.
The sword ripped through the space, igniting an explosion.
The impact from the crushing during this time caused the space to be ripped apart, matter to vanish.
The scars continued to spread like waves, the heat and pressure blew an entire level on the behind the wall before her, erasing everything.
The heat created light, the impacts caused booms.
AnchoR could not withstand the impact, and slammed into the wall.
She was finding it increasingly difficult to control her posture–for even the sounds on this sealed space could not reach her.
–However,
AnchoR continued on to the next floor like a ghost–
—
(–It…hurts…)
It hurts. She muttered in pain within her heart.
She continued to move at a speed nobody could observe breaking through the armor of the massive weapon at a speed faster than light
, and at the same time, barged inside, obliterating everything in site–
When she destroyed the 932nd coil, she finally felt the end.
The Auto Gyro melted, and everything below her left knee ceased function. Her right arm was already ripped off, and even the broadsword that displayed astonishing endurance was vaporized just a moment back.
Her thought process was being cut.
Her malfunctioning installations were crushed by the universe’s common sense.
AnchoR was practically losing all mobility, but despite being reduced to such a state, once she reached her destination–
“Ah–aahhhhhh!!!”
She screamed–and punched the door down with her remaining left hand.
And then, she realized something.
The fist’s power punctured through the door, blowing up several coils on the floor behind it.
The shrapnel fell along with the gravity, and through the noise, she recognized her scream and destruction.
–She could no longer act beyond real time.
(…It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts–it…)
Her heart was shrieking in pain.
–Papa, mama, sister, save me–
Her instincts were wailing such pessimistic words before her rational mind could.
But her rational mind coldly assessed the battle situation before she could be ashamed of this fact.
Her subjective time was no longer any different from realtime.
So–how many seconds did pass after she attack? Or was it several minutes?
She had yet to destroy all the movements.
She did not know how much had to be destroyed until it would stop–but just in case, if she did not destroy everything, everyone would–
“–Ahh–ahh…”
Even her voice installation lost its ability to function.
–She was nearing her limit.
But AnchoR had no time to brood, nor was in the mood to hesitate as she crawled on the floor towards the heat source.
It was obvious–that it was the first time AnchoR used the ‘Steel Weight’.
As stated, it was truly a final gambit, and the objective of it was that just in case–when her ‘stored power was reduced to zero’, she had more than enough power to move.
–In fact, she did not know how many seconds she could run on after using that.
Her rational mind as a combat machine was stating that despite this, the ‘battle results’ were not too bad.
With less than 7% of the stored power, the amount of damage she caused on this ‘target’ was 18.2 times more than the activation of her 12th gear. Also, based on the current information she had, if she were to shift to number 11–her power would have run out when she destroyed the initial armor.
However, AnchoR’s ‘heart’ was yelling wildly–I don’t know about that.
(…If I can’t destroy ‘such a thing’…then..wh-why am I–)
She swung her fist as she lamented.
She realized that her remaining left arm could not bear the pressure and get wrecked, and destroyed everything she saw.
–It was meaningless.
A free will–a heart, was the activation key, but she could not protect the ones her heart wanted to protect, and then–AnchoR cursed at her creator.
(…Why, did you…crea, te…An…choR…!?)
–Tell, me…
She wailed out with a voice that just would not come out, and continued forward.
–…
Her two arms were no longer present. Her left leg was melted, and her remaining right leg appeared to be dulled.
The number of power plants she destroyed was –10008.
(…Another…25…more…)
–It was impossible.
Her power was depleted to a point where she reverted back to actual time, and opening the armory was already a difficult thing for her.
Assuming that even if she could draw a weapon–she had no hands to use them.
Her sensors were all malfunctioning, there was noise in her vision–but…
(–!?)
There was barely some heart vision left within her,, and she captured a reaction.
AnchoR clearly saw a block approximately 200m away from her, a gathering of heat at that place.
She gave up on her dejected heart, and the cold hearted battle machine began to establish an assumption.
If the main cannon of this weapon drew its energy from the coils and ‘gathered’ it all for a shot,
If she was to destroy the heat source gathered there, she could certainly prevent the cannon strike–!
(–Please, break apart!!)
AnchoR grimaced in a prayerful manner.
She callously exerted all her energy from her number 1–towards the right leg that was partially wrecked.
She did not think about how to land, and all she thought of was to shoot through the wall like a cannon.
At that moment–AnchoR Realized.
The heat source within her vision remained still.
That indicated that–her objective time was about to expand again.
–This will be my last activation, AnchoR thought.
She smiled.
With her one remaining right leg, AnchoR accelerated in this time gap.
–The damaged body rubbed against the space. Once she was sure that her body heat was rising again–that fact alone put her at ease.
–The acceleration succeeded. This body could still move.
Certainly, it was like a candle burning the last of its wick, looking extremely dazzling.
The recoil caused by the impact of kicking through the space melted the remaining right leg, and it fell off.
Her expanding senses felt that the wall was exceptionally far away.
A tremendous impact.
It was like a cannon. The scorching, burning AnchoR crashed through the wall, and entered the block behind the wall. However, at this moment, she lost control and speed, and before she could distinguish up from down, AnchoR landed haplessly and heavily against the wall opposite.
She was bouncing on the floor like a puppet with its strings severed.
However–
(It’s…not…over…)
Despite losing her limbs, AnchoR’s functions were yet to cease.
She lifted her neck with rigid motions, looking around.
–Over there was a hall reminiscent of a temple or a church.
The center space was buried by gears of all sizes, the center of the floor lifted, expanded into a dome.
Located over there was a massive cylinder with numerous shafts, bearings, spheres–a crystal coil of a glass spiral that stored power.
(…If I destroy…that thing…)
AnchoR summoned all of her remaining will, and moved,
She curled her frame, and ended up moving forward like a slug.
–It hurts.
It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts–
The signals from her wrecked sensors put off her thoughts, and anguish tormented her entire body.
Why must an automata–a combat machine, feel pain in the first place…?
Right when she was thinking of this pointless question–
–AnchoR’s entire body was riddled with impacts, lots of hole perforated on her.
An old man’s voice could be heard from above.
“…How unbecoming. Do you not feel ashamed to be ‘Y’s masterpiece?”
Gennai Hirayama–AnchoR’s vague consciousness realized this, at least.
But her body was about to break apart, and she could not move her vision at all.
“Or is it…that electromagnetic technology is unexpectedly potent on ‘Y’s automata?”
She could not move.
Could not move could not move could not move, error, stop, error, error, error–
“I see. Perhaps that is the case. You did not make it–the command to fire the main cannon was entered.”
&
nbsp; –Error.
“Soon, it will fire–you lose.”
Gennai looked down at the writhing inheritance of ‘Y’, saying,
“Speaking of which…, I did expect this in the first place; I do apologize for this outdated line–”
Gennai continued on in bemusement, and raised the handgun in his right hand.
The gun with an electrode embedded was not a gear gun.
“This is a portable railgun meant to deal with ‘Y’s inheritance–all of you…personally, I do not hope for it to be effective in any way, but it appears that it is better to be prepared.”
Saying that, Gennai aimed at the target.
The gun was pointed at the head of the writhing AnchoR.
–A gunshot.
The supersonic bullet that was accelerated by electricity–was fired as this sound was discharged.
“Connection’s complete! Marie!”
“I’m done here too! Activating it now. Everyone, get ready to retreat!”
–73 minutes, 52 seconds.
That was the moment Naoto and Marie controlled the grids next to Akihabara.
That was a great beyond human knowledge, an accomplishment not out of God’s hands–but out of humans.
For within such a short time, the duo created a new circuit for the severely damaged ‘Heaven’s Pillar’.
Assuming that even if there was a detailed blueprint, it would take a week to understand the structure.
But even so–the time limit passed without mercy.
Vermouth yelled sarcastically,
“No need for any prep! Let’s just scamper and jump out from that holee! Are we going to greet the military first before leaving? Look at them sending us off from so close!”
He said as he fired the gun over the barricade.
The ‘military’ in front of him, dated machines and weapons, were closing upon him.
Houko did not sound optimistic–but Marie felt that there were still soldiers amongst the remaining Tokyo ‘military’ who had some spine.