No Game No Life, Vol. 9

by Yuu Kamiya

  “Do any of those people waving their hands out there really believe that Holou is the culprit?!”

  If they did, Immanity was in its last days, Steph lamented. Sora chuckled.

  “Well, probably not many. For now.”

  “…What?”

  “I said this before, but there’s no need to believe.”

  Her concept—her ether—was wisdom, conceived of doubt and hope.

  “Whether they believe or not—their doubt will power her.”

  Doubts and desires, rejection and wishing—all would amplify her power. And this is the most important part, Sora thought with a sharp glint in his eye.

  “It’s a cute girl doing her best to sing and dance… Whether you get it or not, who could not wave their hands?!”

  “I had hoped most everyone…”

  Steph gazed into the distance, her eyes full of sincere sorrow for Immanity. Sora laughed and went on.

  “Also, if Holou does this legit, no one’s gonna be able to attack us.”

  “…You were saying something like that yesterday. What do you mean?”

  —Hmm.

  Having adjusted their plans from here on somewhat, Sora and Shiro nodded subtly. Then they slowly looked back at Steph, and in place of an answer—

  “Okay, it’s time! Steeeph! We’ve got a quiz for you!!”

  “…‘What do people think Sora and Shiro are?’ …Ten seconds…!”

  “Uh, what?!”

  —they responded with a question. Panicking, Steph listed whatever she could think of.

  “Y-you’re the monarch of Elkia, you’re Immanities… Oh, and you’re from another world. Also—” She glanced at Sora, blushed as she choked on her words for a second, and continued. “You’re twisted and perverse. Your personalities are atrocious, you’re frauds—”

  “Hey, enough with the ‘It’s okay to call him bald because he is’ theory! Truth hurts, damn it!”

  And Sora and Shiro were considerably hurt.

  “…Bzzz… Your ten seconds…are up… You’re…stupid.”

  “Pay attention to the question, sacrificial pawn. You’re talking about what you know we are.”

  Deftly slipping in his mark of disapproval, Sora pointed out her error.

  “We asked what people—most people—think we are.”

  “Um… Uh?”

  Steph still seemed befuddled. Sora rose from the throne.

  “In Immanity’s darkest hour…suddenly arose two heroes!”

  Sora spoke with passion, his voice projecting far and wide, his movements exaggerated like those of a trained stage performer!

  “They beat the Eastern Union’s game that not even Elf could beat! They even defeated Oceand’s game, which no one had yet been able to! They defeated Flügel; against all odds, they defeated Old Deus! So valiant were our heroes, only the third in history to bring down a god, as they came to make every evil empire shake in its boots! But the truth was…they were just humans? Who’s gonna believe that?”

  He wrapped up with a voice suddenly chilled.

  “And not just any humans. They were shut-in gamer losers, on the low end even among their species. In the words of a certain princess…they were twisted, perverse, atrocious frauds. How could they do that?”

  Steph let out a small groan at Sora’s backhanded speech.

  …Well. They could, actually. Or rather, they did. But—

  “Man, I sure couldn’t do that! I mean, I’m an Immanity! You know how Immanities are; they’re those disgusting worthless insects who’ve just barely managed to stay alive, right? What now, what now? What’s this? It’s like, you know, as if—”

  Sora squeezed out the grin that tended to activate one’s reflex to punch him—and followed up—

  “—they’re totally different people!”

  “Oh…! Y-you mean like Chlammy in the tournament for the monarchy?”

  Sora and Shiro smiled to see that Steph finally got it. Chlammy had thought that Sora and Shiro had seen through Elven magic. And she’d assumed that mere Immanities couldn’t possibly.

  “Pop quiz: What do people think Sora and Shiro are?”

  “…Answer: Agents…of another race…another country… Spies…”

  That’s right. Sora and Shiro had been consistent in what they’d made people think they were. As when they had declared war on the entire world at their coronation—mysterious agents of some unseen power. And that bluff still held strong—no, stronger. Why?

  “Okay, so we’ve established that little twits like us could never do such a thing. So who could?”

  Steph stood silent, unable to think of anyone. But Sora smiled in approval.

  No one could. Well…Sora and Shiro could. Other races probably could have. But as a simple matter of fact, to this day, no one had.

  “…You know what that means? We’re the ones who do what no one can—”

  An absurd suspicion, but—

  “We’re the ones who can win any game—so they suspect we’ve got some mysterious, unbeatable trump card.”

  “…Which is…way too dangerous… To take it head-on…would be, suicide…”

  —now that they’d defeated even Old Deus, that suspicion began to sound like reality. So then what? Steph finally connected it back to the beginning:

  “Oh! S-so they’ll come to cut us down from the periphery… Is that what you mean?!”

  “Yep. All they can do is poke at us to find out what we are—to reveal our invincible trump card.”

  “…And they have to…do it fast…before, anyone else…even at the cost of losing…”

  “…? Even at the cost of losing?”

  “We’re talking about a trump card that can beat anyone. You gotta do something about that, right? Seal it or own it.”

  Moderate losses could not be begrudged in this process. By those who little knew that it was all futile.

  “But we don’t have any such trump card, nor any such secret identity to find. ’Cos all we are is mere humans who just straight-out won the games—which is exactly what no one’s gonna believe! ”

  “…So…these chumps…are gonna look, for what’s not there…lose their stuff…and go home! ”

  Their devilish grins made Steph take a step back.

  “Oh… You know, someone might even get the wrong idea about whose spy we are.”

  “…? Whose?”

  Who could do what no one could and produce a trump card that could beat anyone? Thinking that Sora and Shiro, being from another world, would be good targets for blame. Sora chuckled—and said his name with sympathy.

  “Tet’s. Like he got bored and decided to troll everyone by making us out to be some cosmic threat. ”

  After all, there was no doubt that Tet, the One True God, had been the one who summoned them here. It was a far likelier story than that mere humans had beaten higher races.

  “Well, I gotta feel sorry for Tet, but it’s the final boss’s job to stir up animosity.”

  “…Tet… Stay…strong…”

  Lightly trolling Tet, Sora and Shiro put that aside and looked back at the screen with discontent.

  “H-how lightly you invoke the name of the One True God…”

  They went back to their interrupted thoughts, seeming to have no more interest in Steph’s muttering.

  Sora and Shiro had already adjusted their plan for what to do about those idol agencies in the Eastern Union. But to actually do it, there was this thing—

  “Question is, what will we do about Holou’s next concert…right…?”

  There was very little problem with the agenda in their task scheduler. Meet and greets, autograph sessions, friendly visits to various companies—all that basic footwork was pretty solid. But watching Holou valiantly sing and dance on that crappy stage made Sora and Shiro grind their teeth.

  —If the next show in five days’ time goes down like this, we won’t be able to call ourselves producers.

  At the very least, maybe they should just
procure the equipment itself from the Eastern Union— No, someone would probably get in their way again.

  “We’ve got no choice, Shiro. Let’s have Jibril weave us an effects spell. If we’ve got five days—”

  “…I-is it okay? Somehow…I can only, imagine…something, exploding…”

  “I-in the worst case, we’ll have Elkian artisans make us a set. But the only one we can count on for effects is Jibril. I mean, we could have her make a virtual space or something… Let’s be specific about the image we’re looking for.”

  In other words: At the very least, let’s not kill anyone. They opened an app on their tablet, not wanting to trust the Ten Covenants too much. The two of them were no artists, but they were trying to draw Holou’s stage effects and share them. There they were, discussing it with each other and sliding their fingers over the screen, when—

  —Ding-a-linggg, da-ding-a-ling-la-ling…

  Sora, Shiro, and Steph all gawked at the sudden unfamiliar sound.

  “……Brother…phone…”

  Shiro remembered now—it was the ringtone Sora had set.

  “Ha-ha-ha… My sister, your big brother’s phone exists only to play games. I know you know this.”

  While Sora laughed at himself, he took his phone in hand. An unfamiliar sound, indeed. No wonder. He couldn’t remember when he’d last heard it… After all…

  “Not to brag, but your brother’s friend list is perpetually at zero. Who’d call me?!”

  “…You really aren’t bragging…”

  Cleanly wiping the pity-eyed words of Steph from his memory, Sora expertly flicked the incoming call from a private number to reject it—

  “It’s either a wrong number or a delivery… But in any case, it’s a pain in the ass to get this out—”

  —but before he finished the gesture or his sentence, he and Shiro looked at each other. It was so sudden, so incredibly unexpected that it took them so long to notice how freaky this was.

  —Why would his phone ring on Disboard?

  “Hello…? Who’s this?”

  But not even a second after this realization, a torrent of thoughts went through Sora’s head. He immediately decided he had to answer—so he did. While his phone still read No service—

  “”

  —all that came through on speakerphone was just noise.

  “…? What is this? It’s just noise, correct?”

  “…Some, kinda…cursed…phone call?”

  “Yeah… I wish it was only a cursed phone call…”

  While Steph and Shiro seemed dubious, Sora responded with apprehension. A beat later, Shiro, too, clouded with panic as she realized.

  As far as they knew, Disboard didn’t even have the concept of radio waves. This was why Sora, upon asking himself, Should I ignore it? immediately answered back, No, and picked up the phone. If there was some kind of magnetic field that had been caused by magic—say, some indiscriminate accident—then it wasn’t just about whether to pick up; they’d have to shut off both their phones and their tablet right now or risk losing them. On the other hand, if it was deliberate intervention, that was an even bigger problem…which they couldn’t let stand. And as if to answer his caution and confusion—

  “ encryption principle—analysis complete magnetic field control test”

  “?!!”

  Sora and Shiro went pale as the creepy noise began to fade into something like a voice.

  “…? What is this? What is going on?”

  No one answered Steph. Sora and Shiro didn’t even know. Even so, they knew well enough this was trouble. After all—

  —Someone was meddling with this world’s technology. Disboard had neither radio nor base stations, and this phone signal had even implemented scrambling.

  No. They shouldn’t even know that this device was used for communication. Yet, here the signal was.

  An evil phone call? This was a horror far more hair-raising than some stupid curse. And it went on:

  “Bidirectional communication established—able to initiate conversation.”

  In this short time, someone had uncovered, analyzed, and mastered a technology that didn’t exist in this world. After the clear intonation that replaced the noise came the echo of a man’s voice.

  “We request an audience with you, O King of Immanity, O Spieler. We—are Ex Machina.”

  It was as they had feared: a targeted intervention from someone they couldn’t just ignore. They’d have to figure out how much this individual knew about them and their plans.

  —This could overturn their strategy from the very bottom. Sora replied:

  “…Sure thing, bro. Let’s meet.”

  He muffled any emotion in his voice and answered back into the phone. That instant—

  There was no sound nor wind, no shock, no vibration, nothing… Let alone any context. But the area that stretched from the front of the Elkia Royal Castle to the throne room suddenly turned into a path of rubble.

  “…………Come again?”

  It took several full seconds for Sora to be able to manage a response. Before him was a group clad in black, leisurely wending down the avenue of destruction. He let out a silent scream.

  —No way. They smashed the castle in only a second? That’s not just some bullshit—it’s not even possible!! The Ten Covenants are supposed to prevent destruction of others’ property without consent! So…what kind of fraud is this?

  Sora glared sharply at the strangers before him and was answered by the man who headed the procession.

  “…We are unable to shift to coordinates outside our vision and scope of knowledge, you see…”

  With each step the group took, the rubble they left behind warped and vanished…until, by the time they stood before Sora and Shiro, it was as if nothing had happened.

  “…Therefore, we took it upon ourselves to rewrite space… We beg your indulgence of our indiscretion.”

  And there they were, all in order before them in a throne room restored to normal. Hmm… It was as if to say, Apologies for the temporary entrance!

  “…Look, you guys… Don’t you think you should knock first, or send someone, or take any one of countless other proper procedures?”

  “S-Sora… Th-the castle is closed… All the staff are on holiday!”

  “Ohhh, yeah. Anyway, what is that thing you did? That’s so useful. Would be perfect for stage—”

  “…B-Brother! C-calm down…! Get, a grip…!”

  The series of shocking events was starting to throw Sora’s thoughts out of alignment. As Shiro shook him in a frantic attempt to fix him, the group in black silently, mechanically doffed their robes.

  There were thirteen of them draped in black like the grim reaper. Sorry, correction: not people, but robots. Beneath the skin of their joints lay not flesh, but metal. Drooping on the floor were not their tails, but their cables. Sora and Shiro knew this group. They’d seen them in the Great War simulation game. They were, just as they said—

  —Ixseed Rank Ten… Ex Machina.

  “Soraaa? I can say it now, can’t I? There, you’ve already misread something!”

  —Who was the smart-ass who was just saying that no one could attack them? Sora was too occupied to answer Steph’s squeaky interrogation. The twenty-six artificial lenses of the unhooded Ex Machinas were all focused on him. Their presence was inorganically overbearing, like being inside a server room. Their every movement gave the stifling illusion that every pulse, every nerve signal in Sora’s and Shiro’s bodies was under scrutiny. Or was it an illusion? Amidst his thoughts jumbled by panic, Sora silently answered Steph.

  —I didn’t misread anything… I just don’t get this—!!

  No one could challenge Sora and Shiro head-on as they were—that much was an unshakeable fact! At the very least, Sora and Shiro didn’t look like the types to have some sort of ace in the hole. Regardless, if they were to be challenged, they held the right to determine the game. And on top of that, Sora and Shiro had
nothing motivating them to agree to a game they were likely to lose! They could just propose a game they’d win for sure, or not play at all!! He said no one would attack them because he was certain everyone knew this. So why—?

  This was a race of people that Sora and Shiro themselves didn’t even know how to find, one they barely understood. Why, of all things, would a completely unknown race—

  —against whom “ ” might lose in a face-to-face fight show up here?! Why had they focused on him—?!

  “…I apologize that I have no true name. My designation is Einzig.”

  Disregarding the chaos, one of the thirteen stepped forth and bowed lightly. He looked perhaps a good decade older than Sora. At the very least, he appeared male. His face seemed unnaturally—well, he was a machine, so that’s a given—and rather perfectly sculpted, like that of a doll. His reddish-black hair and pale blue eyes gave the inescapable sense of something inorganic, artificial.

  But.

  “As such, I am Ex Machina’s… Mmm. Agent plenipotentiary, I suppose you would say.”

  As this “Einzig” approached them, there was clearly something more than mechanical lurking within his voice and eyes: intelligence, and emotions. It brought a cold sweat to Sora’s and Shiro’s faces.

  If they were just machines, it would be no matter. Be it a supercomputer, a machine was just a machine. Especially when it came to games, there were plenty of ways to outstrip and transcend machines. But if this was the race that had slain the strongest of the gods, Artosh, and triggered the end of the war— If this was the race that had learned infinitely, adapted repeatedly, and in the end slain the strongest— If this was all true… Then, if the feeling contained in those eyes was a shard of the proof… If their fears from the intervention by Sora’s phone were justified… If Sora’s and Shiro’s true identities, and even their strategy, were leaked…

  It would mean that even “ ” could throw any game at them—

  —and still be all but completely unable to win.

  Confusion and panic brought Sora’s thoughts to a clear state of emergency, but the mechanical man before him froze them in place. Ten Covenants. Can’t harm. But still— No, therefore, the man stretched out his hand. It went past Sora’s cheek and touched the throne as the man spoke: