The Black Dual Swordsman

by Reki Kawahara

  “And I’m extra-annoyed that ‘waste of time’ was the only part of what you just said that could be considered human speech, Ash,” Fuko remarked coolly, and the fin de siècle rider slid both his feet together and snapped up straight in his seat.

  Grinning wryly, Decurion shot a glance at his Legion Master and nodded as though reading something in the profile of the ever-silent Green King. “Fine. I don’t know what kind of bomb it is, but it’s true that this will go nowhere unless we hear it. Much ado about nothing…So what’s this ‘answer’?”

  “I’ll tell you, then,” Kuroyukihime responded, almost inaudibly, turning her gaze in the direction of the twilight sky over Minato Ward. “We already determined the destination of the Incarnate energy transferred from the top floor of Midtown Tower.”

  “Then why didn’t you report that at the meeting of the Seven Kings?!” Iron Pound demanded, and the Black King didn’t immediately respond.

  Instead, she brought her gaze back down to glance at her left—at Haruyuki and his comrades. “This is not from my own personal experience, but rather that of Silver Crow, Cyan Pile, and Lime Bell. They went after the members of the Acceleration Research Society who fled Midtown Tower and succeeded in penetrating their headquarters. At essentially the same time, myself, Sky Raker, Aqua Current, and Ardor Maiden destroyed the ISS kit main body and witnessed the transfer of the Incarnate energy. This energy poured down in the very spot where Crow and the others were fighting…There, it corrupted an existing Enhanced Armament and produced a most evil monster.”

  “A monster?” Suntan Chafer parroted.

  Kuroyukihime nodded. “What name should I give that monster…? Please tell us again, Silver Crow.”

  “R-right.” Suddenly called by name, Haruyuki nodded nervously. “It’s…the new Armor. The…Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II.”

  “What…”

  “…the…?”

  Decurion and Pound groaned different syllables. Lignum and Chafer clasped their hands together in front of their chests simultaneously, and even Graph moved his face mask a tiny bit.

  “O-oh, but…I know we’re talking about those Society jerks, but can they really make something like that just because they decided to?!” Pound cried. “The original Armor possessed however many Burst Linkers over any number of years and ended up with some serious specs because of that!! How could they simply…?”

  “I don’t think it was simple.” Haruyuki caught Pound’s gray eye lenses firmly. “The Society barged into the Hermes’ Cord race and showed off the power of the Incarnate System to the spectators. Next, they infected dozens of Burst Linkers with the ISS kits and poured their negative Incarnate into the kit main body. That was all to create a new Armor of Catastrophe. The Mark II they produced as a result goes far beyond the original in terms of sheer power alone. I know…I was the last Chrome Disaster.”

  “……”

  Pound had once fought the Disasterfied Haruyuki and been broken. He fell silent now, his right hand over the place in his chest Haruyuki had smashed through then.

  Shifting his gaze from Iron Pound to look at each of the green executives in turn, Haruyuki continued. “The newly born Mark II just lashed out like an Enemy. I couldn’t sense anything like intelligence. Even so, we couldn’t touch it…But we had some serious help, so we managed to check its movements, at least.”

  It hadn’t only been Haruyuki, Takumu, and Chiyuri on that battlefield; Niko, Pard, and the Archangel Metatron had been right by their sides. And if Metatron hadn’t gone so far as to drain her own life force to protect him, Haruyuki would have taken a direct hit from Mark II’s nihilistic laser and been evaporated. But he couldn’t let their names slip yet. Offering a silent thanks in his heart once again, he brought his story to a close.

  “But when we tried to revert it to the original Enhanced Armament, the Burst Linker that was the vessel had his global connection cut from the outside. Mark II is still in the hands of the Society. I don’t know what they’re planning to use it for, but the Mark II’s probably not their end goal, but a means to it. The Society’s leader said so. That for her, it was ‘hope.’” Having managed to fulfill his role, Haruyuki finished his speech with a small sigh.

  “Hold on.” Decurion quickly raised a hand. “The Acceleration Research Society leader…Her? Silver Crow, you encountered their boss?”

  “It wasn’t just Crow. She appeared before all the members of Nega Nebulus.” Kuroyukihime’s voice was hard and cold. The Black King thrust the sword tip of one leg into the marble with a clang, as if to say that this was the turning point for the meeting. She looked carefully at the seven members of Great Wall with her bluish-purple eye lenses.

  “The Acceleration Research Society’s headquarters are located in a school in Minato Ward Area Three. And their leader is the White King, White Cosmos…The Acceleration Research Society is an organization within the White Legion, Oscillatory Universe.”

  This time, even the Green King reacted, albeit barely. His thick armor creaked, and his emerald-like square eye lenses blinked slowly.

  The first to break the sudden and fearful silence was Lignum Vitae, who had spoken the least of all the members of the green camp at the meeting. Patterned after a tree, the F-type avatar pulled her slender body up straight as she murmured, “And this name…You say you have no proof?”

  “We don’t. If we had any evidence, I would’ve hit Ivory Tower at the meeting of the Seven Kings last week,” Kuroyukihime replied evenly, crossing her sharp arms and staring at Grandé before her.

  “We don’t have proof, but after fighting the Acceleration Research Society any number of times, we don’t need any. Nega Nebulus will attack Oscillatory Universe before the Society brings about a new catastrophe. Specifically, in the Territories, we will take down Minato Area Three, where their headquarters are, and make the other kings confirm the names of Society members that appear on the matching list. If we do that, then the conditions for launching a general attack decided on at the meeting by the Seven Legions—no, Six Legions—will be more than amply fulfilled.”

  Taking in this decisive declaration of the Black King’s will, the Green King blinked his eye lenses once. He nodded, thick armor creaking, and broke his long silence. “If those conditions are fulfilled, then we have no objections personally to attacking white. However…”

  Grandé switched back to silent mode, and in his place, his apparent spokesman, Iron Pound, announced, “However, Black King, you say you’re going to challenge Oscillatory in the Territories, but you can’t actually do that right now? Your Suginami and white’s Minato aren’t adjacent.”

  “That’s exactly right. Thus, the reason I petitioned for this meeting today.” Nodding, Kuroyukihime let the second bomb drop in a smooth, silky voice.

  “In order to attack the White Legion, Nega Nebulus requests the return of Shibuya Areas One and Two, currently territory held by Great Wall. I’d like to discuss the amount of compensation points another day.”

  Whaaaaa—?! Haruyuki just barely swallowed the scream that had been trying to claw its way out.

  Takumu and Chiyuri, at his left, had both frozen. Fuko and the others on Kuroyukihime’s right, perhaps having heard something about this beforehand or perhaps because they’d expected it, showed no signs of surprise, but the severity of their auras increased.

  Kuroyukihime hadn’t said “transfer,” but rather “return.” He remembered hearing somewhere before that the headquarters of the first Nega Nebulus hadn’t been in Suginami, but Shibuya. Kuroyukihime moved to Suginami when she started at Umesato Junior High. Before that, she had lived with the White King at their family home in Minato, so it wasn’t unnatural that her initial base was in the adjacent Shibuya.

  But up until that point, Haruyuki had thought that Great Wall, with their headquarters in Meguro and Shinagawa to the south, had taken Shibuya of their own will once it became empty after the annihilation of the first Nega Nebulus. But based on the fact that Kuroyukihi
me had used the word return, did that mean there had been some kind of negotiation, a contract?

  The conversation between the black and green kings from a week earlier returned to life in the back of his mind. Once the meeting of the Seven Kings was over, Kuroyukihime had asked Grandé in parting, “Grandé. Do you remember our conversation two years and eleven months ago?” The Green King had responded with just “Of course.” Kuroyukihime had then continued, “You do? Then…the time to choose will come soon.”

  And it was two years and eleven months ago, August 2044, when everything had begun and ended. The black and green kings must have had some kind of negotiation regarding the transfer of control rights for the Shibuya area. So then, what exactly was “the time to choose”?

  Haruyuki had been holding his breath, watching over the scene, but now he heard a familiar, distinctive voice.

  “Wait…Wait, wait, wait—just hang on un momento!” Ash Roller groaned, his butt hovering above the bench, as clueless as Haruyuki about what was even happening. “R-return Shibuya to Negabu?! No chance in Hell even a middle rank Legion’d do that!”

  “Of course, I’m not suggesting you return the territories for free. We will pay the appropriate compensation, Ash,” Fuko—master and parent to the man—explained soothingly.

  “B-but, Master…Even still, I mean, territory’s not a thing you can just change in Brain Burst…”

  This argument was surprisingly free of Ash speak, and it wasn’t Fuko who checked it, but rather an unexpected interjection from the green camp leader.

  “We’ve already received compensation.”

  The Green King’s declaration was apparently a surprise to Kuroyukihime as well. “What?” Her eye lenses flashed sharply. “And who did you receive that from, Grandé?”

  “Me.” Graphite Edge broke his recent silence.

  “Graph, you?” Kuroyukihime asked, indeed sounding surprised. “I did wonder if you joined Great Wall because you offered yourself as a hostage…”

  “H-hostage?! What does that mean?!” This time, Haruyuki cried out in panic.

  Kuroyukihime glanced at him and pondered her words. “Ten minutes left?” she finally said. “Well, that’ll have to be enough. So then, let’s take a few minutes here to talk a bit about the past. About what happened two years and eleven months ago in the Shibuya area…”

  Naturally, Haruyuki, Chiyuri, and Takumu, the three youngest members of the black camp, didn’t know the details of what had happened back then, nor did it seem that the green camp’s Lignum, Chafer, or Ash did. The tale Kuroyukihime told went uninterrupted, her voice playing in harmony with the gentle breeze of the Twilight stage.

  “After the devastating defeat at the Castle, I decided to disband Nega Nebulus. Of course, I did consider naming someone to succeed me as master and having the Legion continue, but three of the Four Elements were in Unlimited EK, and the fourth had announced her intention to step back from the front lines, so that was also difficult. In which case, I would swallow that bitter pill and disband the Legion to allow the members to choose their own paths forward…But there still remained one unresolved issue—well, one bit of ego—inside of me.

  “If I was to simply disband the Legion and leave the Accelerated World, Shibuya, our territory at the time, and the majority of my Legion members would have been absorbed into Oscillatory Universe. I wanted to avoid that situation at all costs. I couldn’t stand the idea of my comrades being made to dance like I had been by the White King, used up like pawns, and then selfishly thrown away. Thus, before breaking up the Legion, I met with Grandé and asked him to please be a home for the Shibuya area and the Black Legion members.

  “A mere ten days earlier, I had tried to take the heads of the five other kings, including Grandé, in order to achieve level ten. So this was nothing short of scandalous…But I was that desperate. I threw myself down onto the ground the way Graph did earlier and pleaded with him. And Grandé said that the time to choose would come again at some point. And if I vowed not to run away then, he would accept my territory and my warriors…

  “Of course, all I could do was promise. But I was still in elementary school at the time, and to be honest, I didn’t really understand what he meant. My only option was to abandon everything and hide away in the local net, so I couldn’t imagine what on earth he was asking me to choose…But although it’s hard for me to say, Grandé’s prophecy did come true. I met Silver Crow, I reformed Nega Nebulus, and I reached out to my old friends one at a time. And then the ‘time to choose’ came to me: whether to re-challenge the White King, when two years and eleven months ago all I could do was run away with my tail between my legs.”

  As if to let the listeners know she was approaching the end of her long tale, Kuroyukihime slowly uncrossed her legs.

  “When I learned that Cosmos was the mastermind behind the Acceleration Research Society, I was indeed surprised, but I also felt like it could have been no one else. Now that I think about it, I may have even been expecting this somewhere deep in my heart, ever since I found out the ISS kit main body was in Tokyo Midtown Tower in the Minato area. Cosmos is the person I fear most in the Accelerated World. I don’t believe I could beat her if we fought one-on-one. Thus, I was naturally worried I’d be forced to decide if I should fight the White King. I worried that if I did challenge her, I might lose everything I love once more…But fleeing hasn’t been on the table this time. Because I made a vow to you, Grandé, that I would not run.”

  Here, she let out a sigh that sounded like a faint laugh, but of course, the Green King didn’t so much as twitch. In the silence, the Black King continued.

  “You heard my pleas, Grandé, and immediately after Nega Nebulus abdicated the Shibuya area, you made the declaration of territory and accepted into Great Wall all former members of Nega Nebulus who wished to join. But those who went to you and those who welcomed them must have felt a great deal of worry. Because the Legion Master has that powerful privilege of Judgment Blow. If, for instance, you had so desired, Grandé, it was possible system-wise for you to bring together all the players who transferred from Nega Nebulus and send them all to total point loss. Meanwhile, the native Great Wall members must have voiced their objections to accepting more than twenty people who until the day before had been their enemies.”

  “They did,” Decurion assented. “At the time, I was first seat and Pound was second, and we were the very first to oppose the idea.”

  “As you might expect.” Pound shrugged lightly. “That was something that would, for all intents and purposes, rip the Legion apart.”

  “But in the end, the transfer took place, and Shibuya became green territory,” Kuroyukihime remarked. “I assumed that this was because of Grandé’s leadership…But it seems that this wasn’t the only reason. You were working behind the scenes back then, Graph.”

  “Nah, it wasn’t such a big thing as all that.” The dual swordsman pulled back with a frown. “It was more like I met G—I mean, the Green King—and said ‘Hey, lemme join GW, please and thanks.’”

  The way he talks like he had nothing to do with anything, that’s some fancy footwork.

  But Haruyuki suddenly realized it wasn’t as simple as all that. Just as Kuroyukihime had said, Legion Masters had Judgment Blow, an ability to unilaterally push Legion members to a forced uninstall. Graphite Edge had basically offered Green Grandé his own life. This was precisely what Kuroyukihime had meant by “hostage.”

  “Graph!” Utai had apparently realized this some time ago, and now her voice was the most emotional he’d ever heard it. “You are always doing this! You never talk to the rest of us Elements; you just go and do whatever you want. And maybe we come to understand later that you’ve done it to help us, but that still doesn’t make us at all happy!”

  A month ago, Utai had said to Haruyuki at the Castle, “My power didn’t work on the God Suzaku at all. At the time of the previous Castle attack, I was the one who asked to lead the squad against Suzaku. I foo
lishly believed that if it was flames, then whatever the power, I would check it.”

  Utai had failed in the Castle attack and ended up in Unlimited EK together with Aqua Current and Graphite Edge, and she was convinced this was her own fault. Thus, she had developed under her own efforts the wide-ranging annihilation-type Incarnate technique in preparation for the mission to rescue Graphite Edge. Naturally, Graph was still sealed away at the Castle’s north gate in the Unlimited Neutral Field, but Utai also no doubt never expected to meet him again there that day.

  “And indeed, while we may have both been Elements, there was a significant gap between my power and yours, Graph!” she shouted, as though things she had pushed down and hidden for a long time were finally breaking free. “If you’d wanted to, you could have gone up to level nine at any time and become a king—so perhaps it’s no wonder you treat us like children. But even so, we were supposed to be comrades coming together under the black flag. Why did you not at least talk to us before exposing yourself to danger?!”

  Showered in the small shrine maiden’s scorching hot censure, the double sword user grabbed his knees with his hands and threw his head down. “Sorry, Denden—Maiden. And to you, too, Raker, and you, Current.”

  This time, Decurion kept quiet about the first seat potentially embarrassing himself and the Green Legion.

  Graph kept his head down for a full three seconds before finally pulling himself up and continuing in a more serious voice. “I’m sorry for not talking to you about transferring to GW. But if this became public, I figured, I dunno, it’d like upset the balance of power in the Accelerated World, y’know? So I asked G and Veri to keep me joining GW a secret.”

  “I did wonder at first what you were up to,” Decurion interjected, shaking the large horns of his helmet from side to side. “Back then, I was pretty hot-blooded, you know? And then you said you’d do this if you could beat me in a duel.”

  Now Pound shook his headgear in something like exasperation. “When you came and told us the Five Armors were now Six, and we were each going down a seat, Veri, I was seriously wondering what the hell was up.”