The Black Dual Swordsman

by Reki Kawahara

  “Ngah!” Haruyuki moaned as a searing impact assaulted his right arm. The blade ripped deeply into his armor, and a crimson damage effect spilled out. If he had taken just one more step toward Manganese, his arm would have been cut off at the shoulder.

  At precisely the same time, he heard Utai’s small voice from behind the warrior sister. Here, Haruyuki finally grasped what had happened.

  Their backs perfectly aligned, Manganese and Cobalt had attacked at the same time to the rear. Cobalt’s blade came at him from completely outside his awareness, while Manganese’s struck Maiden. This terrifying duo of twin soldiers could pull off a simultaneous attack to the rear without any kind of signal, without so much as looking at each other. If their breath had been 0.1 seconds off, their falling blades would have cut into each other.

  In order to avoid a follow-up attack, Haruyuki got some serious distance from his opponent, but Manganese did not come to close it. He checked on Maiden on the other side of Cobalt. Her right arm had also been sliced into, and she pulled back, abandoning her barrage of flame arrows.

  The twin soldiers readied their greatswords at precisely mid-body, backs still pressed together.

  Manganese opened her mouth first. “It’s been quite a while since I was hit to that extent by a fighting type. It seems your points were well earned, Silver Crow.”

  After this, Cobalt turned to Utai. “Indeed, to be so toyed with at close range by a bow user. This is truly the Testarossa whose name is known throughout the Accelerated World, Ardor Maiden.”

  “But we could never show our faces again in Shinjuku if we allowed ourselves to be defeated so.”

  “The time has come for us to use the ace up our sleeves.”

  The synchronized speech ended, and the twin samurai sheathed their swords almost languidly. But it was obvious that this did not signal the end of the fighting. An ironlike battle spirit jetted up from the soldiers’ feet as they lowered their stances, making the grass around them ripple and sway. The sisters weren’t glowing, so this was no Incarnate overlay, but Haruyuki felt a shiver of fear at this aura. It was so powerful he almost wished it was Incarnate.

  Intuiting that it would be very bad if he took a direct hit from the next attack, Haruyuki determined that it was also time for them to pull out their own trump card and turn the battle around.

  He deployed the wings on his back. His special-attack gauge was 60 percent charged; Utai’s 70. They weren’t going to make it to full gauges, but this would be enough.

  “Just what I was hoping for!!” he yelled at the soldiers, then kicked off the ground. He feinted as if he were charging forward and then detoured wide to the right in front of Cobalt.

  “Mei!” he shouted, reaching out with his right hand. Utai grabbed it with her own injured right, and he ascended straight up with everything he had.

  Haruyuki had assumed that Manganese and Cobalt would aim for the moment when he picked up Maiden, so when the twins didn’t so much as twitch, it felt a little anticlimactic as he gained an altitude of fifty meters in the blink of an eye.

  He held Maiden in his arms and shifted to hovering mode before looking down at the stage. He caught sight of the soldiers, beans dropped down in the center of the vast grassy plain illuminated by the evening sun.

  The formidable enemy Dusk Taker, who had once stolen Haruyuki’s silver wings, had been elated with his own success, crying out, “…The combination of flight with long-distance firepower is incredible…To be perfectly frank, I’m invincible.”

  Haruyuki wouldn’t go so far as to say they were unbeatable, but once he brought their close-range blue tag-team opponents to this situation, their victory was 90 percent certain. From high in the sky, where enemy swords most certainly could not reach, they would attack unilaterally with Utai’s flame arrows. Moreover, this was the Grassland stage, where there were basically no obstacles. Or anything to hide behind.

  But is this way of winning really okay?

  As if sensing the momentary hesitation in Haruyuki’s heart, Utai said, “No matter the situation, never forget to respect your opponent and leave it all on the battlefield. Don’t hold anything back. That is the underlying principle of the duel, C.”

  She pulled back Flame Caller’s bowstring with her injured fingers. Rather than stopping halfway as she had up to that point, she drew the string as far back as it went, and the flame arrow generated burned with an almost terrifying power.

  Even in the sights of the crimson inferno, the twin soldiers on the ground were unflinching, hands on the hilts of their swords. Most likely, they intended to continue to meet Maiden’s normal and special attacks in kind. If they could continue to do that until Haruyuki’s gauge was used up, and he could no longer fly, it would be their victory.

  “Here I go,” Utai murmured, and Haruyuki spread his wings as far as they would go in order to stabilize them in anticipation of the activation of her special attack.

  ““Rangeless Scission!”” Cobalt and Manganese shouted in unison, fifty meters below.

  An attack name.

  But Utai hadn’t fired her flame arrow yet—were they a step ahead? Or could it be…?

  The two warriors were already drawing their blades in a perfectly synchronized motion. Blue light flashed, and then Haruyuki felt a wind colder than ice blow past both sides of his body.

  Fwd. Their altitude dropped. Hurriedly, he tried to increase the thrust of his wings, but their gentle descent did not stop. Reflexively looking back, he saw two halves of his own silver wings reflect the evening sun as they fell soundlessly. Belatedly, his health gauge dropped over 20 percent.

  They cut me?! But we’re fifty meters apart?!

  I know it’s a special attack, but there’s no way close-range sword users could have a gun’s range…

  And then, understanding, like an explosion of fireworks, pushed these dumbfounded thoughts out of his head. Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade: The twins were not true close-range blue; they were metal colors just like Silver Crow. Exceptional colors not constrained by the color wheel.

  I should have known that. Gritting his teeth, Haruyuki pushed what remained of his metallic fins to full throttle and tried to stop their descent. He managed to get them hovering again, but his special-attack gauge was dropping with terrifying speed. It would last, at most, ten more seconds.

  “Flame Vortex.”

  Utai chanted the name in a calm and cool tone.

  Krrr! The flames enveloping the arrow swelled up. Launched with an earsplitting roar was not an arrow, but rather a crimson helix of a great lance.

  The warriors on the ground split up immediately and took evasive maneuvers just as the great lance hit the ground between them. The red, flaming vortex instantly swelled up over ten meters and swallowed the sisters.

  The enemy health gauges in the top left of his field of view were dropping at exactly the same speed. They could not yet emerge from the flames because the vortex also had a magnetic pull. Wild waves rode through the grass around them, and chunks were pulled up and sucked into the flames to become sparks dancing upward.

  In the old days, Ardor Maiden had regularly pulled off magnificent victories in the Territories when teamed up with Sky Raker, and this incredible technique made him vividly feel the reality of that legend. And Utai had most certainly guessed that the twins’ special attack was long-range. If only the knowledge that they were metal colors hadn’t fallen out of his head, Haruyuki might have also realized this and evaded their slicing attack.

  I’m still very much the forelock, he told himself as his special-attack gauge was depleted.

  “We’re going down!” Haruyuki started to glide unstably with what was left of his wings.

  “Now the true contest begins.” Utai’s resolute voice reached his ears. “I’m counting on your determination, C!”

  “R-roger!” he shouted, and landed outside the vortex of flames that was finally starting to die out. The twin soldiers appeared from beyond the white smoke that p
uffed upward, their armor charred. Given that they were metal colors, their heat resistance was high, and despite that they had taken Maiden’s special attack full in the face, their health gauges were still at 40 percent.

  Four eye lenses shone with a pale light, humming with vibration. Cobalt and Manganese wordlessly readied their swords, and Utai brought up her bow—and Haruyuki, his hands.

  I’m still way behind in brains and technique. But I can’t be beat for determination!! he shouted to himself through clenched teeth, kicking at the charred-black earth.

  Fifteen minutes later.

  Manganese Blade’s downward slice quickly caught the right straight Haruyuki launched with the last of his strength. At the same time as his arm was cut away at the shoulder and sent flying, his bright-red health gauge fell to just 10 percent. When he lost his balance and fell into the grass, the tip of the greatsword was charged toward his neck.

  Is this the end? Haruyuki waited for the final blow, but the sword dug into the earth a mere two centimeters from his face mask with krnch. Staring stunned at the pale metal before his eyes, he heard a voice from above.

  “You gave me a decent fight, Silver Crow.”

  “Huh?” Haruyuki timidly lifted his head.

  “It’s not that I have taken pity on you.” Manganese snorted as she yanked her blade out of the ground. “If this were a simple duel, I would have no mercy and take your head. But you came here for some purpose, yes? Something to do with our Leonids?”

  “Oh. Th-that’s right.” Hurriedly pulling himself up, Haruyuki sent his gaze to his right as he knelt formally on the grass. The battle between Cobalt and Maiden seemed to be shifting in Maiden’s favor, albeit slightly, but then they, too, stopped fighting.

  “Um. Manga?” He looked up at Manganese once more. “I’m sorry, but could you give me a little time after this? I do have something important to talk to you about…”

  “…Involving the Society?”

  “Y-yes.”

  The ponytailed warrior sheathed her sword as she glanced at her pigtailed sister. Apparently, that was enough to come to an understanding, and she nodded lightly. “No choice then. Crow, whereabouts are you now?”

  It took him a moment or two to realize she was asking about his position in the real world. “Hyah?! Um. Sh-Shinoume Highway.”

  “Mm. Well then.” She bent over and brought her face mask close to him before murmuring at a barely audible volume, “Come to the family restaurant at the five-way intersection in Nakano when you get back.”

  “Hyah?! S-so then, you mean, in the real—?”

  “You’re too loud,” she scolded quietly, then stood back up before surveying their surroundings. Sensing the end of the duel, the members of the Gallery were cheering and clapping loudly, but the female warrior merely shot them a sharp look. “It’s entirely possible a spy has slipped into the duel stage. We could forcibly eject the Gallery, but that also looks bad in its own way.”

  “R-right. Well, true,” he agreed, “but if we’re meeting in the real, then we need to decide on a sign or something.”

  “Mm. We are Burst Linkers. We will know each other at a glance.”

  Wiiiiill weeee, thouuuuugh?

  Although this doubt rose up from the bottom of his heart, Haruyuki could only nod.

  6

  The tag-team duel ended in a mutually agreed-upon draw, and the instant he burst out and returned to the bus in the real world, Haruyuki slid down into his seat. He held down the button on his Neurolinker to cut off his connection to the global net, while Utai, next to him, typed out her impression of the fight with a cool smile.

  UI> JUST AS YOU’D EXPECT OF THE LEONIDS’ DUALIS, THEY WERE VERY STRONG.

  “They really were. That Rangeless Scission special attack has way too wide a field.”

  UI> IT’S MOST LIKELY THE SAME TYPE OF GUN PERFORMANCE AS TRILEAD’S SWORD. I SUSPECT THAT THE LONGER THE SWORDS ARE SHEATHED BEFORE THE SPECIAL ATTACK ACTIVATION, THE GREATER THE RANGE THEY CAN REACH.

  “Oh. M-makes sense.” Nodding, Haruyuki remembered the mysterious young male samurai they’d met in the Castle. He’d given his name as Trilead Tetroxide—or Azure Air—and was in possession of the straight sword that was the epsilon of the Seven Arcs, the Infinity. The special feature of this sword was that the longer it was left in its sheath, the greater the power of the blow after it was unsheathed.

  So then, if things went wrong and one of the twins got ahold of the Infinity, the force and range of the special attack Rangeless Scission could easily be infinite if left sheathed long enough, a totally crushing technique.

  Scary, so scary.

  He was still shuddering as he heard a bell chime. Utai had touched the next-stop button in the AR display.

  UI> NOW IS THE START OF TODAY’S REAL MISSION, ARITA.

  “R-right. I hope we can actually find them,” he said, worried.

  UI> I’M SURE THEY ARE VERY SAMURAI-LIKE. NOW LET’S GET OFF THE BUS! Utai stood up without waiting for the bus to stop and moved toward the door.

  Impressed at how she was always full of energy despite her small stature, Haruyuki followed the brown leather backpack.

  They got off at the bus stop at the intersection of Shinoume Highway and Nakano Street and headed north on Nakano. After they had walked seven minutes, an orange sign came into view on the right, the family restaurant Coba-Manga had set as the meeting place. If they were simply going out to eat, they could have accessed the restaurant site beforehand and checked for open tables or made a reservation, but since they were meeting people whose faces and contact info were unknown to them, their only choice was to just go inside.

  If Haruyuki had said he wasn’t feeling a little awkward about this first meeting with the twins in the real, given that the flesh-and-bone body of Haruyuki Arita didn’t resemble Silver Crow in any way, he would have been lying. But he told himself that now was not the time to be worrying about things like that and climbed the stairs to the restaurant.

  When he pushed open the glass door, cool air-conditioning and a voice calling “welcome” greeted them. He told the waitress they were meeting someone and then stood up taller to look around the restaurant.

  Since it was the inconspicuous time of four thirty, there weren’t very many patrons. But all the ones he could see were housewives on their way home from shopping and businessmen on breaks; he couldn’t spot anyone who seemed to be that particular pair. Or so he thought, but then a hand appeared from the other side of a smoked-glass partition that hid a table deeper inside, beckoning Haruyuki and Utai over.

  “……”

  He and Utai exchanged a look before timidly starting forward. He stopped in front of the partition and steadied his resolve before taking another step and turning ninety degrees to the right.

  Two earlier arrivals were seated on one of the benches surrounding the table. Their sailor-style uniforms were a slightly bright navy blue with slender white ribbons, collars, and cuffs, a summery and refreshing color combination. Both Neurolinkers peeking over the collars were a deep-sapphire blue.

  Haruyuki took in their outfits first and foremost not because he had a particular uniform fetish, but because he couldn’t see their faces. It wasn’t the angle—the two junior high school girls before him both had brown paper bags yanked over their heads.

  “…………”

  He was at a loss for words. Utai moved her index fingers briskly, and a string of ellipses appeared in the chat window.

  UI> …………

  Finally, one of the paper bag people pointed wordlessly toward the opposite side of the table.

  Haruyuki came to his senses and sat down, at any rate. When Utai took a seat next to him, the waitress brought over glasses of water and hot towels for them both and told them to press the button when they were ready to order. “Or you can order directly from the holomenu. Enjoy!”

  She must have seriously strong nerves to maintain her smile, he thought.

  But Haruyuki was
very much unable to produce a smile himself. He simply stared hard at the paper bags across from him, his eyes wide. When he looked closely, he could see there were two small holes on each, so apparently, they could see him.

  These paper bags—I mean, these people, are Manga and Coba…right? What’s the point of the bags? Maybe they’re on guard about having their identities discovered in the real, but it’s pointless if they don’t hide their uniforms, too. And anyway, they were the ones who suggested talking in the real…

  His mind racing, he continued to stare, when the paper bag directly across from him brought her head over to the paper bag beside her.

  “Hey. This is actually too weird.”

  “You were the one who was worried about them seeing our faces, Yuki!”

  “Aah! Don’t say my name!”

  “O-oops. Aah, come on. This is exhausting, okay?”

  “This isn’t my fault. Like, let’s just take them off.”

  “No choice, I guess. I mean, they’ve got their faces exposed and all.”

  The pair apparently reached a consensus and grabbed the tops of their paper bags at the same time to yank them off, fortunately revealing the faces of real human beings.

  They did, in fact, look very much alike—or rather, they were so identical that Haruyuki couldn’t tell them apart. The defined eyebrows; the clear, crisp line of the nose; the classic Japanese features. Utai also had that kind of look, but she was cute, whereas the two girls in front of him were the very definition of beautiful. Neither was wearing anything in the way of accessories, so the only difference between them was that the one across from Haruyuki had her glossy hair pulled into a ponytail, while the one across from Utai was wearing hers in pigtails.

  Seeing these hairstyles, Haruyuki was finally convinced that they were the ones he and Utai had come to see, and he bowed his head as he gave his name. “Um, nice to meet you. I’m Silv—I mean, Corvus. This is Shrine Maiden.”

  Introduced with Haruyuki’s impromptu fake name, Utai placed her hands together in her lap and bowed deeply. Perhaps in reaction to the composure of this child of a Noh family, the pair in their sailor uniforms snapped to attention as they bowed.