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Volume 6, 13: Round Dance of Expectation
Volume 6, 13: Round Dance of Expectation
Volume 6, Chapter 13: Round Dance of Expectation
Think and dance, human and one with human form
With any luck, this will raise the Coppelia reproduction rate
Hiba drove his motorcycle from the morning courtyard and into the five-story boys’ dormitory.
…Hurry.
In that deserted concept space, the morning sun dimly lit the inside of the building. The difference was enough to feel like complete darkness at first, but that helped eliminate any hesitation left in his thoughts.
He twisted the accelerator without hesitation.
“!”
Supported by the large engine displacement, the tires dug into the plastic floor.
Their grip created speed and the motorcycle raced along the corridor.
Surrounded by his speed and the reverberating noises of the engine, he caught sight of his target up ahead.
…There he is!
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw Aigaion two meters ahead.
He held Mikage over his shoulder as he ran and he turned around to look at Hiba in midair.
He was smiling.
“Allow me to introduce myself again, descendent of Hiba!”
He leaped calmly through the air and leaped again as soon as he landed.
“I am Aigaion, one of the Hecatoncheires. My height is 2 meters 31 centimeters, my weight is 150 kilos, I work at a greengrocer, and my hobby is pachinko! What about you!?”
“I’m not the type to introduce myself to guys!”
Aigaion reacted to Hiba’s answer with a laugh.
“Ha ha,” he laughed loudly as he landed. “How boring!”
With another laugh, he ran backwards and swung his left arm toward the concrete wall to his side.
His large hand smashed the manmade wall. With a splashing sound, his hand sank into the wall up to the wrist and he did not stop there.
As he ran, he tore a wrist-sized line in the wall.
Sounds of destruction and concrete fragments scattered everywhere as he ran and destroyed the wall.
“Dolls are not human, and so there is something they need. They need a selling point as an artificial product. Just as the mass-produced automatons can control gravity and the Moirai manage humans, we have our own selling points.”
“And what is that?”
Aigaion’s eyebrows stood up, but his smile deepened.
“In my case, I have extremely precise and flashy gravitational control.”
He twisted up the wrist jammed into the wall as if grabbing something and tearing it out.
His giant hand held something as he pulled it from the wall.
It was a thick and round piece of steel. More specifically, it was the primary portion of the reinforced concrete used to construct the building.
“It is time you fell, metal structure that stands in rebellion to the earth!”
As soon his voice rang out, Hiba heard the sound of something gigantic collapsing.
By the time he realized it was the earth trembling, the sudden shaking threw his motorcycle into the air.
He remained in the air for over a second.
“…!”
The tires bounced off the plastic floor and then settled down. After spinning through the air, they dug into the floor once more.
At the same time, the ceiling and walls collapsed like a closing book.
Aigaion’s gravitational control spread through the rebar frame and easily bent the entire thing.
The boys’ dorm was imploding.
“What!?”
The destruction showed itself through smashing concrete and wood.
The chain of breaking materials passed by over Hiba’s head and swallowed up the ceiling, columns, walls, and rooms lining the corridor.
Once the walls split apart, the ceiling fell and carried four floor’s worth of volume with it.
Hiba decided to do two things: escape the destruction and retrieve Mikage.
There was only one way to accomplish both.
“Either way, I have to chase after you!!”
He pushed the accelerator to its limit and the motorcycle shot forward.
The sound of the engine pierced through the sounds of breaking concrete, the sounds of bending and shattering reinforced glass, and the sounds of everything creaking. But Aigaion did not stop laughing.
“Keep at it, keep at it. But it’s over, descendent of Hiba!”
“You…”
Hiba lowered down and gathered even more strength in his hand on the accelerator.
“You don’t get to decide that it’s over!”
“I do when I’m the one ending it!”
And…
“I will make you even more boring than you already are!”
With that said, Aigaion raised Mikage above his head.
…That’s dangerous!
Hiba almost shouted that thought aloud, but then Mikage’s body crumbled.
“…!?”
He then saw the truth. What he had assumed was Mikage was just a clump of metal rubble. The clothes were just a gathering of white sand-like components.
“Ha ha ha! This is a doll of trash and rubble I put together with my gravitational control! How do you like that? It’s a doll made by a doll. Gyes took the real one and went on ahead!”
“What…?”
Hiba gulped.
…I was in such a hurry, I fell for a fake!
His resentment led to anger.
“You damn con artist!!”
“Quiet. It’s your fault for letting me trick you!!”
He’s right, thought Hiba as he clenched his teeth.
The accelerator was already at its limit, so he focused on switching gears while ignoring the downpour of rubble.
He thought about the concept space. If metal was alive…
“Please,” he said to the motorcycle. “Please let me catch up!”
The mass of metal answered his call. After trembling for an instant, its engine let out a cry, and the accelerator itself seemed to begin racing.
“…!”
The motorcycle lowered its center of gravity. It lowered its suspension almost to the limit, bit into the shaking floor, and eliminated all wasted tire rotation.
Forward.
The motorcycle whipped up the wind and raced between the falling ceiling and collapsing walls.
But…
“Am I not going to make it?”
Aigaion leaped outside of the western entrance twenty meters ahead, but the overhead collapse was already settled. The boys’ dormitory would be completely destroyed before Hiba made it out.
Shit, he thought without letting up on the accelerator.
At the same time, he heard a voice and an approaching motorcycle outside.
“Hiba!”
It was Kazami’s female voice, so it was Izumo speaking.
Before he could wonder what he wanted, the female voice spoke again.
“Keep low! We’ll blow it all away!”
A moment later, the boys’ dorm was completely destroyed.
Kazami and Izumo’s motorcycle charged toward the southern side of the crumbling boys’ dorm.
After locking the back wheel and drifting the side, the two of them raised their right hands and shouted in unison.
“Come!”
An instant later, two white lines flew from the northern sky and struck near the back of the building’s third floor.
The shock of that impact stopped the collapse.
This created a short blank period.
All the smoke and shaking from the collapse was knocked into the air in a slight moment of relative calm.
“!”
And then silent and invisible explosions occurred at the two points of impact.
This was similar to the shockwave created when a massive shell struck at high speed.
This shockwave went beyond the realm of sound and raced across the northern side of the dormitory. It tore away the rubble, glass, and surface materials in an instant and an explosion of steam burst from both points of impact.
Two loud noises and two impacts followed.
Aigaion had created a downward collapse, but these two attacks had changed that to explosions scattering in every direction. The five-story building bent, twisted, and broke as if it had been struck by two uppercuts.
A great rumbling raced out and it did not end there.
Amid the destruction that sounded like a beast’s roar, light appeared on the northern side of the building.
It was the light of dragons. The light formed two dragons creating a giant helix.
The dragon light swallowed up the destroyed fragments, formed a circle, and absorbed it all.
The boys’ dormitory was annihilated.
All that remained was the first floor which had escaped the destruction.
“I owe you one!”
As well as Hiba’s motorcycle which charged out the western side.
He spoke to the two in front of the building who each held their respective weapon.
They had already started driving their motorcycle once more.
The large sword held by the girl had its thrusters fully open and some text appeared on its console.
“Let’s have some fun.”
“Yeah.” A strong smile appeared on the girl’s lips. “It’s time for round 2!”
A large Japanese-style house was located a bit west of Taka-Akita Academy’s campus.
It was surrounded by a green fence and two people were currently rushing alongside that fence to reach the front gate.
They were Shinjou and Sayama. They both wore their summer uniforms and Shinjou turned to the right to face Sayama as her long hair shook.
“Will Ryuuji-kun’s place be okay?”
“UCAT’s disguised police officers and disguised firemen arrived, so it should be fine. They just have to wait for the disguised contractors, disguised architects, disguised builders, and disguised craftsmen to arrive and rebuild the house.”
“That doesn’t sound fine at all.”
“We can look forward to seeing what they come up with. But for now, we must do our job.”
“Right.”
Shinjou nodded and recalled what their job was.
It seemed simple yet was rather difficult.
“Emergency food supply… It somehow doesn’t surprise me that Ooki-sensei asked for that.”
“All of the disguised workers and Sibyl-kun’s group are heading out without breakfast. Also, we have to pass by the Tamiya house on our way to the rendezvous point with Sibyl-kun’s group anyway. It may seem we are simply running an errand, but someone has to do it.”
And…
“If it is necessary, I will not find fault with the job and I can easily arrange this. I told Kouji there was a fire at an acquaintance’s house, and that should be enough to settle it.”
Shinjou hung her head a bit when Sayama said “acquaintance” rather than “friend”.
…We still don’t know the full situation.
Another student at their school was fighting using concepts independently of UCAT.
At the moment, there was something they could do to help with that fight.
“We’ll just be saying hello and handing it over to the disguised volunteers once they arrive, right?”
“Yes. And those disguised volunteers will be lowering Sibyl-kun’s group from their helicopter. Once we meet up with them, we can follow Sibyl-kun into the concept space.”
“Right,” she said with a nod.
Having a clear objective cheered her up a little, so she began moving her legs more quickly.
The wooden gate to the house lay before them. In front of the gate was a black vehicle and a woman wearing a red kimono. Shinjou recognized the woman.
“Ryouko-san.”
Hearing her name, Ryouko turned toward Shinjou. She had been checking on the contents of her handbag which sat on the hood of the car, but she stopped and smiled.
“Young master and Setsu-chan. What is it? Were you kicked out of school? I’m so happy!”
She took a few steps toward them, her wooden shoes clacking on the ground as she did.
Shinjou gave a cry of surprise as Ryouko suddenly embraced her.
“Nn, it’s been so long. How are you doing, Setsu-chan?”
“Eh? Oh, fine. …And we saw each other only three days ago.”
Nevertheless, Ryouko rubbed her chin against Shinjou’s head with a satisfied expression. She let out a sigh, embraced her again, and finally moved away.
“Why do I keep thinking you’re a girl? You aren’t, are you?”
“Eh? No, of course not…”
Only those in UCAT knew the truth about her, so Ryouko knew nothing. The woman tilted her head with her hands on Shinjou’s shoulders and suspicion in her gaze.
“But you really smell like a girl. Are you getting any weird injections?”
“Sorry, Ryouko, but I have not introduced Shinjou-kun to any of that.”
“I see. Then it must be natural… Setsu-chan, how about you go to Morocco for a bit? I think it will help you get a lot better, so how about just signing the paperwork for now?”
“No thanks. I like my uninteresting life.”
Shinjou frantically shook her head. She was faced with two people whose brains were from a different world. If she let them get carried away, she could find herself under general anesthesia and on an operating table in three hours’ time.
…I need to change the subject.
“A-are you going somewhere, Ryouko-san?”
“Yes. We have some visitors from a company that some of our people help out at.”
Ryouko turned toward the car. At first glance, it looked like a normal light vehicle, but it was a glossy black, the glass had a smoke shield preventing anyone from seeing in, and it said Tamiya Security on the side in gold paint. A closer examination showed several small doors that could open to let something out.
“Sayama-kun, can I comment on this car?”
“Is there anything odd about it? Oh, have you never seen a ‘Danger. Run away.’ sticker before? That is used for any car Ryouko drives.”
“Kouji thinks I’m a dangerous driver even though I only run into things some of the time.”
Ryouko gave an exasperated sigh, approached the hood, and began fishing through her handbag again.
“What is it?” asked Shinjou.
“I lost my self-defense pistol. I lost my previous one too, so this is the second time. Kouji’s so horrible when he finds out about this kind of thing, so I’m trying to find it.”
“To sum up everything in a single word: how?”
“Well, after parking last night, the dogs were playing around. It was cute, but guard dogs shouldn’t be doing that, y’know? Anyway, I fired into the ground a few times to quiet them down.”
“Is that the handgun in question?”
Sayama pointed toward a black revolver on the light vehicle’s roof.
“Oh, what a careless mistake on my part. But that makes people want to protect me, right? So it all works out in the end, right?”
“This bothers me on multiple levels…” commented Shinjou.
“No one found out, so that means I win,” said Ryouko as she picked up the handgun and delightedly waved it around in both hands.
An instant later, Sayama tugged Shinjou backwards by the collar.
“Eh? What?”
She then heard a gunshot and something flew by in the space her face had been in a moment before.
Ryouko looked puzzled and glass could be heard shattering in the house behind them.
A moment later, someone ran out of the gate to their side.
It was Kouji who was wearing a suit and holding a bag of rice crackers.
“Young master, Shinjou-kun, good morning. Excuse me, but I must go apologize.”
“Y-you sure have it tough, Kouji-san.”
“Ha ha. I’m used to it.”
His last sentence was spoken after averting his gaze and then he loudly ran toward the opposite house.
After watching her brother run off, Ryouko sighed, tilted her head, and looked at the gun in her hand.
“Kouji really does have it tough. Anyway, was the trigger’s second stage always that light?”
“Don’t stare down the barrel!”
“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid enough to shoot myself.”
Ryouko put the handgun in her pocket. Shinjou did not like the idea of her storing it there, but she remained silent as that seemed to be where she usually stored it.
…I don’t want to say something and cause secondary damage.
It was about time to get to the issue at hand, so she glared at Sayama and he nodded.
“Ryouko, about what I contacted Kouji about…”
“Oh, right. Kouji is finishing up in the kitchen, so just have your volunteers take it with them when they get here. The different rice ball flavors are dried plum, katsuobushi, seaweed, and pudding. The pudding ones are a secret flavor I made without Kouji knowing, so try to pick those ones if you can.”
“Ah…ah ha ha. Ryouko-san, I would love it if you would tell us which ones those are.”
“Hm. But it goes against my principles to give you two an unfair advantage.”
“P-please?”
Shinjou gave an insistent smile and Ryouko placed a hand on her mouth and thought.
“Hm,” she said again. “I think the young master would know.”
“Eh? Really?”
She turned toward Sayama who remained expressionless.
“Shinjou-kun, I will try them first and you can finish any that are safe.”
“Kyah! The two of you are having an indirect kiss via rice balls? I want in too!”
As Ryouko rejoiced flirtatiously, Shinjou blushed.
…She’s right, but my life is too important to let it bother me.
Sayama nodded with a serious expression and she could not turn down his kindness.
“Be careful, you two. The scene of a fire can be dangerous. Especially you, Setsu-chan. You need to look after your hands. You don’t want to lower your commercial value.”
Shinjou was not sure what that meant, but she was afraid to ask.
Instead, she smiled and watched as Ryouko picked up her handbag and opened the vehicle’s door. The inside had a roll cage installed, the console had buttons with “turbo boost” and “oil” written in large text, and a metal cylinder with a trigger attached hung down from the ceiling in front.
…This might be low-key for a car in the Sayama world.
She watched as Ryouko petted a small stuffed cat hanging from the cylinder on the ceiling.
“Do your best, you two. After he’s done apologizing, Kouji should help carry the food out to the volunteers. It’s so boring how all of his food is delicious. He needs some delightful surprises inside.”
Shinjou was fairly certain Ryouko’s surprises would be fatal, but she had another thought as she remembered the woman’s smile and watched her back as she sat in the seat.
…When you get down to it, we’re tricking Ryouko-san and Kouji-san.
And they were tricking a lot of other people too.
Ryouko’s behavior could be very strange, but that was unavoidable when taking the Sayama Zone into account. Shinjou frantically spoke up when she realized she was forcing a smile.
“Ah, Ryouko-san!”
“Hm? What is it?”
Shinjou breathed a sigh of relief at the smiling face that turned toward her.
Does this make us hypocrites? she wondered, but she spoke aloud to the woman rather than herself.
“Thank you for your help so early in the morning. And be careful.”
Ryouko gave a satisfied nod, reached out a hand, and rubbed Shinjou’s head.
“Well done, Setsu-chan. What about you, young master?”
“I have nothing to say.”
“Young master?”
“…Take care,” he said with a sigh.
Ryouko’s eyes bent in a smile, she nodded, and she removed her hand from Shinjou’s head.
“Good, good. I’m glad to see the two of you together. I’ll be going then.”
She turned to Shinjou again and gave a bitter smile.
“Setsu-chan, don’t give me that look, okay? Don’t worry. This is a job and I am the company president.”
As she closed the door with a smile, she continued speaking.
“All I have to do is physically persuade about thirty people. You do your best too, okay?”
Inside the concept space, Kazami and Izumo let Hiba go on ahead alongside the row of boys’ dormitories, but Aigaion was causing them trouble.
He had handed Mikage over to Gyes and they could not afford to spend any time dealing with him, but he had chosen a simple yet horribly effective method to stop them.
“He isn’t hurrying…”
He was withdrawing ahead of them, but he was not rushing and he was slowly launching attacks.
Any attack they sent back would be deflected by earth or rubble pulled up with his gravitational abilities.
They had gotten off the motorcycle in front of the boys’ dormitory that they had destroyed and they were both attacking and defending, but they had been unable to leave the boys’ dormitory area.
…This is never going to end.
While looking like Izumo, Kazami swung G-Sp2 around and faced her opponent.
Aigaion was withdrawing at a jogging pace and his arms were extended to either side to use his gravity techniques.
“There is a lot buried in this world.”
A water pipe burst up from the ground and into his right hand. The gravel-covered earth was peeled up and a metal pipe thirty centimeters across rose up like a snake raising its head.
“Take this.”
Just as about thirty meters of pipe was exposed, it bent like a whip.
It swung in horizontally from the right as if trying to wrap around them.
The tip of the swinging pipe sliced through the air quite quickly.
“Wah!”
Kazami back stepped away from Aigaion, but the lack of X-Wi on her back was a fatal flaw. Izumo’s body did not provide the distance and speed she wanted.
As the metal pipe flew in horizontally, she had only one way of avoiding it: moving down.
“…!”
She embraced G-Sp2 and collapsed onto her back just as the metal flew past her face and to the left.
While listening to it cut through the wind, she stabbed G-Sp2 into the ground to push herself back to her feet. She then saw the metal pipe returning for a second strike.
This reversal was surprisingly fast.
“You sure are persistent!”
She moved backwards and realized her only choice was to charge forward after the pipe passed by this time.
She stepped to the back. Izumo’s body gave her a long reach with its arms and legs, but it was heavy.
More muscular strength did not directly link to more acceleration.
When she took a step with this body, she first felt a weight bearing down on her shoulders. Next, she managed a long leap as if breaking through that weight.
This was different from normal.
The length of her steps, her center of gravity, and everything else were different. It felt like fighting in someone else’s clothes and shoes.
In her body, she would jump backwards the more she pressed down with her foot. His body may have provided greater speed in the end, but it was terrible for tight turns and initial speed.
…Yet he’s always keeping up with me in this body.
She wondered if it was a burden on his knees and back to keep up with her as she ran everywhere.
She had new concerns about him, but that did not help her evade.
The metal pipe drew close.
She saw it easily fell the trees along its path. With fibrous snapping sounds, a few of the trees in the yard were snapped apart and knocked flying.
But the metal did not slow down.
…It’s catching up!
Her fears were warranted. Her back stepping was simply not fast enough.
The metal pipe arrived so quickly it seemed to be biting at her.
A chill ran down her spine and an odd calm filled her mind.
…So Kaku’s body can tremble like this too.
The instant she had that thought, she heard her real voice calling from behind her.
“Hey, Chisato! Look over here!”
She looked behind her and saw herself about three meters away, just outside the range of the metal pipe.
With a perfectly serious expression, her body grabbed the bottom of her skirt with both hands and lifted it up to her stomach.
“Look at this, Chisato!”
“What the hell are you doing!?”
Anger moved her body. She easily jumped the remaining three meters and got in a solid savate blow.
The sound of impact rang out and her own body flew toward the nearest boys’ dormitory, but that body quickly stood back up.
“Y-you idiot! What was that for!?”
“That’s my line! Why would you suddenly lift up my skirt like that!? …Ah! I just hurt myself again.”
“Don’t worry about it. You dodged the attack, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t dodge the attack! I jumped in for an attack of my own on a new target!”
The two of them ducked down as the metal pipe flew by overhead after approaching a bit.
The roar blew their hair about and Kazami saw her own body stand up in front of her.
“You seemed to be giving up and I knew seeing that would give my body some motivation.”
“And?”
“Oh, um…” Her own body tilted its head and finally confidently puffed out its chest. “It all turned out okay!!”
She wanted to punch Izumo, but it would make things awkward after returning to her body.
But that awkwardness reminded her of a certain fact.
…We’ll be returning to normal later. Right now, we just have our minds swapped out.
With that in mind, she took a step forward and pointed at her chest.
The metal pipe had smashed the ground behind her and returned, but she had to correct something first.
“These bodies move as we want them to, but our minds don’t conform to the bodies. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
She saw a smile on her body’s lips.
It seemed Izumo had realized the same thing as her, so she gave a similar smile.
“In other words, there’s a way to resolve this situation: we go all out.”
Kazami went ahead and gave the conclusion, nodded, and exchanged a glance with Izumo.
“I was trying to control your body properly, so I had to worry about all sorts of small adjustments. But if I go all out and draw out all of the body’s strength, I can leave everything up to the body. We stop thinking about our pace or reach, we don’t stop to catch our breath, we work the muscles until they ache, and we slam our entire bodies against the enemy. If we go on full throttle, we don’t have to worry about any adjustments.”
“Sounds nice and stupid. It all comes down to this one try, so no regrets, okay?”
“Of course. What about you? If we mess this up, we could die.”
“I’ve been ready.”
“Really?” she asked doubtfully.
Her body nodded, held the giant sword under one arm, exaggeratedly brought a hand to its mouth, and blushed.
“I have no regrets.”
“W-wait a second! What were you doing while I was fighting!?”
“Well… I’m not sure how to put it. Important research?”
“I see.”
Kazami nodded, suddenly clenched her right fist, and threw several blows toward her current body’s crotch.
“It’s all this thing’s fault! It’s all because this horrible things exists!! Oh, ow ow ow ow ow! That really gets to you.”
“That’s an important experience that no woman has had before. …And stop that, Chisato. Now I’m not looking forward to going back.”
Despite their yelling, they both simultaneously took a step away from each other.
The metal pipe slammed down between them from above. The whip-like blow caused the gravel to scatter, but the pipe was not drawn back.
Wondering what was happening, Kazami looked toward the other end of the pipe. Aigaion was standing there as before, but he was now looking at them with a tilt of the head.
“Are you two fighting each other now?”
“Heh heh heh. An amateur would never understand. Look, Chisato. He’s jealous of our relationship.”
“Kaku?” she said with a smile. “Do you want me to hit you again?”
She raised her spear, but Aigaion shook his head and lowered his eyebrows a bit.
“Sorry, but my victory is already assured.”
“What do you mean?”
The automaton raised both hands. Before, he had only held a water pipe in his right hand, but he now held one in both hands.
“Come on out.”
As he spoke with a smile in his voice, the two metal pipes showed themselves on the surface.
The dirt was torn up, the gravel flew, and the concrete split as the water pipes appeared. And this time, they were not just a few dozen meters long.
“…!”
Kazami saw shadows appear not just on the ground around them. The shadows covered the entire surface like blood vessels and they surrounded the school buildings, the dormitories, the neighboring gym, the indoor pool, and the other buildings.
She heard structures and the earth bursting apart as those metal blood vessels rose up over a wide area.
The series of water pipes connecting the dozen or so nearby buildings all jumped up.
All of the metal pipes did the same thing. While rising into the air like snake heads, they held up the objects they were connected to.
“The water tanks.”
“Yes. Some of them hold several dozen tons of water.”
Shadows appeared a hundred meters in the air. The metal pipes formed a mesh shape which supported the metal cubes filled with water. The cubes were of different sizes, but Kazami could see eighteen of them in all.
As she looked up, she saw what could be called the prelude to an attack.
Some of the water pipes formed a giant spiral and lowered toward her and Izumo.
They fell.
“!?”
The falling spiral caused a great number of metallic noises.
After it was complete, a wall of water pipes surrounded them with a radius of twenty meters.
The water pipe cage surrounded the courtyard between boys’ dormitories.
The wall was about three meters high. There were gaps between pipes, but they were too small to slip through.
…Is this…
“A cage!?”
“Yes. This is a large crushing zone. You will be crushed to death by over one hundred tons of water and metal.”
She could hear the automaton speaking.
“Fall.”
An instant later, the water tanks crashed into the ground.
As the metal blood vessels stretched across the sky, a single figure ran along the road.
The woman in a red suit was Gyes. She held Mikage over her shoulder as she headed quickly to the west.
She was currently on the edge of the facility known as a school. The road changed from gravel to pavement and she ran toward the larger road to the west.
She could see the metal floating in the sky.
…Aigaion is making a show of it.
He would draw in the enemy while she escaped.
…I need to leave this facility and meet up with Cottus.
She could see the side gate to the facility up ahead. The sliding gate was made from two metal walls four meters wide and two meters tall, but it was sitting open.
She was about three hundred meters away, but she saw something in the open gate.
“Who are you!?”
She frowned and shouted toward the girl and wall in the gate.
The wall was a giant white transport pallet. The empty truck next to it suggested the girl had carried the pallet here after entering the concept space.
The girl impeccably wore a white and black armored uniform. Her long, soft-looking blonde hair flowed in the slight wind and her blue eyes faced directly forward.
As Gyes ran up, the girl spoke with no expression on her face.
“Our representative is busy preparing, so I arrived to face you first. I ask that you be more prudent in your actions, 3rd-Gear automaton.”
“Name yourself before asking me anything!”
“Testament,” spoke the girl. “I am Sibyl of Team Leviathan.”
Gyes recognized that unit name. Hajji had mentioned it a few times.
…That’s the UCAT unit that won over 1st-Gear and 2nd-Gear!
She had heard they were after Typhon’s Concept Core independently of the black god of war. And in that case…
“I won’t listen to anything you ask!”
Just as she determined this girl was an enemy, she heard a noise from behind her.
It was a great metallic noise that shook the earth and atmosphere.
The roar seemed to pierce through the air and her body.
Sibyl looked into the sky and frowned a little.
“What was that noise?”
“You don’t know? That was a great mass of water and metal falling to the ground!”
Gyes did not even need to think about the result of that, so she laughed as she ran.
“Ha ha,” she began. “While you were speaking with me, your comrades have been smashed beyond repair! Will you head down the same path, girl!?”
As she approached, Gyes saw something.
Her opponent was smiling. It was a perfectly natural smile.
“It would appear 3rd-Gear has grown soft. …Would you die from that attack?”
“What!?”
Sibyl lowered her arms, spread them a bit, and held the palms out toward Gyes.
“If that was enough to kill them, Chisato-sama and Izumo-sama would have died hundreds of times by now.”
“Then this will be the time they finally die!!”
Gyes decided Sibyl was preparing an attack and the pallet behind her was worrisome.
While running, she tossed Mikage into the air, imagined her gravitational control as the middle finger of her left hand, and kept Mikage floating out of Sibyl’s reach.
She then raised her hands to either side while still running.
“Come, my power!”
The answer to her cry came from the sky.
It was a red god of war. That machine could be seen as a part of her body and it was stored in the excess given to her child string vibration. It now split open the sky and appeared from there.
Its red body was over eight meters tall.
It had a slender face, body, and legs, but it was missing something crucial.
Namely, shoulders.
Instead, everything past the elbows floated in the air to either side. Also, it had three on either side, for a total of six.
As it whipped up the wind, Gyes swung her arms down below. She controlled it remotely via gravitational control and the movements of her fingers were linked to the six arms behind her.
The god of war’s six arms grabbed at the air and moved forward.
Despite grabbing at empty air, the six arms pulled something out.
They were blades.
The broad rectangular blades were drawn from a concept space and into this world.
“Be destroyed, mankind!”
With Mikage floating behind her, Gyes ran forward and swung her arms. She looked like she was embracing her own waist as she looked above.
She saw the red god of war step forward and overtake her.
It let loose six strikes.
The six blades flew toward the giant pallet sitting in the gate and they would slice it and Sibyl into six pieces.
“!?”
But as Gyes listened to the sounds of the high-speed actions, she saw something unexpected.
Sibyl raised both her arms and the pallet behind her burst open.
A clear sound rang out as pieces of the pallet’s lock scattered in every direction.
Gyes’s six attacks struck the rising cover to the pallet.
As pieces of the pallet scattered about, Gyes stared forward while swinging the blades further.
…What!?
She watched as the pallet fragments burst out and something stood up from within.
And that something was a giant armored warrior.
“A god of war!?”
A silver god of war stood forcefully up from the pallet and matched Sibyl’s upraised arms.
While swinging up its arms, it grabbed something from the collapsing back end of the pallet.
It grabbed two swords which had been attached on the inner side of the pallet.
After grasping the hilts, the collapsing pallet wall automatically removed the scabbards.
The two drawn swords rose to intercept Gyes’s six swords.
The eight trajectories clashed at high speed and deflected each other.
Gyes moved back with the red god of war.
Sibyl moved back with the silver god of war.
Gyes took a fighting stance, but she did not immediately move forward.
She held up her arms in an X-shape and faced Sibyl and the silver god of war behind her.
“That god of war!”
“You recognize it, don’t you?”
Gyes did not even have to nod.
“That is Lady Rhea’s god of war!”
“Yes. This is the god of war that Lord Zeus destroyed sixty years ago. It was repaired and modified to be controlled remotely.”
“That is beyond low, Low-Gear! First you destroy our Gear and now you are making dolls from our rulers’ belongings!?”
“And what will you do about it?”
Gyes’s reply and action were in agreement.
“Destroying you is the duty of a servant!” shouted Gyes as she moved forward once more.
The six blades of the red god of war collided with the two lines swung up by the silver god of war.
With multiple metallic noises, the two gods of war exchanged attacks.