Vise and Argon stood together in the center of a courtyard about fifty meters on each side, while Silver Crow, Lime Bell, and Cyan Pile were lined up along the east side. The three junior members of Nega Nebulus boldly faced the two execs of the Acceleration Research Society and their unfathomable abilities. This battle didn’t belong to Mihaya alone. Silver Crow had continued to chase Vise to this place; he had earned the right to start this fight.

  She turned her eyes toward Niko once more and vowed in her heart to save her before jumping almost straight down. She cut across the courtyard to Crow’s side and offered a brief apology for keeping them waiting.

  In fact, it had taken longer than she’d expected to reach this place. Everything had been good up to the point she charged into the shadow tunnel after getting help from Cyan Pile and Lime Bell, but she’d gotten separated from them in the total darkness and been carried to a different exit.

  However, fortunately—she supposed—she caught sight of Argon running ahead of her in the gloomy corridor, so she followed her, taking care not to be noticed, and made it through the mazelike basement. Argon discovered her not long after they came aboveground, but she apparently prioritized meeting up with Vise; she just kept running, instead of attacking Mihaya with her lasers. So Mihaya had managed to regroup with her comrades in the place of the final battle.

  The fact that the Acceleration Research Society headquarters was this bright and large—and apparently a large school in the real world—had surprised her, but they could spend the day analyzing this information later. At the moment, she had to focus on crushing the two tough enemies before her to get Niko back. The Black King and the group they’d left at Midtown had to have made it to the nearest leave point by then, but no matter how they hurried, it would take at least three seconds to return to the real world through the portal, move their flesh-and-blood bodies, and pull out Niko’s cable. That was fifty minutes on this side—it would be great if they could crush Vise and his crew before then, but even if they couldn’t, they had to at least protect Rain.

  Newly resolved, Mihaya extended the claws on her hands to their full length. And then, a seventh Burst Linker fell with a rumble from the sky, adding a new level of confusion to the war situation.

  At first, Mihaya didn’t know who the intruder was. But she’d heard the name Silver Crow uttered hoarsely before.

  Wolfram Cerberus. The fearsome newbie who’d suddenly appeared in the Accelerated World. Parent and Legion affiliation totally unknown, battle intelligence far beyond that of a beginner, powerful defensive ability Physical Immunity. He’d crushed one middle ranker after another. A duel genius. All the rumors had reached Nerima.

  Given that he mainly showed up in areas controlled by Leonids and Great Wall, Mihaya still hadn’t seen him fight with her own eyes, but she’d been thinking she should sit in on one of his fights from the Gallery, at least. And now, her first encounter with him was here in this situation.

  The issue was whether Cerberus was friend or foe. If he was a foe, then in a certain sense, she should probably be more on guard against him than Vise or Argon. Especially since all the three attackers on this side were only physical, close-range types. Her misgivings became reality a second later.

  Standing up, the gray metal-color avatar turned his back to Vise and Argon and faced Silver Crow squarely. Wolfram Cerberus was a foe. A member of the Acceleration Research Society. Mihaya carved this knowledge into her brain.

  But Cerberus’s first words were somewhat unexpected. “I didn’t want to meet you again like this…Crow.”

  He sounded as though he was enduring severe pain, and she didn’t believe it was an act. Silver Crow’s response, too, seemed to contain an equal mix of pain and shock.

  “Me too, Cerberus. Because you’re in the Unlimited Neutral Field…you went up a level?”

  “Yes.” Cerberus nodded. “Not to the bare minimum of level four. The same level five as you, Crow.”

  “So we’re the same level now. But…does that mean your ‘role’ of staying at level one and earning points is over, then? I want to have a regular duel with you. A duel with no tricks—a pure duel. So…please don’t stand there, Cerberus.” Crow’s speech was restrained, but there was an earnest echo in his words.

  “I’m sorry.” The small avatar shook his head slightly. “I can’t step away from this place. But what you said after the battle royale on Thursday made me happy. And that you met me in the real as well.”

  “…No need for the past tense. We can meet again whenever you want…Anytime.”

  There was an edge in this exchange between gray and silver metal colors, like an extremely thin wire had been stretched as far as it could go and was now being plucked. A pure and dangerous rapport as they both pulled powerfully against each other. It would be no surprise if it snapped at any moment.

  “It’s just as you said, Crow. The role I was given is essentially complete. Which means there is no longer any reason to permit my existence. Today will be the last day I talk with you like this…”

  Mihaya sensed a faint smile rising up on the wolfish face mask as Cerberus spoke. In contrast, Crow was clenching his hands into tight fists.

  “Cerberus!” he called in an increasingly tense voice. “You don’t need the role you were ‘given’ or a reason for your existence to be ‘permitted’ or whatever! A Burst Linker can always find their own objectives, right?!”

  “……”

  Head hanging, Cerberus didn’t immediately respond. Instead, they heard Argon Array’s mirthful voice, with that hint of secret laughter that never failed to rub them the wrong way. “Ha-ha-ha! Crow, you really got some hella smooth words there! But damned straight here. We don’t talk none of that Burst Linker crap!” Argon jeered.

  “You mustn’t say things like that, Array,” Vise rebuked her from her side. “After all, you yourself have an objective or two, yes?”

  “Well, I won’t say I don’t got three or four. And one of ’em’s gonna be checked off today, so I’m not joinin’ you for any beatdowns or what. Aah, for real, this is a real long deal. I’m workin’ here, seriously…”

  “Such comments are a bit premature. Personally, I’d be glad to have you begin before any further obstacles come along.”

  The conversation made no sense, and Mihaya tried to shut it out of her head. She’d only recently learned that Argon’s tendency toward speech itself was a close-range, glamour-type attack, and she had paid the price for it. They had to attack before she got them all turned around.

  “Can I leave Wolfram Cerberus to you?” Mihaya murmured to Silver Crow beside her, his hands still clenched into fists.

  Although it took just a second to come, Crow’s answer was definite. “Yes. I’ll be his opponent.”

  “’Kay. I’m taking Argon down. Pile and Bell…” Mihaya glanced at them, and the large blue and small green avatars nodded in tandem.

  “Vise, right?” Takumu said. “He’s a powerful enemy, but he can’t use one arm right now. I’ll do something and hold him off while you and Crow are fighting.”

  “I’ve got your back, Pile,” Chiyuri chirped. “I’ll just keep healing you up!”

  At this reassuring response from the level fives, Mihaya nodded slightly but firmly.

  If they compared just the total value for their levels, the enemy was 8 + 8 + 5 = 21, while her group was 8 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 23. If this were the duel holy land, Akihabara BG—although you couldn’t fight there in teams of more than three—most people would bet on Mihaya’s group. But the true power of Wolfram Cerberus couldn’t be measured in numbers, and the other two Society members were the same. To even think that Mihaya, who had only just advanced to level eight, was in the same place as Argon and Vise, who had probably reached that level ages ago, was hubris.

  But the three members of Nega Nebulus were true warriors; they inevitably displayed a power beyond their level when push came to shove. Lime Bell with her astounding ability to reverse time, Cyan Pile, hiding an outstandingly keen intellect beneath that thick armor, and Silver Crow—the depth of whose potential still could not be seen. As long as she had these three with her, they would definitely make it over this sword’s edge. And they would get back Niko—the master she had sworn her eternal loyalty to. They would not fail.

  Mihaya leaned forward the slightest bit and activated the Incarnate System that she had long kept sealed away. A bloody red overlay gushed from her hands and sharp claws, powerful enough to dim the red of the twilight.

  As if in response to the sudden increase in battle spirit in the seven avatars, the sky above the courtyard suddenly clouded over and rumbled with the low roar of thunder.

  Master Gunsmith.

  This first Red King had been given this nickname because of his matchless ability to produce any number of gun-type Enhanced Armament himself. But that certainly didn’t mean Red Rider was what other net games called a crafter. Half the reason he’d been dubbed Master lay in the transcendence of his gun work.

  Entire body dyed the color of darkness, Rider whipped his guns out in a quick draw like a lightning strike and pulled the triggers without a flicker of hesitation. One roar after another echoed across the vast forty-fifth floor of Midtown Tower, but Kuroyukihime and her comrades had already leapt off to the sides.

  The Red King’s main arms were two revolver Enhanced Armaments called Helios and Eos. Since each of their cylinders held six bullets, with both guns, he could fire twelve successive shots. Alternately pulling the triggers of the left and right guns, the Red King used up all his bullets in a mere two seconds. Eight of the fired bullets passed between Kuroyukihime and Akira (who had jumped to the left), and Fuko and Utai (to the right), but the remaining four closed in with terrifying accuracy on the critical point of each girl—the heart.

  “Nngh!” Gritting her teeth, Kuroyukihime deflected the bullets targeting her and Akira with a wave of her left sword-arm.

  On the right, Fuko launched a left-right palm-strike combo and pulverized those two bullets. The four young women had managed to prevent a direct attack on their bodies, but it was impossible to defend against bullets without taking some damage. The system registered the grazes, and her health gauge dropped the slightest bit. And it had to have been the same for Fuko.

  Having emptied his rounds, Red Rider raised his guns smoothly. Chak! The cylinders swung open and the empty casings tumbled to the ground.

  “Now!” Kuroyukihime called, kicking off the ground ferociously.

  One part of her mind was still in chaos, an unpartitioned hard disk. Was this Red Rider who suddenly appeared before them the real deal or not? What was the meaning of his mysterious words? Why did his color suddenly change? Why did he start attacking? The mountain of questions only grew ever higher.

  But in the bottom of her heart, Kuroyukihime had been prepared for something like this, knowing she would inevitably have to face her own past if she continued to pursue the ISS kit main body. The moment she saw the crossed-guns crest on the sealed card Silver Crow entrusted to her, it was clear that the first Red King was involved in some form or another.

  Of course, she never imagined she would face Rider in a direct confrontation like this, but that didn’t mean she could run away. Rider had said to fight, so she would fight. A continuation of the “duel” that day that had ended in a mere second with Kuroyukihime’s surprise attack.

  “Ah…Aaaah!” Roaring with resolve, Kuroyukihime brandished the sword of her right hand.

  The biggest opening for a red-type avatar was the moment they ran out of ammunition. And the Red King was no exception.

  Normally, once the empty casings were ejected, the cylinder needed to be reloaded by hand—one bullet at a time. But at nearly the same time that the chamber was emptied, the armor on Rider’s arms opened up and speed loaders popped out. The loader arms stretched forth and pushed six bullets into the empty cylinder simultaneously.

  Chak! The sound echoed once more as the cylinders snapped back into the gun body, and reloading was complete. The time from the moment he turned his guns upward to the instant the loaders, having served their purpose, were tucked back into his arms was a mere two seconds. This was Auto Load.

  Back when Red Rider was fighting on the front lines, this quick-firing, quick-loading technique had blocked the close-range attacks of the blue-type avatars and had even broken through the solid defenses of green-type avatars with grazing damage alone. Even Kuroyukihime, who was justly confident in her charging speed, had been pushed back any number of times by this rapid-fire assault, leaving Rider just barely beyond the reach of her sword-arms.

  But this time, she was fortunate in that the distance between them at the start of the fight was relatively small. By the time the Red King was aiming his guns again, Kuroyukihime was already bringing her Terminate Sword down on him. This blade severed everything it touched, and now it was closing in on Rider’s defenseless neck.

  But somewhere deep inside her, in a reflex she couldn’t control, she shuddered for a mere instant. The vibration knocked her attack off course, and rather than the neck, the blade hit the left shoulder, covered in hard armor for a red type.

  Skreek! The light of the damage effect scattered with a sharp metallic sound.

  Her sword had cut deep into his shoulder, stopping the movement of the gun in his left hand, but almost as though he didn’t feel the pain of the injury, Rider quickly turned the gun in his right hand squarely at Kuroyukihime’s chest. His finger, machinelike in its precision and ruthlessness, pulled the trigger.

  Flames blossomed at the mouth of the barrel that was practically pressed up against her chest. The bullet very nearly hit her armor before she whipped her sword-arm in front of her to catch it.

  Once more, the ear-splitting shriek of metal. Brilliant sparks shot up from the ridge of her sword, and her health gauge dropped slightly again. And naturally, Rider’s attack didn’t end at one shot. He pulled the trigger over and over with the speed of a machine gun—and a second, then a third shot landed in precisely the same place. She defended against each one successfully, but with every impact to her arm, the amount her gauge dropped grew. Shot repeatedly in the same spot, the damage in her sword was accumulating. But she couldn’t exactly move it and let a bullet hit her critical point.

  Pushed back by the barrage, Kuroyukihime was keenly aware of the cause of the trembling that had knocked her slicing attack off course: the fear, regret, and guilt she’d shoved to the bottom of her heart for nearly three years. She hated herself for using a surprise attack to push the Red King to total point loss, and this hatred had made the battle spirit that moved her avatar freeze up—if only for an instant. It was exactly the same reason as the Zero Fill six months ago.

  Disgusting! Kuroyukihime rebuked herself as Rider emptied his right-hand gun, Helios. I promised him—I promised Haruyuki!

  I said I wouldn’t be afraid, I wouldn’t run from the past anymore…I said no matter what was waiting for us at Midtown Tower, I wouldn’t retreat a single step!

  Hit with pinpoint accuracy by six bullets, her sword made a faint but ominous sound. It was still there, though, unbroken. And her spirit, while shaken, was not broken, either. She would fight on. Both the enemy before her eyes—and her own fear. She plunged the tips of both feet into the floor and stopped her retreat.

  While auto-loading the emptied chamber, the Red King took aim with his left-hand weapon, which had previously been pushed back by the slicing attack. It was fast, leaving absolutely no opening.

  He was supposedly an extreme red type, yet fighting him was like going up against a blue type with close-range weapons in each hand.

  Kuroyukihime had the option of giving up on close combat and leaping back to join Fuko and Akira in a defensive formation, leaving Utai to attack with her longbow. But right before he’d turned black, Rider had told her to beat him black-and-blue, to be merciless. And then that bit about “the longer I can be me.” She didn’t think she could make that happen with a clever strategic win, and more than anything else, she felt as if stepping back now would be the same as losing.

  She wasn’t trying to be obstinate and reject the help of her comrades, but at the very least, she couldn’t fall back until she beat him back with a satisfactory slicing attack. But to get within sword’s reach of Rider again, it wasn’t enough to simply guard against his bullets. She would have to anticipate the firing of each bullet and dodge them while moving forward.

  Kuroyukihime. She suddenly heard a quiet voice in her ears. You can’t look at the gun barrel. To see when they’ll fire, you have to look at the person holding the gun and read the signs from their whole body.

  I’ll try! She shifted her gaze away from the black barrel of Eos in Rider’s left hand.

  The vitality she’d sensed—albeit slightly—during their conversation had completely disappeared when the Red King was eaten up by darkness. But in its place came a vibrant, thirsty bloodlust. Two points of bloody light blinked faintly beneath his V-shaped goggles.

  Tossing herself forward, Kuroyukihime pushed off the ground and flew with every scrap of strength she had.

  Fire jetted from the gun barrel. The bullet grazed one of the antennas stretching out at length on either side of her helmet. Rider fired again, lowering his aim, and Kuroyukihime sank even lower to slip past the coming projectiles. Bang! Bang! In her accelerated consciousness, she heard the roar of the bullets, and lumps of metal rocketing forward at nearly the speed of sound grazed the armor of her back. She had brought herself so low to the ground that she would fall on her face if she leaned forward any farther—and that was when the sixth bullet removed a piece of her armor skirt and shot off behind her.

  She couldn’t actually see it, but he should have been just about finished reloading the gun in his right hand.

  She only had one chance to attack. This time, for sure, she had to shake free of the fear etched into the depths of her heart and launch a single blow with her entire body and spirit.

 

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