A sky filled with an eerie greenish-yellow color. A ground covered with blue-black tiles. Groups of buildings ornated with fang-like points, and the dense fog that flowed between them.
“Demon City stage, huh? Well, it matches with today’s theme.” Murmured the Black King, as she loudly clashed her finely sharpened tiptoes with the tiles at her feet.
Haruyuki, after being momentarily mesmerized by his beloved Legion Master’s graceful yet ferocious form, turned to stare at the sky-blue standing silently by her side.
This one, a perfectly elegant figure. At the back of the delicate female-form body, a somewhat dark blue hair flowed like wings. The sleek arms and legs were not equipped with any form of weapon.
However, Haru knew. The slender legs firmly set on the ground as she stood tall were the proof of the miracle that she – Sky Raker- had accomplished. If Black Lotus is Haruyuki’s parent and master, Raker is what should be called a teacher. For a long time, she had stepped away from the front lines of the accelerated battles, and on the top of the Old Tokyo Tower that had been forgotten by all, she lived a reclusive life.
The reason for that was, about two and a half years ago, she had, by her own volition, had her legs cut down from the knees, losing the greatest part of her fighting power. However, by meeting a Haruyuki that had temporarily lost his own power-the Flight Ability- and teaching him the ropes of the Incarnate System, she slowly reawakened her passion for fighting, and on last week’s Hermis’ Cord Vertical Race, she had finally overcome the wound that hand restrained her and brought back her legs.
The difficulty of freeing oneself of the influence of negative Imagination, Haru , having once been controlled by Chrome Disaster, had understood with his own body. Had Chiyuri-Lime Bell not have rescued him with a special attack with the transcendental ability to “Rewind the time of the targeted avatar”, he would likely have been engulfed by the armor, and by his own hate, and indiscriminately attacked the gallery of several hundred people.
Had he stayed a few more minutes submerged in the negative Imagination, he would have passed the point of no return. And yet Sky Raker had severed the chains of the fear and desperation that had tied her for two and a half real years. It that is not a miracle, than what is?
Being hit deeply with emotion, as Haru stared at Raker’s legs-
“Ara Crow, did you like my slender legs that much?”
Being called out with a voice filled with laughter, Haruyuki, flustered, shaked his arms and head.
“N-no, I mean they are really beautiful, but that’s not what I…”
“Oh, you had a leg fetish, right? I apologize, having no thighs or ankles…” Said Kuroyukihime, with a dangerous light in her violet blue eyes. Haruyuki looked at her and tried explaining again.”
“N-no, I love sempai’s legs and... Wait, it’s not like a fetish or anything...!”
Getting the feeling that saying anything more would just be sinking deeper, he pointed with his left hand to the southeast and screamed:
“More importantly, look, the guide cursor is pointing over there! Let’s go, quickly!”
As Haruyuki had said, two grey cursors were steadily pointing in the same direction. In that direction should be the two Blue Legion lieutenants serving as hosts for today’s meeting. Furthermore, above the cursors where lined two HP bars, and between then, a countdown was in progress. Having started at 1800 seconds, it had already reduced to 1750.
“Un, they did say to gather strictly within 100 seconds. Well then, shall we run?”
The three nodded to each other, and at once dashed on the streets of the Devil City towards south. The gallery of regular battles, while not having the ability to break objects, were awarded with top moving speed and jump power. Haru and the others ran up the wall of the building blocking their path, and from there progressed from roof to roof in a straight line.
After running for about 20 seconds, the deep fog that covered their target direction cleared at once. Faced with the view in front of his eyes, Haru involuntarily raised his voice.
“Wow… I-it’s huge...”
It was a “Castle”.
Slightly to the southeast of the direction the cursor pointed, a gigantic construction towered as if piercing the heavens.
That castle composed of pointed towers shining with blue light and eerie statues emanated a presence that dwarfed all others in the stage, seeming almost godly.
Surrounded by tall castle walls and wide ditches, an entrance was nowhere in sight.
Despite having glimpsed, in his countless battles in the Suginami and Shinjuku areas, the form of the castle towering in the sky of the far east, this was the first time he had gotten this close to it. As Haru stared flabbergasted at the menacing giant castle, Kuroyukihime whispered to his right side:
“That is, in the real world, the Imperial Palace. Inside the Accelerated World too, it’s the only place where, regardless of method, it is impossible to invade.”
“E-even by flying?”
It was Fuuko, running by his left side, who answered.
“Yes. Above and below the castle walls, an invisible barrier is set. Therefore flying or caving in don’t work. In the beginning it seems they tried a variety of methods, but…”
“Indeed. Because at the time, rumors, for instance that inside it a super powerful enhanced armament is hidden, were running. But in the end, nobody succeeded in infiltrating it. In the regular battle field, that is.”
Sensing something in Kuroyukihime’s choice of words, Haruyuki asked further.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
However, before an answer returned, Fuuko whispered sharply:
“I found it… On top of that Hill!”
He looked in the direction she pointed. There, he saw two… no, three figures. In the real world, it probably corresponded to the place called Higashigyoen. Unlike the actual palace it is not restricted, and Haruyuki had once visited it with his social studies in preschool.
They slightly dropped their speed and approached carefully. Even in this observation mode without the risk of being attacked, thinking that he would finally meet closely with the rulers of the accelerated world, the Pure Color Kings, he couldn’t stop his body from trembling.
Crossing a bridge over a large ditch, and passing a majestic gate, they climbed the stairs on the inclined surface of the hill. The impenetrable Demon Castle stood directly to his right, but without glancing in that direction, Haruyuki fixated his eyes on the top of the hill.
Finally the steps ended, and a large stone-floored space opened before his eyes.
In the real world, the grassy field of the Edojirohonnmaru ato would stretch over this place. Despite that, without a single plant in sight, instead several steel pillars stood forming a circle.
However, one pillar on the other end one pillar was quite short, with barely 15 centimeters.
And there, one duel avatar was sitting down.
Blue. As if sucking you inside it, a transparent, deep blue. Not the color of the sky, nor the color of the sea. He was covered in a blue so pure that it seemed difficult to compare it to anything from the real world. The form of his armor was that of a perfect knight type. But without a hint of the perverseness of the disaster armor, he had the gallant look of a legendary hero. On the sides of his visor and helmet sprouted horns like those of a dragon, and on his left hip a giant two-handed sword rested.
Resting left leg over his right knee and with his arms crossed, the stature of the blue avatar was not all that big. Most likely, if he stood, Takumu-Cyan Pile would be taller. From his entire body a pressure, like that of a meteor crashing in from space, emanated from his entire body, forcing Haruyuki to stop 20 meters ahead of him.
“Is…Is that…”
As he whispered with a dry voice, next to him Raker nodded lightly.
“Yes. That is the leader of Leonidas, the legion that controls the Shinjuku and Bunkyou areas, called Vanquish, Legend Slayer, and by a number of other names, the level niner, Blue Knight, the blue king.”
“Blue…Knight…”
In other games, it would be the type of simple name usually given to low level enemies, but hearing it in the accelerated world brought a sense of incomparable uniqueness.
With his back trembling under the bottomless feeling of pressure, Haruyuki finally remembered. It’s not as if he is his duel opponent. In terms of position, they were both just part of the gallery. Despite being only observer with no power to cause or receive damage, he was feeling this much pressure- he was afraid of even thinking about the possibility of fighting him one on one.
That moment. A small, metallic noise echoed, and Haruyuki’s paralysis was gone.
That was the noise of Kuroyukihime taking a step forward.
The black king Black Lotus, ignoring the blue kings perilous aura as if it were nothing, took several steps forward, and lightly moved the her right hand sword.
“Since you are the host this time around, I’ll keep good manners and make the first greeting-Your get-up looks as uncomfortably warm as ever, Knight.”
At Kuroyukihime’s line, Haruyuki screamed inside his head. “Wha-wha-what are you provoking him for!?”
With on top of that Raker lightly giggling, he almost did a backdash and ran for it, but luckily, before that could happen Blue Knight responded with a pristine young boy’s voice.
“You know, you don’t call that a greeting, Lotus. You are also as sharp as usual, even though it’s been what, two and a half years?”
He shrugged his shoulders, his armor making noise. At the same time, the bloodthirsty aura disappeared as if it had never been there.
Apparently, from his tone of voice, the Blue King was a more relaxed person than he had thought. The blue legion attacks the black’s territory every week without fail, so he thought for sure the king himself was also bent on purging Kuroyukihime, but it wasn’t all that much…
And as Haru starts to relieve the tension on his shoulders, on that moment.
From the kings sides, across the lingering fog, two very similar shadows slid silently forward.
Samurai! He thought immediately. The armor that involved the tall and thin bodies was completely covered in Japanese style wide, overlapping plates. As for color, the left avatar was a deep ultramarine. The right was clear bluish green. In their heads they had not normal helmets but hachigane, with long hair jutting out of it. From the body shape, both were female.
The two female warrior avatars slid forward several meters with a curious walking technique, set their hands on the hilts of their swords, and started with a deep voice:
“Using that teasing tone on our sacred knight, king or not I won’t allow it!”
“You should be thankful to be allowed to be in this place, traitor!”
And Haru, feeling once again murderous intent rippling through the air towards them, cringed with fear.
As a follower of the black king, this would probably be a good time to respond by throwing some cool lines, but a feeling his head would fly the moment he said anything didn’t allow him to open his mouth. The reason being, those two were unmistakably the lieutenants of the blue king who created this space, in other words the players, and therefore had the right to, upon mutual agreement, eliminate bothersome observers.
However, in the next second-
“Ara, in the short while we haven’t met, it seems the two of you learned some big talk, young ladies.”
Said Sky Raker, in a half laughing voice.
Sounding her high heels, she lined up next to Kuroyukihime, and pointing her right palm towards the warriors , lightly waved her fingers.
“Should I hang the two of you next to each other from the top of the Tokyo Government Office again, like in the good old times?”
Hiiiiiiiiiiiihh! Haruyuki once again let out a mute scream. You actually did that?!
After sceaming in his mind, Haru quickly grasped, that much isn’t strange at all, not coming from this person.
The two samurai’s eyes lit flames of rage, and both at the same time grasped the hilt of their swords.
“You insololent…!”
Their perfect unison was interrupted by the blue king with a slightly sarcastic tone.
“That’s enough, Cobal, Maaga.”
“……Yes, Sir.”
Quickly lowering their head, they both retreated a step.
Haruyuki exhaled with relief, and once again looked at the HP bars lined up at the top of the screen.
Under the bar on the left, Cobalt Blade.
Under the bar on the right, shined the avatar name, Manganese Blade.
For their names and appearances to match to such an extent, those two must be really similar personages in the real world.
If they turned out to be twin sisters, the blue king, having both serve him as close aides, is quite awe inspiring himself. As he made this bizarre observation, Kuroyukihime lightly shrugged her shoulders and began speaking once again.
“By the way, Knight. Instead of sitting there all by yourself, how about getting me a seat?”
“Oh, right. My apologies.”
The blue king waved his had to signalize the two armored warriors.
Immediately the pair lowered their stance where they stood, and once again rested their hand on the hilt of their swords. And before Haru could shrink his body-
Together with a loud, clear metallic sound, two rays of blue light flashed widely over the stage.
For Haruyuki’s wide open eyes, it could only be perceived as three still images of their right hands blurring with movement, then a flash from the swords, and once again returning to the scabbard.
Immediately, the white flowing fog was thinly cut, and in its wake, the giant circular pillars towering to either side of the warriors began silently tumbling, two at a time, for three times. A total of six pillars smashed into the ground with a sounding a deafening noise, and broke down to countless small blue-back pieces of metal. Afterwards, all that was left were the stumps, with slick surfaces that shined like mirrors.
“Yo-You gotta be kidding…”
Stunned, it was all Haru could mutter.
This stage’s classification is unmistakably Demon City. It’s defining characteristic being that ground objects are abnormally tough. When Haruyuki was learning the Incarnate System, it took him a week of ferocious training to poke a hole of a few centimeters on the wall of a building of this same Demon City stage.
And yet, both Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade cut down three pillars with a flash of their blades. If it were Haruyuki in place of those pillars, his torso hand head would certainly suffer tearful goodbye.
That is the true potential of the blue legions elite linkers. And that means the kings power went above even that.
I, we, are trying to fight those people…
With his avatar shaking with a deep shudder, he was surprised by a tap on his back. It was Sky Raker. The beautiful , completely unarmed avatar, neared her mouth to his ear and whispered.
“Knocking down immobile pillars, Crow, is nothing but a parlor trick. If you keep looking this scared, I’m going to have to punish you later <3”
He jolted.
Leaving aside a paralyzed Haruyuki, the black king and her sworn friend began walking, and Kuroyukihime alone sat at the nearest stump on the right end, Raker standing behind her. Haru, to whom master Raker’s punished was scarier than the warrior’s swords, could only hurriedly followed them, cross his arms and throw out his chest as he stood on Raker’s side.
The two warriors once again stood back behind their master, and the silence that momentarily took over was broken by Kuroyukihime’s voice, with a tone of slight impatience.
“Well then, now that the organizer’s introduction is over with, how about you too showing your faces? 100 seconds are long past.”
Indeed, the time count was about to reach 1600 seconds. But, what does she mean, show their faces? In this place, at the moment, only the six members of the blue and black legions are…
Just as Haruyuki thought this and started looking around, on that moment-
“What, I held back for your sake and now you come at me with that tone, Lotus?”
A voice in which cohabited pure childishness and steadfast will rang out from somewhere, and following it a light footstep was heard.
Facing that direction in surprise, atop the next pillar stump, about three meters away, a silhouette had appeared.
A dark red avatar with a form that resembled a carnivore on two legs. Even without looking at the sharp, triangular ears and the long tail, he understood that it was the so called “Bloody Kitty”, the red legion Prominence’s lieutenant, Blood Leopard.
And on her left arm sat a tiny crimson avatar, the owner of the voice from a moment ago.
Two antenna on the shape of twimtails. The rounded eyelens. The roundish, sleak extremities and armor. Along with its diminutive size, this cute little girl, almost like tiny ruby, is the red king Scarlet Rain, leader of Prominence, which made Renma and Nakano its area.
The origin of her nickname, “Immobile Fortress” , that giant firepower container, is unequipped . Looking at her adorable profile, Haruyuki opened his mouth to call out to Rain and Pard.
However, at that moment.
The two red avatars released an aura that lost in nothing to that of the Blue King, causing Haruyuki to seal his lips.
It was different from the Incarnate System ‘s Overlay. It was invisible, pure fighting spirit.
In the accelerated world, everything is registered as digital code, but this phenomenon of “feeling energy” is most definitely not an illusion.
In terms of game logic, it is often explained as “the weight of the battle experience imbued in the avatar sensed by others as pressure”, which sound a bit like occultism, but it is a fact that the powerful can repress those inferior to them merely with their presence. Just as the red pair are doing to Haruyuki right now.
The red king, real name Uwaduki Yuniko, nickname Niko, and Blood Leopard, nickname Pard, are Haruyuki’s friends to the point of revealing their real selves. Further, Prominence and Nega Nebulas are, after the occasion of joining forces at one point, in a non-expiring truce.
However, it’s not the kind of relationship where they can get friendly everywhere, said the duo’s stern profiles. Eve while feeling faintly desolate, Haruyuki understood this was probably correct. After all, Brain Burst exists so that all can compete and get stronger.
No…
Really, there’s another reason why it was hard to face Niko.
The enhanced armament –Chrome Disaster- that was thought to be even now infecting Silver Crow, was the very same Nico had, at the cost of wielding her power as region leader to use the Judgement Blow on its former owner, her parent, supposedly vanquished. In other words, Niko has, more than any of the other kings reunited in this place, a strong reason to support Haruyuki’s execution.
Forcibly cutting out that thought, Haruyuki returned his face forward. Simultaneously, Blood Leopard’s low voice echoed.
“From Promi it’ll be just me and the king. We’ll omit the greeting.”
After Niko jumped down from her arm and sat on the round steel chair, Leopard stood behind her and put her hands on her hips.
With that, three of the seven kings were present. On the seven cut pillars that formed a semicircle, the blue king sat on the one in the center. The black king sat on the right end, facing him. And completing the arrangement, on her right side sat the red king.
Then, as Haru prepared himself, wondering who would come next…
“ku…kukuku…”
That laughter filled with scorn and contempt was certainly familiar. But he couldn’t tell from which direction it was coming. He tried to look around, but all the time the origin of the laughter seemed to go around his back.
“Kuku… King, huh? If my memory serves me right, “kings” is an abbreviation of “kings of pure color”, you see? But, that tiny tot sitting over there, now isn’t that color a bit cheap looking?”
That voice, coming out of who knows where, was clearly an insult to the red king Scarlet Rain.
Niko is, out of the kings that command the seven great legions, the only “second generation”. The previous red king, Red Rider, had, 2 and a half years ago, had his neck cut down by a blow of the black king, and due to the sudden death rule applied to battles between those of level 9, permanently left the accelerated world. Resuscitating the once almost ruined Prominence, and proclaiming for herself the name of 2nd generation master, was Niko. It’s true that the color of the avatar itself was not a pure red but a somewhat bright scarlet, however not because of that there should be any reason at all to treat her as a false king. After all…
“C-color’s got nothing to do with it! Rain climbed up to level 9 with her own strength! There are no other requirements to be a king!”
That’s the reason.
It was then that Haruyuki noticed that he was screaming out his inner musings. Next to him Raker giggled, and Niko, sitting far away, gave the impression of a bitter smile.
“Looks like what I wanted to say that crow over there said for me, so I just wanna ad one little thing. When it comes to cheap, your banana color ain’t losing by a lot. We ain’t got a lot of time, so come out already.”
As the red king spat out these words, she snapped the fingers of her right hand, and pointed to the middle pillar out of the ones lining on the other side.
As Haruyuki confusedly stared at it, he noticed, on top of the pillar he until now thought empty, a small object, like a paper doll. Tilting his neck about five degrees, he finally got it. That is the same thing Kuroyukihime, while hiding from the king’s assassins, had once used to obtain information about the accelerated world, an “observer dummy avatar”. The owner of that voice had, taking advantage of the arrangement of connecting to the field as part of the gallery, made his avatar something extremely hard to notice.
Just as Haruyuki had perceived this, smoke suddenly rose from the center of the paper doll. Once the breeze of the stage had blown away the smoke, on top of the pillar stood a bright, one might say poisonous yellow armor-clad battle avatar shaped like a thin jester.
A hat with large, twisted horns protruding to the sides. A face mask with eyes and a smile cut into it. Out of the round and inflated shoulders and waist came long and gangly limbs.
Putting his needle-thin fingers on his chin, he continued to let escape contained laughter.
“Kuku, Banana color, now that’s rude. I myself prefer to compare it to uranium, you see? But it can’t be helped, can it? After all, everybody knows monkeys and kiddies like bananas, right? Kukuku…”
Bobbing his head as he continued to laugh, this was indeed the jester that had once tried to in one swoop trap both Kuroyukihime and Niko, the yellow king, of the legion that controlled not only the areas of Taitou, Arakawa, and Adachi, but also Akihabara, Crypt Cosmic Circus.
From his mannerisms and verbosity, he could not pick out the same sort of dense pressure of the other kings.
However, having once seen him in close quarter combat with Kuroyukihime from a short distance, Haruyuki understood well that he was not one to be underestimated. Despite being a yellow with not a dash of anything else, in other words a pure indirect attack type, he crossed swords with Black Lotus without retreating a single step.
It seems the yellow king had showed up without a single aid. Once he was done laughing, he took his right hand to his chest and did an ironic bow. And from there he sat down as if sliding onto the pillar.
With this, there were four.
“And, the ones that didn’t come yet, are…”
As Haruyuki muttered, this time firm steps reached his ears.
Bam! Bam! Hard and heavy vibrations shook the stage.
It came from the right. Just as he turned in that direction, he saw a large avatar appear, pushing his way through the mist.
He was indeed large, but not what you would call gigantic. In terms of sheer size, he didn’t pass Niko with her enhanced armament deployed, obviously, but also didn’t pass the blue legion’s mid-level member Frost Horn.
However, Haruyuki had, up until now, never encountered an avatar with such an overwhelmingly dense pressure.
His mask, shoulders and lower body were all covered with armor reminiscent of thick plates. However his lower back was thin and tight, eliminating any impression of dullness. His right hand was empty, but in his left he carried a massive shield.
And the color covering all of his armor was a green deeper and more vivid than emerald.
“…..The green king….” Said Haru, having once seen this avatar for a few seconds in a replay video.
Next to him Raker nodded, and completed with a whisper:
“Yes. That is the leader of the legion that controls a large region from Shibuya to Ooda, Great Wall, Green Grandee. His nickname is Invulnerable.”
“If I remember correctly, his HP bar has not once turned yellow, right?”
Between sighs murmured Haruyuki, who on battles within equal levels, even when winning, often had the gage turn bright red. Immediately, Kuroyukihime snorted shortly.
“To begin with his total number of duels isn’t that high. He earned most of the points to reach level 9 from hunting enemies, you know. Though that is quite the feat in itself…”
“O-oh…”
Haruyuki let out another sigh of admiration. Even though, among the bizarre creatures that march through the neutral field, even the weak ones have absurd fighting power, after going through all the trouble of defeating it the actual profit in points is really small.
Even Haruyuki, who in normal RPG’s loves plain point grinding, tends to veer away from monster hunting unless he’s been on a losing streak.
Scarcely aware that he was being directed a look of respect as a fellow ”level grinder”, the green king approached with a firm walk the pillar between Niko and the blue king and sat down heavily. Same as the Yellow king, he brought no escorts.
And with that he simply rested there not uttering a single word, but it seemed nobody found this unnatural in any way. It looks like he was established as a pretty quiet character.
Once again facing forward, Haru drew a deep breath.
Despite being the entrance scene of the all powerful kings, after going on for this long, it seems like he had gotten used to the pressure. In fact, even his knees, that had been shaking slightly, had at some point become fixed, and the coldness and numbness of his hands was also disappearing.
That’s right, there’s no need to be afraid. I too, am the black king Black Lotus’ henchmen… I mean child. I should be standing tall like Raker is.
He persuaded himself in his head, and pushed out his chest- or tried to, because in that moment.
“………..?.........”
Hit by a feeling as if a cold hand were crushing his heart, Haru cowered more than he had at anything else that day.
What is… this?
Killer intent….? No, it’s not just that. It’s more drastic… the will to erase. It spoke of executing me, banishing from the accelerated world… a wordless declaration.
Klak.Klak.
From somewhere unseen, loud footsteps echoed.
Even while paralyzed, he strained his ears. South. Walking towards the kings from straight ahead, footsteps approached. Creaking his stiff neck, he directs his line of sight.
Far away in the dense mist, one silhouette.
Seeing only the shadow, he could sense it was a female avatar. It’s because he could see the hair and skirt armor parts swaying. The waist was impossibly thin, and the legs too were like needles.
Klak,klak,klak. These footsteps like swords striking the ground were likely caused by the pin heels, more than twice as high as Sky Raker’s.
The moment those legs stepped into the circle of lined pillars, the enshrouding mist, as if unable to endure that bloodthirst, opened widely.
The avatar, finally revealing its form, if one were to describe it with one word- it would not be “king”, but “queen”- and nothing else.
What looked like hair was a long bell-shaped armor coming down from the top of her forehead. The face mask was sharp yet beautiful, and the breast and shoulder parts were also feminine yet somehow menacing. From a tall point in the waist a long skirt-shaped sectioned armor stretched , and from a gap you could see a long, thin leg exposed all the way to the top.
Unmistakably, it was the most, shall we say luscious duel avatar he had ever seen. However, it was not the type of beauty you felt like stretching your hand to touch. Because starting from the tiara in her head, and on every part of her body, were rose shaped ornaments crowned with gleaming, sharp thorns.
In her right hand, she held a staff with about one and a half meters. In its tip, a rose vine with a slightly longer needle shined. The color of her armor, a mysterious purple that, upon receiving light, flickered bewitchingly.
“She finally came.”
Narrowing her eye lens as she watched the queen avatar walk closer, Sky Raker whispered:
“That is, most likely, out of the kings reunited here, the one that will oppose us the most fiercely. The leader of the legion that reigns from the Ginza area to the costal area, Aurora Oval, nicknamed Empress Voltage, the purple king, Purple Thorn. And the Staff she has in her right hand is one of the Seven Arcs, The Tempest.
“A-arcs?”
As Haruyuki parroted back the unusual word, Raker quickly added an explanation.
“In the accelerated world, they are the assumedly seven top-class enhanced armaments. Of the ones that are know right now, besides that staff, the blue king’s greatsword The Impulse, the green king’s greatshield The Strife, and one more…
At that point that point it seemed to Haruyuki that Raker was holding back her tongue, but there was no opportunity to ask again.
That’s because the purple king, who had slowly moved across the center of the group of pillars, reaching the point closest to Black Lotus, who sat in the cut down pillar furthest to the right, stopped, and loudly hit the ground with the tip of her staff.
The thin veil trembled, and her masked faced slightly towards Kuroyukihime. Her sharp shaped eye lens shined coldly like amethysts.
If up until now, just feeling the pressure the queen form avatar was emanating diffusely, he was freezing up, when that pressured was focused on the three members of Nega Nebulas, he seriously felt faint.
If it was clear rage and hate, he could still deal. Haruyuki himself, in the 8 months since becoming a buster linker, had experienced many fights in which both sides released all their hate.
However, what emanated from the purple king was no simple feeling. It was absolute denial, showing no room for mutual understanding. With this opponent, no matter how the circumstances come to change, Haruyuki intuited there was no choice but to continue fighting forever. Until the accelerated world comes to an end.
The purple king, after looking down on Black Lotus for about 2 seconds, calmly began to speak.
“It’s been a long time, Lotus. Who would know, that the day the two of us would speak like this again would ever come.”
There was nothing harsh about her tone, but that was like the slickness of ice. Under that tension, which, once broken, would create thousands of sharp edges, Haruyuki held his breath.
Of the purple king’s voice, that, threatening as it is, maintained some of the sweetness of a young girl, Haruyuki had some remembrance. Thinking for a second, he soon recalled. He had, in fact, listened to this voice one time before. Not directly, of course. In that one scene that he had see once in a replay on the neutral field, the purple king’s voice was recorded. From the depths of his memory, the voice came back to life.
Rider, I can’t let this one pass!
Wait, what?!!
The seemingly angry, yet begging voice of young girl.
In the video, at this moment, Black Lotus`s arms were thrown around the original red king Red Riders’s neck and their bodies were held close.
Because of that, the purple king, who was intimate with the red king, raised a voice which could be perfectly described as “vexed”.
However, in the next moment-
Black Lotus’ arms closed like enormous scissors, separating Red Rider’s body and head.
Upon Burster Linkers who have reached level 9, it’s applied the sudden death rule in which being defeated by another level 9, one immediately loses all their burst points. In other words at that moment, the red king was permanently banished from the accelerated world.
The last thing recorded in the replay video was purple thorn's ear-piercing scream.
As Haruyuki had heard it, immediately after the fact, a frantic fight had unfolded between Kuroyukihime and all the remaining five kings. However, unable to defeat even a single one of them, and yet not being defeated herself, the 30 minute battle time ended. From them on, for two years, Kuroyukihime isolated herself from the global net and laid low in the Umesato middle school local net. Until the chance brought, in last year’s spring, by Cyan Pile’s attack, and the birth of Silver Crow.
Carrying a heavy past such as this, the two kings pit their auras and gazes against each other.
In his heart, Haruyuki could not help his uneasiness that Black Lotus would look away. Kuroyukihime is certainly, even now, in the bottom of her heart, regretting the fact that she had taken down Red Rider in a surprise attack. Even if the red king no longer remembers that he had once been a Buster Linker.
However.
The black crystal avatar, not allowing it’s sharply shaped face mask even the slightest tremor, continued to withstand the stare of the queen of thorns.
Finally, Kuroyukihime’s low, smooth voice flowed in the misty field.
“Same here, Thorn. I thought for sure that when we met again, one of our heads would roll.”
To these calm words which showed not a hint of agitation, the purple king slowly blinked her eyes.
Was it just his impression that the next words emitted seemed a little colder?
“…It could still turn out like that, couldn’t it? For instance if all those present were to agree to change the mode from “regular battle” to “battle royale”… there’s a possibility, isn’t there?”
Swallowing dry, Haruyuki resisted the urge to scream “No way don’t joke about it I’d never agree to it!”
But Kuroyukihime snorted shortly and coolly responded.
“That would make things simple. If today were the day brain burst as a game was to be completed, there would be no need to have this tiresome meeting.”
Immediately, Haruyuki froze up again. Those words almost sounded like a declaration that she would hunt down the four kings here present and become level 10… In fact that’s exactly what they sounded like. He couldn’t believe the boldness of Sky Raker who could continue to stand there placidly.
The purple king tilted her head to the black king’s retort.
Suddenly, she lightly hit the stone-laid floor with her staff.
Before the sharp noise could finish echoing, a situation that further made Haruyuki’s blood run cold appeared. For from the direction the king had come walking, neatly synchronizing their footsteps, as many as eight buster linkers showed themselves.
They came in a variety of colors and armor shapes. However you could know with a glance that they were all hardened veterans. Most likely, she had ordered the purple legions top attack force to dive along with her.
Purple Thorn then, for the first time, smiled sweetly and said:
“I apologize if you thought I was joking. Naturally I came with the proper preparations. Just in case I where to fight you, so this time, I wouldn’t let you get away, right?”
It was not a bluff or a show of force. She was serious. Inside this person, strong feeling that he could not dare to think he understands were sealed.
Feeling a pressure that didn’t allow him to breath, Haruyuki dragged his right foot back a little.
Yet even then Kuroyukihime didn’t break her poise. Unbelievably, in this situation, she began openly laughing out loud.
“Fufu… Is that so, looks like I underestimated you. But, you know Thorn, if you are really coming for my head, shouldn’t you leave your troops hiding at the very edge of the boundaries? Like Radio over there?”
“Wha-“ Haruyuki looked at Yellow Radio sitting in the opposite side. The yellow jester just shrugged shortly and said nothing, but thinking about it, if there was even 0,001% change of the meeting turning into a battle, there was no way the yellow king would come by himself.
Who reacted to Kuroyukihime’s observation was not the purple king, but one female shaped avatar, separating herself from the squad.
The armor color was deep reddish purple reminiscent of wine. The thigh area that spread out and the brimmed hat were... was almost like a military uniform. However in her hips, instead of guns, she had equipped whips rolled into rings.
The female officer avatar, stopping one step behind the purple king, went off with an extremely cold voice:
“Bluffing, when it comes to that point, is just laughable, cellar king. So you crawled out of the ground and been scurrying about, but that cheap backwater area of yours, I hope you don’t forget if the six kings felt like it, they could squish it in but a day.
It was an extremely disdainful tone, but Haruyuki could do nothing but grind his back teeth. Unfortunately, he had to recognize what the officer avatar said was the truth. Currently, Nega Nebulas controlled the entire Suginami area, but more than 70% of those coming to challenge them are from middle to small scale legions, and from the six great legions only about Leoniz, adjacent to the west, regularly with one or two teams, and Great Wall to the south occasionally going into the fray. On top of that the average level of the challengers is no more than 4 or 5, and not once did a High Ranker level 7 and up appeared.
Even then, for Nega Nebulas, with no more than five members, keeping their area was definitely not an easy job. In the worst case, if the six legions were to put together their forces and focus their attack during a single battle period, incapable of winning out more than half of the massive number of defensive battles, the black flag would disappear from the map of the accelerated world.
In other words, in a way, it is exactly because the six- no, excluding Niko due to the truce, five kings are just observing for now that Haruyuki and the others could continue defending their home area of Suginami.
Let alone retorting to the female officer-avatar, unable to argue even inside his own head, Haruyuki began to look down with his helmet.
However, right before his eyes fell to his feet, just to his right side a voice brimming with dignity rang out, and Haruyuki, startled, lifted his head.
“It is certainly impressive that you can blurt out all those things you could never do, and say it with that triumphant look, Aster Vine”
It was Sky Raker. As Kuroyukihime’s sub commander, without retreating a step from officer avatar’s threat,she firmly pushed out her chest.
The whip user avatar, apparently called Aster Vine, under her brimmed hat, she closed her eyes to sharp slits, and responded with an even lower temperature voice:
“Can’t do… you say? While you were running and hiding, did your head rust to the point where you can’t evaluate war power?”
“And you, in just this little while we haven’t met, your eyes gotten so foggy you can’t even see reality anymore, huh?”
To this exchange that made the air crackle with electricity, Haruyuki could do nothing but stand there and keep listening.
No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t figure out the meaning of this “reality” Raker spoke of.
Between Nega Nebulas and the the five great legions besides the red, being number of members or total level, the difference was such that it felt pointless to even compare. What in the world is Raker trying to say…?
The answer, to this question, after a few moments, was explained with Raker’s own words.
“If you think the kings are permitting Nega Nebulas area to exist out of the kindness of their hearts, it is either because you are a little slow or not being trusted enough. If they could crush it obviously they would have done it a long time ago. The reason they can’t do it is…They who call themselves kings know that their power is not absolute.”
“What…did you…”
As Aster Vine let out a creaking voice, the purple king simply maintained a creepy silence. In the light floating in her eyes, he couldn’t read any type of feeling. In the cold Devil City stage, Raker’s calm voice continued to reverberate.
“Are you paying attention? Even though we call them the Six Great Legions, putting together all their members the number won’t go much over 600. In comparison, the number of buster linkers living in central Tokyo is greater than a thousand. On the area map as well, including this Chiyoda area, about 40% are neutral gray color.”
“…What of it? Legions besides the Six Pure Color Kings are frail organization that would collapse with a breath. That includes your little hangout. “
“Indeed, the dimensions of each legion are a modest thing… But you know, there’s one point all these people have in common. That being, “they will not enter the six great legions”.”
Stopping her words for a moment, with an intimidating presence as if she herself were one of the level 9, Sky Raker opened her mouth to continue.
“Are you keeping up? The majority of them are choosing to continue insignificant. As a form of protest to the kings who paralyzed the accelerated world with their Non-Invasion Pact. Those people are now paying attention to the actions of the resurged Black Lotus and the black legion. To test if that “intent of mutiny” is real or fake, you see. During that time, if the legions of the six kings put all their forces and came to crush us, what do you think will happen? Of course, our flag will disappear from the region map for a while. But it’s not as if the black king herself will vanish from the accelerated world, and the legion itself will live on. And the small legions attitude will go one step further than mere attention. If they were all to become one under a single current, would you still dare to insult them as frail…?
At this point Haruyuki felt he had vaguely understood what Raker was trying to say.
In last week’s Hermes’ Cord Vertical Race, the over 500 observers reunited there, even as Black Lotus, who had once been chased out as a traitor, arrived, certainly did not rain insults on them. On the contrary, they sent them warm voices of support. Certainly, in that was included the expectation on the Black King as “she who will break the stalemate.”
If that energy could be condensed into a single power. Wouldn’t that be something even the six kings couldn’t ignore…no, would have to recognize as a threat?
Turning to the suddenly silent Aster Vine, Sky Raker showed her opened right hand in a short gesture.
“Could you understand everything? That today’s accelerated world is in a far tenser situation than you had imagined. That under this pretence stagnation, several great tides are beginning to surge?”
In the now totally silent field, the pure voice’s echo spread to every corner, and then disappeared.
What broke the silence was the sharp noise of the purple king’s high heels, as she stepped out.
Returning her face forward, as if paying no mind to Raker’s observation, she silently walked away from before the eyes of Haruyuki and the others.
Aster Vine too, after leaving one harsh look at the end, followed her. After a while, the remaining seven escorts followed the two.