Act 5 Truth 1 It felt like meeting an angel. Her existence was just that strange and unreal. She stood among the flames of the crumbling laboratory. A girl in a thin hospital gown, about twelve or thirteen years old. Her hair was cut short like a boy’s, and she had bandages wrapped all over her body. Scrawny arms and legs. Pale, sickly skin. And yet, she was beautiful. So much so, one understood she was superhuman at first sight. “Do you want to live?” the girl asked Yahiro where he lay on the floor. Her voice was cold, emotionless. “Who…are you?” Yahiro asked back as he looked up at her. In reality, he did not speak; only a hoarse breath came out. That was no surprise, however. Yahiro was dying, stabbed in the heart by his little sister. The real surprise was that he could still breathe, considering how much he had bled out already. “I have no name. I don’t remember.” Still, the girl responded. She crouched on the bloodstained floor, unconcerned about getting dirty, and touched Yahiro’s chest wound. The label on her gown said I followed by six numbers. Just a code for distinguishing test subjects. The I came from the first letter of an ancient poem, the origin for the order of the Japanese syllabary—the Iroha. She didn’t recognize it as her name. “Someone stabbed you, right? You’re bleeding. He found you dying here. He told me,” the girl said as she caressed the animal on her shoulder. A creature Yahiro had never seen before, white and the size of a guinea pig. “Run…away…,” Yahiro croaked. The lab was burning. White smoke and heat were beginning to fill the room they were in. The girl would also die if she stayed there. “Did…Sui…do this?” Fire and leaking of toxic substances. Explosions erupted continuously in the distance, likely the gas leaks and chemicals combusting. The direct cause of the fire was a large-scale earthquake. The building shook from time to time even now due to the aftershocks. It sounded like it could only be a natural disaster, but Yahiro was sure of it. This was Sui’s doing. “I don’t know. I was in my room the whole time. I only got out after the building crumbled,” the girl said flatly. It was then that Yahiro knew she was locked up in this facility. In his father’s lab. “I want you to answer my question already. You will die.” “Question…?” Yahiro asked, looking back at the girl. She nodded and repeated her first words: “Do you want to live?” Yahiro’s lips quivered, unable to take the burning pain. The answer was obvious. He knew he wouldn’t survive. The wound was too deep, and the bleeding too great. Still, there was a reason why he had to live. It was his fault Sui had lost her mind. “I…can’t die yet… I have to stop her…” “Okay.” The girl breathed out, staring at him without blinking. “Just promise me one thing, and I’ll help you out.” “Promise…what?” “Kill me,” she stated flatly. Yahiro stared at her dumbfounded. “Wha…?” “I’m tired of being alone because I can’t die.” She picked up a scalpel from among the medical instruments scattered all over the floor. The blade on it was small, but sharp enough to slash open a vein and take a human life. “If you can kill me, then I’ll do it. I’ll grant your wish.” The girl pushed the scalpel to her neck, and a sleek drop of fresh blood trickled down from the blade. Yahiro wanted to stop her. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to let the girl die. Perhaps he felt too bad about a girl so lonely she wished for death. “I…” So instead, Yahiro proposed a new promise, to stop her. The girl’s eyes widened in surprise, and a smile escaped her as tears welled up. Then the girl slashed her throat open, and fresh blood rained down on Yahiro. His whole body burned. It was like every single cell in his body was aflame. He screamed ceaselessly, but the voice was not his own. It was the roar of a beast. Bellows of a dragon. Still, he knew that was his voice. Or rather, he remembered. A dazzling flame illuminated the darkness in his mind with bluish-white light. The flame of blood. The dragon blood she gave him that day. The darkness came back in force. Grim, endless darkness welling up from the bottom of the earth. Pure destructive impulse, beyond mere hatred or resentment. It split the land, ruined civilization, and slashed the border between worlds. It was the wish of the medium who summoned the jet-black earth dragon. Her prayer turned into dragon aura, flowing into the immortal body of its vessel. The black dragonman stabbed the earth with his massive claws as the impulse commanded. Yet it opened no new gates to the underworld. The dragon’s thoughts came to a halt from the internal conflict. The angry face of a girl accompanied by a white beast crossed his mind. An expression of ire so unlike the one she showed that day. That was why he couldn’t remember. “Hah…” The dragonman exhaled. His blind destructive impulse kept his consciousness tainted black. But a flame had lit up in the depths of his mind. A flame that spread through his veins and his entire body. “Hah… Ha-hah… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hah!” The dragonman laughed heartily. His breath escaped him from between his gnashing fangs. The dragon instincts elevated to suppress his human soul. His consciousness screeched and groaned. And still that wasn’t enough to erase it. The more the dragon aura summoned by Sui Narusawa amplified, the more the flame fighting against it burned. The flame wasn’t born from within his dragonman body. It came from her call. Just like that day four years ago. He remembered. Why the J-nocide stopped at just destroying the capital; why it cut off incomplete; why Superbia vanished; why Yahiro Narusawa came back to human form after becoming a complete dragon. Because he had met her before it all happened. Before Yahiro bathed in Sui’s blood and became a dragon, he had already made a promise with her. That gave him the power. The power to fend off death. The power of Lazarus. “GWOOOOOOOOH!” He heard a beast howl in the distance. A thunderbolt slashed through the dark of the night. The moment he saw that, he understood. She was coming. 2 Miyabi stopped pointing the camera at the rampaging dragonman. Yamase gave her a puzzled look. “What’s wrong, Miyabi?” “I don’t know. I think the Moujuu are acting differently.” “What?” Yamase’s brow furrowed and he glanced toward the city. The black dragonman had opened over twenty Ploutonions. More than six hundred Moujuu were crawling out from the holes. They all attacked the city at once. It was too much for the Yokohama mercenaries to handle. Whether a human turned Moujuu after being attacked actually depended on the density of miasma around. The probability of the transformation happening under normal circumstances was not that high. But these chances shot up after a certain point of miasma concentration. This was why the emergence ratio in the 23 Wards was so high, due to the giant Ploutonion. In that sense, Yokohama was currently a breeding ground for Moujuu. And Fort Yokohama held over a hundred thousand mercenaries. At the very least, twenty percent of them would turn if attacked. Which meant twenty thousand Moujuu would emerge over a single night. Then the new Moujuu pack would go on to the US Army base in Yokosuka, and spread all over Japan. And Yamase and Miyabi’s channel would broadcast the whole thing to the world. Millions—billions of people would witness the Moujuu-spawning dragon. More than enough to awaken new dragon mediums. This was all Ganzheit’s plan, and they were hired to carry it out. But now, small flaws were appearing. “Why? There’s still people left in Fort Yokohama, right?” “Yes…but I hear fewer gunshots. And the Moujuu aren’t multiplying.” Miyabi brushed back her hair as she spoke. Ira’s wind-controlling powers allowed her to search her surroundings. She could hear sounds miles away, like the sonar of a submarine. Her judgment on the situation couldn’t be wrong. Yamase clicked his tongue and glanced briefly at the white-haired girl behind him. “Hey, what’s going on? This wasn’t the deal, Sui Narusawa. This can’t be the full extent of Superbia’s power.” “My brother is resisting,” Sui replied, seemingly unbothered. “Resisting? He’s still got his mind? Is that why he didn’t turn into a complete dragon?” “Yes. He’s such a difficult man. I think he’s in need of some punishment.” Sui raised her hand toward the transformed Yahiro. In that moment, the five-meter-tall dragonman fell with a loud thud. Colossal pressure pushed him into the ground. It was Sui using Superbia’s power to slam the black dragonman down. He struggled in pain from the impact, as though crushed by a giant boulder. Sui could only do this as the medium in full control of the dragonman’s body. “Oof,” Yamase exclaimed with disgust. He was a Lazarus, too—another dragon vessel. Getting to control the dragon’s powers of his own will might’ve been interesting, but seeing how the medium pulled the dragonman’s strings like a puppet left a bad taste in his mouth. “Don’t worry. No matter how unseemly you turn, I will never abandon you.” Sui paid no heed to Yamase’s reaction and walked up to the dragonman on the ground. Then she picked up a piece of glass and slashed her own wrist. She placed her blood-dripping hand above the supine dragonman’s mouth and let it trickle down. “Be a good boy and I’ll give you something nice, Dear Brother. Here, drink up,” Sui ordered as she looked down at the struggling dragonman. Then her fake smile suddenly disappeared. The frozen air became a spray that shot at her; she barely managed to put up a barrier to block it. But as she jumped away, the blood dripping from her left wrist froze over. Acedia’s Regalia: Icefall. “Tsk. Didn’t go deep enough.” A young man in a school uniform wielding a Western sword appeared from the shadows of the collapsed dragonman. Zen had escaped from the pit of the Ploutonion and launched a surprise attack on Sui. “Zen!” “…This is surprising. How did you escape?” Sumika had been sitting on the ground listlessly, but his return made her stand, and her expression brightened. Meanwhile, it made Yamase grimace and unsheathe his knife; he hadn’t expected that. “Don’t think you’re the only one who can fly!” Zen pointed his sword at Yamase as the latter stood before Sui to protect her. Yamase was shocked at the speed of Zen’s assault. He was at least as fast as him when bolstered by the wind—as though he was truly flying. “Douji!” “Tsk…!” Yamase clicked his tongue as Miyabi screamed. Yamase’s right arm rolled on the ground, torn to shreds and letting off steam. The smell of burned meat wafted around before the pain finally hit him. “Steam-blast eruption? I see, so Acedia can not only freeze, but heat, too.” “It makes for gruesome deaths, so I’d rather not use it. But I hope you’ll understand!” Zen held his sword high again and flew. The steam behind him exploded and he closed the several-foot distance in a blink with the blast. Yamase tried to counter by shooting shock-wave bullets, but Zen offset it with another blast. The super-high-temperature vapor cloud enveloped Yamase. “Gargh…!” Yamase exhaled in pain as his lungs burned. Zen set off explosions incessantly around Yamase; he could take no more and jumped back. Yamase’s body was already worn out; his regeneration couldn’t keep up with the constant damage. He would’ve died long ago if he weren’t a Lazarus. “Now this is nasty! But don’t forget, Sagara! It’s not me you should be fighting!” “What…?” Just as he was about to launch a further strike against Yamase, Zen stumbled, as though pushed down by something heavy. Something many times his own weight. His bones creaked. “Superbia…!” From where he lay on the ground, Zen saw the jet-black monster looking down on him. The dragonman under Sui’s control used the power of Chibiki-no-Iwa to crush him. Zen groaned at the weight of the invisible boulder. He realized this was the way Superbia’s power was meant to be used—not to create barriers for self-defense, but to crush its opponents. Still, he could do nothing against it. The gap in power between human Zen and near-complete-dragon Yahiro was too great. His ribs were crushed, and without support for his lungs, he could no longer breathe. His skull would burst at any moment. And yet he remained conscious. The dragonman was holding back. Yahiro was resisting as hard as he could against Sui Narusawa’s command to crush Zen. He had no grounds to believe it, but he felt this was the case. But even then, the dragonman’s power was too great; Zen’s healing could not keep up with the damage. “Stop it!” A white mist attacked the dragonman. A surge of subzero, liquified air. It came not from Zen, but Sumika. Acedia’s medium could naturally use the dragon’s Regalia, but her power was far below Zen’s. Her mortal body could not withstand the recoil. “Don’t… Sumika…!” Zen yelled desperately even as his throat was crushed. Sumika, though, kept attacking the dragonman to save Zen. A thin layer of white ice covered his black scales, but he paid it no mind. Sumika wouldn’t be able to take a hit from the dragonman. Zen knew this, but he couldn’t do anything about it. All his bones were crushed and unhealed. The black dragonman raised his arm and swung it against Sumika, but right before an invisible weight crushed her, he stopped, in shock. Zen heard the distant howl of a Moujuu. A white Moujuu, seven to eight meters in size, ran across the Ploutonion-ridden land. On his back rode a girl hiding her face with a hood. She showed no fear despite riding a Moujuu running at twenty-four kilometers an hour. She had complete trust in it, as though it was family, a sibling. Soon, the Moujuu made it through the Ploutonions and stopped in front of the black dragonman. The pure-white Moujuu was huge but looked so small before the dragonman. His black, obsidian-like scales were stronger than steel, and his Lazarus-born body was, naturally, immortal. He was as close as he could be to the monsters of myth and legend, perhaps even to gods. And yet the girl on the Moujuu’s back smiled without fear before the dragonman. The white Moujuu howled at the night sky, and then the girl imitated it. She let out a clear, high-pitched howl with her human voice. “Waooooon!” In that very moment, the black dragonman stopped completely. 3 Two girls glared at each other from either side of half-dragon Yahiro. On one side, a girl in luxurious gothic dress—Sui Narusawa. On the other, a Moujuu tamer in Galerie Berith’s uniform—Iroha Mamana. The heavily wounded Zen and Sumika, as well as Yamase and Miyabi, watched from a distance. No one dared get between the two. Zen was still not fully healed, but not even Yamase, who was on Sui’s side, could get in and attack Iroha. Why? Because the pure-white quadruped she rode was not the only Moujuu following Iroha. Dozens—nay, hundreds of Moujuu kept gathering behind her. Big ones. Small ones. Some similar to known animals. Some that were difficult to describe. From clearly high-Grade behemoths to small fry no stronger than humans. Moujuu of all shapes and sizes gathered to protect her. Even the battle-hardened Lazaruses were rendered speechless by the sight. “What the…? That’s crazy!” Sumika exclaimed, stunned. “That’s Iroha Mamana…?” Zen stared at her with confusion; he wasn’t sure whether she was an ally or enemy. “The same Regalia as Karura Myoujiin…,” Yamase groaned lowly as he gripped his knife tight. Three years ago, when the post–J-nocide chaos was at its peak and Yamase met Miyabi and obtained the power of the Lazarus, they sneaked into Heavenly Emperor territory in the mountains of Kyoto to try and get an interview. To uncover the truth behind the J-nocide and what role the Heavenly Imperial House had in it. Then, the next in line to the throne, Karura Myoujiin, got in their way. She used the Heavenly Imperial House’s treasure—the Regalia—to drive them away. The power she used then was the same Iroha was using now: the power to control the Moujuu. “Miyabi… Can you do the same?” Yamase asked in a small voice. Miyabi shook her head without hesitation. “No. I don’t think even Karura Myoujiin can control that many Moujuu at a time.” “Is that so.” Yamase accepted the answer right away. The Moujuu did not commonly attack the dragon mediums, but that was it; commanding them was an entirely different matter. Perhaps they could tame one or two with enough time, but taking control of hundreds of the beasts just by looking at them was only possible with the use of a special power. Sui, however, seemed unfazed. She had already seen Iroha control the Moujuu before. “What do you want, Waon? I don’t remember asking for a collab.” Sui referred to Iroha’s streamer persona. Iroha ignored it and smiled fearlessly. “Don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I’m done here.” “Done doing what?” “Taking Yahiro back, what else?” “…?!” Sui’s eye twitched upon hearing Iroha’s declaration. She gave in to her emotions and yelled: “My brother is not your property!” “He’s not. But he is part of our family now.” “Family? Did you say family?” Sui’s eyes went wide, dumbstruck. Iroha glared back at her and nodded defiantly. “Yup. And I’m taking him back home with us.” “…Shut your mouth, Iroha Mamana.” “Do you wanna come, too? We’ll receive you with open arms.” “I said shut your mouth!” Sui yelled her lungs out in an explosion of emotion. Then she threw an invisible boulder at Iroha. “Oof, that’s heavy…!” “I’ll squash you like a bug, you horrid home-wrecker!” Iroha panted as the rapidly increasing gravity pushed her off the white Moujuu. However, Sui’s power couldn’t finish crushing her. Iroha’s Moujuu attacked Sui all at once. “What?! What are they doing?!” Sui stopped attacking Iroha to protect herself against the Moujuu assault, creating a barrier around her. That did not stop the Moujuu, though; they kept pushing incessantly against her.
Chapter 44
16 min read