Tears began welling up as she continued tapping frantically. Four years’ worth of videos had disappeared in an instant. Of course she couldn’t give up just like that. Yahiro was dumbfounded. “…So that’s what we’re dealing with,” said a low, firm voice behind them. Yahiro turned around to find a tall Black man standing there—Ganzheit agent Auguste Nathan. Nathan was technically Galerie Berith’s prisoner, but he was under no special monitoring or restraint; he could move freely through the Yáo Guāng Xīng because they did not actually have the power to restrain Superbia’s Regalia. “Ganzheit must be behind it. They work faster than I thought,” Nathan said, as though speaking to himself. Yahiro looked at the man warily. “You mean they pressured the website into deleting Waon’s account? Why would they go through all that trouble?” “To stop the information from leaking. The dragon’s emergence summoned the Moujuu, and the humans they attacked turned into Moujuu themselves… The fear this could cause is a trump card they would want to keep in their hand.” “…So rumors going around of turning the Moujuu back into people would ruin their plans.” “Exactly. And it would be very inconvenient for such a rumor to come out of Iroha Mamana’s mouth.” “Because the world already knows she’s a dragon medium.” “Yes.” Nathan nodded. The idea of humans turning into Moujuu and the possibility of turning them back was unbelievable, unless someone like Iroha was relaying the information. She was a dragon medium, one of the people involved in the J-nocide—and it had been Ganzheit themselves who made that public. Because the concept of dragons turning people into Moujuu had been proven already, the idea of turning them back into humans was easier to believe. It wouldn’t be surprising if Ganzheit really stopped the stream to prevent this. “Aww… And I’d just gotten so many subs…” Iroha held her phone in hand as she lay facedown on the table, finally giving up on getting her account back. “Well, nothing we can do about that, but you could just make a new account, right?” Rinka placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. Iroha, teary-eyed, pointed at her phone’s screen. “I thought so, too, but look.” “Whoa, impostors? That’s awful…” Search results on the website showed videos from different people pretending to be Waon. Some of them were so pretty they overshadowed even the real Waon, and were doing interesting things in their videos, but most of them were of terrible quality. Not only did they look very different from the real Waon, the topics of their videos were unbearable. It had to be part of Ganzheit’s plan to erase any trace of her. “Ughhh… This is unforgivable… I’m gonna sue them!” “In which court?” Yahiro sighed as he saw Iroha’s shoulders tremble in anger. “Don’t you care?! All those videos full of our memories are gone!” “Our? What memories do I have in them?” “You’re one of my oldest fans!” “Well, I mean, I won’t deny there’s a bit of nostalgia there…,” Yahiro admitted. Iroha Waon was the only psychological support he’d had in the past four years before he met Galerie Berith. He wasn’t unfazed by losing those memories. However, those four years weren’t exactly a time he wanted to look back on fondly. And now that he had met Iroha in the flesh, there was no reason to be sad about the videos disappearing. After all—although he couldn’t say so to her face—Iroha’s videos weren’t that good to begin with. “Stupid Ganzheit… They’ll see! They won’t defeat me that easily!” Iroha declared with a scowl. Then Nathan calmly said, “In that case, you’d better meet Karura Myoujiin soon.” “…Why?” “The news would get around faster if you showed them a Moujuu turning back into a Japanese person. If you want to get back at Ganzheit, that is.” “That makes sense!” Iroha nodded emphatically, loving the idea of getting back at Ganzheit. Yahiro silently observed Nathan, unable to ascertain the real motive behind the man’s irresponsible words of encouragement. 3 “They took down Douji Yamase’s video, as well,” Nathan told Yahiro after Iroha and Rinka left to go to bed. Nathan was forbidden from having communication devices to stop him from contacting the outside, but somehow he knew about what happened on the video-sharing website. He had always been a mysterious man, though, so that much didn’t surprise Yahiro. “Was that also Ganzheit?” “Yes. The video might be gone, but the memory of it remains. They know it would increase fear that way. Talk about the J-nocide has become heated on social media.” “They’ve got everyone in the palm of their hand.” “For now, yes.” Nathan nodded in agreement with Yahiro’s cynical comment. Yahiro sighed in irritation. “Why do you sound so detached? Aren’t you part of Ganzheit?” “That would make you a member of Ganzheit, too, Yahiro Narusawa.” “Me?” “House Berith is one of the twenty-two families making up Ganzheit. You and Iroha Mamana, under their wing, are technically related to the organization.” “I’m only an employee of Galerie Berith to kill the dragons. Ganzheit wants to make use of them. We’re on opposite sides, aren’t we?” “No, you are the same. While the dragons grant people’s wishes and bring them blessings, they are also monsters of disaster meant to be slain by the hero. There is no contradiction between utilizing the dragons and slaying them.” Nathan smiled placidly while taking a seat in front of Yahiro. Yahiro was taken aback. He didn’t know what Giuli and Rosé had talked about with Nathan, but he couldn’t believe the man would tell them everything he knew just because he was their prisoner. He didn’t expect Nathan to come speak to him like this. Nathan, realizing Yahiro’s confusion, continued: “That is the reason behind Ganzheit’s two-faced nature. In the end, they are simply the descendants of people who rose in society by utilizing the dragons.” “What do you mean?” “There were people in ancient times—royalty, nobility, priests—who attained their power and position by killing or taming dragons, yes?” “Yeah…” Yahiro nodded. In many Asian countries, dragons were considered auspicious beasts symbolizing the emperor’s power. There were also many nobles and members of the clergy who demonstrated their own power by slaying a dragon. Giuli and Rosé had told Yahiro and Iroha all about this. “The Galerie’s House of Berith is one of them. As is the Heavenly Imperial House.” Nathan, for some reason, shook his head pityingly as he said that. “However, over a thousand years have gone by since the last dragon emergence; they have been losing influence over society. It’s been so long since the Heavenly Imperial House was stripped of political power, and House Berith is now but a lowly arms dealer.” “That’s why they want to resurrect the dragons? To get their glory back?” “Precisely. One cannot slay a dragon without first pulling it out from behind the folding screen.” Nathan shrugged cynically. “Is that also why the Heavenly Imperial House wants to resurrect the Japanese?” “Well… you should ask Karura that.” Nathan evaded the question. “What’s your personal goal here, then, Auguste Nathan? Why are you collaborating with Ganzheit and the Heavenly Imperial House?” “Is it that strange for a Japanese person like me to try and revive my fellow Japanese?” “Is…that really all there is to it…?” Yahiro was taken aback by the firm look in the man’s eyes. Nathan’s assertion had no contradictions. If the background he claimed was true, then he was born Japanese from naturalized parents, which was motive enough to try to revive his compatriots. Still, that did not change the fact that he’d worked as an agent for Ganzheit until just recently; it was hard to simply accept that he had betrayed the organization. “At the very least, I sheltered Sui Narusawa because she is necessary to resurrect the Japanese. I couldn’t let you or Count Raimat kill her,” Nathan added in response to Yahiro’s suspicion. Yahiro unconsciously straightened at the sound of Sui’s name. “But it’s her fault that we’re…!” “Killing her will not atone for your sins.” “…!” Yahiro lost the will to continue after Nathan’s cold remark. Yahiro hated his sister. He despised Sui Narusawa so deeply that he wanted to kill her. She had murdered his family and turned him into a dragon. She caused the J-nocide and the collapse of Japan. He had more than enough reason to hate her. At the same time, his hatred helped distract him from his own sins, and he realized this. The one who opened the Ploutonion in the middle of the 23 Wards, the one who summoned the Moujuu to the surface, the one who had killed those same Moujuu—it was him. “What…are you implying?” “I simply figured you were tormented by the thought of all the Moujuu you’ve killed up to now, was I wrong?” Nathan said with the tone of a clergyman. “It was them who attacked first,” Yahiro weakly argued back. He was not lying. Not once did he kill a Moujuu of his own accord. It was all in self-defense. They tried to kill him, so he retaliated. That’s it. Nathan silently accepted his excuse. Then, pitying, or rather, mocking the young man’s weakness, he said: “Right. You only protected yourself. Your immortal body.” 4 The Yáo Guāng Xīng arrived in Nagoya the following morning. Yahiro spent most of the night unable to sleep, and just as he was beginning to get drowsy, Rosetta Berith barged in to wake him up. “Good morning, Yahiro. You look awful today.” “…That’s your greeting?” Yahiro grumbled while pushing himself up from the narrow bed. He didn’t need to look in the mirror to know how terrible he looked. He couldn’t fall asleep after his conversation with Nathan. In the Yáo Guāng Xīng’s ninth car, a freight container held a comatose Sui Narusawa, who was connected to life support. Yahiro had held a knife in hand and contemplated killing her for a long time before giving up and returning to bed. His insomnia was a result of that. “No time for bickering. Please get up already. We’re almost at the Nagoya Station Fortress. You must guard Iroha,” Rosé said while throwing a face towel at him. Yahiro grabbed the towel and furrowed his brow at a certain word she’d used. “The Nagoya Station…Fortress?” “Yes. The fortified city of Nagoya—the Chinese Federal Army’s base is built upon the former Nagoya Station.” “…That’s the station?” Yahiro groaned as he stared at the dark-green wall outside the window. It was a never-ending wall covered in thick armor. It looked multiple kilometers long even just from the portion visible through the window. A giant fortified wall surrounded Nagoya Station like medieval European fortified cities. The remains of Nagoya were a contested battleground after the J-nocide. Traces of bombings remained around it, and almost no buildings stood in the city’s center. The fortress that rose abruptly from the flattened land seemed fantastical, otherworldly. The tracks the Yáo Guāng Xīng followed continued through a mechanical gate on the armored wall. One could see dense groups of buildings on the inside. A modern view that contrasted with the wasteland outside the walls. “A base? That looks like a whole city.” “Indeed, the population estimates including soldiers and other military personnel is about seventy-five thousand people. They’re the second biggest army stationed in Japan, after the US,” Rosé responded sincerely to Yahiro’s remark. “What’re so many of them doing here in Japan?” “The public reason for the eight countries occupying different sections of Japan is to maintain Japanese territory. Basically, they are monitoring each other so no one takes over the whole country.” “So no one gets to do it before they can…” Yahiro sighed before roughly washing his face at the washbasin. Japan had few subterranean resources, but it had plenty of water and a warm climate—it had more than enough utility value. It was also in a key location for sea traffic, making it an important strategic base. The desolate Japanese archipelago was irresistible to other countries. International governments continued to spend large sums of their military budget to occupy sections of its land. Yet, it didn’t sound like a reason to build a fortified city of this scale. “Wait, but that means there’s another, private reason?” Yahiro asked Rosé as he raised his head. “Yes, the same as us: collecting the assets and resources, tangible and intangible, left within Japan. If anything, I would wager that is the main reason. You must know what I mean.” “Yeah…” Yahiro brushed his wet bangs back as he nodded. Back when he was in the 23 Wards, Yahiro took art pieces left in the ruins to sell them overseas in exchange for intel and money for living expenses. Most of his clients were in the military. Some officers hired him simply for personal gain or collections, but some of his clients were the armies themselves. “Still, what’s the need to make something so big?” “There shouldn’t be, but I suppose we won’t know until we ask them directly,” Rosé answered coldly as she watched him get ready. “You think they’ll tell us?” “Depends on their goals. Aren’t you curious?” “I guess I am, but we’ve nothing to do in Nagoya, do we?” “No. We just need to get past here to get to Kyoto. It’ll be up to our negotiations whether they let us through, though,” answered Rosé’s twin sister, Giulietta Berith, popping her head through the doorway as the other two approached the command car. Giuli was not wearing her usual revealing combat uniform, but a business suit. It appeared she would be the one to negotiate with the Chinese Federal Army as Galerie Berith’s representative. “Lady Giulietta, we’ve received permission to enter the fortress. They have asked us to lower our speed to under fifteen kilometers per hour.” The short and pudgy captain of the Yáo Guāng Xīng, Milo Aldiss, reported to Giuli, his headset still on. The command car monitor showed the approaching Nagoya Station Fortress’s gates. A drawbridge came down to connect to the gates, finally allowing entrance to the station. “Okay. Decrease the speed as slowly as possible. Be careful not to annoy the other side.” “Roger. The Yáo Guāng Xīng will now enter the Nagoya Station Fortress.” Aldiss nodded before giving instructions to the conductor through the headset. The gray armored train’s heavy body creaked as it decelerated. However, the closer they got to the Nagoya fortress, the sterner Yahiro’s expression became—his grimace darkened when he saw the wall surrounding the station more clearly. The barrier was not just thick and tall. There was recent damage on the dark-green armor plates, which already looked to have gone through countless cycles of repair. The marks’ dark color stood out at a distance. Dried blood. It looked like the aftermath of an unending battle against an army of thousands. Yahiro and the twins understood everything the moment they laid eyes upon it. The fortified walls surrounding Nagoya station were not there for decoration or intimidation. This fortress was the front line of war. “Rosé, what…?” “It does not look good, I agree. We should get going as quickly as possible,” she responded flatly. “Let’s hope they let us,” Giuli muttered with a shrug. That wish put a bad feeling in their hearts as the armored train entered the giant fortified city. 5 The platform at the Nagoya Station Fortress was far wider than Yahiro expected. It was a bay platform with nine lines and ten bays. The roof was crude, with only steel plates and blazing lighting, but it gave it more of a military base aura than that of a regular train station. Most of the trains there were freight, carrying military supplies. The premises were equipped with simple gear for maintenance and refueling, with mechanics running hurriedly everywhere as armed guards watched over them. The Yáo Guāng Xīng was ordered to stop at the end of a platform that was the most exposed to wind. Giuli and her guards disembarked from the train to begin negotiations with a Chinese Federal Army representative. Meanwhile, Yahiro stayed inside the command car to guard Iroha and her siblings, as ordered. It was now an open secret that Galerie Berith was sheltering Avaritia’s medium. No country dared lay a finger on her in Yokohama, land of mercenaries, but this was the Chinese Federation’s territory. It wouldn’t be that surprising if they asked Galerie Berith to hand Iroha over despite Ganzheit’s wishes. After Rosé warned her about this, Iroha stayed put without complaint for once. Even her siblings, who the adults worried would begin making a fuss out of boredom, were all watching through the windows with a great deal of interest for some reason. “What’re they looking at?” Yahiro asked, puzzled. Iroha looked sorrowfully at the video website she’d been kicked off from on her smartphone before glancing up to reply. “They say there’s a cool train they hadn’t seen before.” “A train?” Yahiro looked out the Yáo Guāng Xīng’s window over the children’s shoulders. Sure enough, there was an odd-looking train stationed at another platform. It looked comfortable and fast, with its aerodynamic form painted silver. However, what caught his attention was the many turrets hidden in the design the children liked so much. It was a cutting-edge armored train with even more weaponry than the Yáo Guāng Xīng. “A privately owned armored train…?” Yahiro muttered upon noticing the gaudy logo on its body. Rosé replied, “Melora Electronics… That’s a big name in the Chinese Federation’s IT industry. I didn’t know they had a PMC division.” “What’s an IT company doing in Japan?” “Who knows? Perhaps they’re looking to get into weapons development by partnering with the army.” “Weapons development…?” “Yes. This country is perfect for testing state-of-the-art weaponry.” “…” Yahiro silently bit his lip at Rosé’s flat remark. The deserted ruins of Japan certainly were the best possible testing grounds for weapons manufacturers. There was no need to worry about civilians, and they had a wide selection of topography. Not to mention Japan was perfect for trying out the weapons in real battle, by exterminating the Moujuu. Yahiro and the Galerie, however, lacked the power to stop it. They had to meet Karura Myoujiin and resurrect the Japanese first, and for that, they couldn’t make enemies of the Chinese Federal Army. Yet there were no signs of Giuli coming back from negotiations anytime soon. On the contrary, Rosé’s expression became grimmer by the second as she observed everything from a monitor. “Rosé?” “There’s trouble, it seems.” “Trouble? Is Giuli arguing with them?” “Yahiro.” “All right. You want me to follow you?” Yahiro predicted her request. The Lazarus was Galerie Berith’s greatest power, at least on an individual level. Rosé asking him to accompany her meant she expected the possibility of a fight. It sounded like the CFA representative was not intent on solving things peacefully. “What about me? Shouldn’t I go with you too, Rosé?” Iroha stood quickly; turned out she was the bored one. Rinka sternly chimed in, “Don’t do it, Iroha. It’ll only make things worse.” “Wha?! What’d I do?!” As Iroha looked in shock at the girl five years her junior, Ren and the other kids also shook their heads. She wore her heart on her sleeve—she wasn’t a good choice for making a deal, and her siblings knew this better than she did. Leaving Iroha behind, Yahiro and Rosé got off the armored train. Giuli and her guards were near the center of the platform, facing what looked like administrative officials on the other side. There was one odd man out, however: a tall man wearing a military uniform. It seemed that the military officer was the one dragging out the deal by making unreasonable requests. He glanced at Yahiro and Rosé as soon as he noticed them approaching. “The other twin. You’re the other half of Galerie Berith’s leadership, aren’t you?” he asked curtly. His bold expression brought the image of a leopard to mind. Leaner than a tiger, but faster and shrewder, with the same sharp fangs. Caution required. “I am Executive Manager Rosetta Berith. May I please have your name?” Rosé asked perfunctorily. The man snorted. “Jiguan Xia. Deputy commander of the fortified city’s garrison.” “Deputy commander?” Rosé furrowed her brow. Xia looked to be around thirty years old—quite young for such a title. He must’ve had quite the connections or achievements. Likely the latter considering he was in Japan. It only made him more dangerous. That kind of person made no concessions when it came to piling up further accomplishments. “Yes. And I guess you’re the Lazarus?” Xia’s grin was aggressive as he glared at Yahiro, who stood behind Rosé. Then, without any warning, Xia unsheathed the saber on his hip. He thrust its tip at Yahiro’s throat, and the young man just barely avoided the strike. “Ah!” “Ha… Can’t you do a better job at dodging, punk?!” Xia’s face lit up with joy as he continued stabbing the blade forward. Yahiro took a defensive stance as he felt shivers run down his spine. Dodging Xia’s attack was not something he did consciously. His body had automatically reacted to Xia’s animalistic hostility. Basically, Xia was testing whether Yahiro would be able to dodge it. Xia laughed. “Could you please stop teasing our contractor, Shangxiao Xia?” Giuli admonished him with a smile, adding on his title—Colonel—for good measure. “Contractor, eh?” Xia snorted as he sheathed his saber. “Whatever. Back on topic, you’re asking us to let you through the fortress for free, Galerie Berith?” “We didn’t say for free. I said we’ll pay you.” Giuli and Rosé countered: “The right to unimpeded harmless transit within Japan was agreed upon in the Nagasaki Treaty. We’ve already paid the Chinese Federal Army properly for the use of their facilities.” The right to harmless transit granted free passage through other nations’ territories with the condition that the traveler causes no harm or disorder. It was a special case in the current Japan, since the land was occupied by eight different countries. Xia’s lips thinned in irritation, and he asked his subordinate behind him, “Is that true?” “Yes. Please look.” The administrative official nodded in a hurry and opened the metallic attaché case in his arms. It was full of gold. Converting that to money would make for a huge sum, yet Xia only laughed it off. “Not enough.” “I would say we went above and beyond,” Rosé responded. “This is nothing. We know you have the dragon medium with you. The cause of the J-nocide.” Xia glared at the twins. “Unimpeded harmless transit, right, Rosetta Berith? You got any proof that your transit here will be harmless? Give us enough compensation to prove it, or we won’t let you through.” Rosé kept quiet, uncharacteristically overwhelmed. Yahiro adjusted his evaluation of the man—he was more dangerous than expected. Xia’s remark was arrogant, but logical. The dragon medium, merely by existing, brought about calamity by turning people into Moujuu. Or, at the very least, the assumption was that she could. It would be difficult for Galerie Berith to prove their own harmlessness, and Xia used that. No wonder Giuli was having trouble negotiating. “What do you want, Shangxiao Xia?” The younger sister reluctantly asked after glancing at Giuli. “The Relict.” Xia grinned broadly. “I won’t ask for the dragon medium. Just give us Vanagloria’s Relict Regalia and move on. We’ll let you off the hook then.” “Wha…?” Yahiro muttered. It was his first time hearing the words Relict Regalia, but he immediately knew what they meant. It was the crimson crystal left behind by mountain dragon Vanagloria’s medium, Chiruka Misaki, and her Lazarus, Amaha Kamikita. Xia was demanding it in exchange. “That reaction… So it’s true that Galerie Berith has the Relict Regalia.” “That’s too big an ask for just a toll.” Rosé sighed. Xia shook his head with a shameless smile. “We’ll just be taking extra baggage off your hands for free. You should be grateful, actually.” “What do you want to do with it? Hang it on your neck like jewelry?” Yahiro asked, glaring at him. Xia stared back at him with raised eyebrows. “What, Lazarus? You don’t know how to use it?” “What…?” Yahiro mumbled. Then a loud alarm went off on the premises. It was earsplitting, as though alerting for war. The air around shook violently as all the mechanics on the platform hurried to evacuate. “Deputy commander.” Xia nodded to the soldier who called him. “They’re here?” His subordinate handed him a gun three times longer and thicker than a normal handgun. It was then that they noticed all his other men carried similar weapons. “Yahiro!” Yahiro turned around at the sound of his name among the chaos. Iroha had jumped off the Yáo Guāng Xīng’s command car, carrying a small dog-sized Moujuu in her arms. Her expression was stiff and her hair in disarray as she ran toward them. “…Iroha?” “Moujuu coming! A lot of them!” Iroha shrieked before he could ask her why she had gotten off the train. “Moujuu…?” “Huh… So you noticed,” Xia said, impressed. “I see. You’re Avaritia’s medium. You’re not dressed up in that stupid costume today?” “What’s stupid about my costume?! It’s cute!!” Iroha argued back indignantly. Xia cackled. “Fine, then. I’ll show you how to use the Relict. You’ll see that it’d be better for humanity if you handed yours over!” Xia said defiantly as he glared at Yahiro and held the giant handgun up. Then the Nagoya Station Fortress trembled. 6 “You stay inside the train, Galerie Berith. Don’t you dare get in our way. If you don’t want to end up crushed like the Moujuu, that is!” Xia said menacingly before leaving with his subordinates. Giuli stuck her tongue out at his back, while Rosé simply sighed. Then the latter got in contact with the command car of the Yáo Guāng Xīng through the comms in her uniform’s collar. “What’s the situation?” “Give us a moment. We’re just getting images from the drones. The jamming inside the fortress is too strong, so we only get footage from outside the walls…” Josh’s voice came from the other side. He had sent survey drones the moment the alarm went off. “We can see about three to four hundred Moujuu. Most of them Grade II or above. Not as big as that time in Yokohama, but we have fewer people now, too. Who knows if we can stave them off?” Josh bitterly passed along the drone intel. The Moujuu that had emerged from the Ploutonion opened by Sui in Yokohama were estimated at over seven hundred, but back then the defensive line had included one hundred thousand Guild mercenaries. Meanwhile, the Nagoya Station Fortress had a total population of seventy-five thousand. And half of them were noncombatants. They couldn’t be optimistic, even with the tough walls surrounding them. “What do the Moujuu want? They’re not after us, are they?” Yahiro asked Giuli while Josh and Rosé communicated. “Considering the Federal Army’s reaction, I’d say they’re under Moujuu attack every day. Maybe that’s why they have that huge wall around the station,” Giuli said plainly. Yahiro agreed with the analysis. He remembered how quickly the mechanics evacuated when the alarm went off. They had to be used to Moujuu attacks. And those marks on the fortress’s walls were from battling them. “Lady Rosetta, please give us permission to start the engines. We can’t remain inside. We can’t use the Yáo Guāng Xīng’s weapons like that. We should at least leave the station…,” Captain Aldiss pleaded, obvious anxiety in his voice. “But they won’t open the gates for us.” Rosé sighed, rejecting the captain’s request. So long as the drawbridge embedded in the walls did not open, there was no leaving the Nagoya Station Fortress. And they could not open the gate when a swarm of Moujuu was approaching, lest they allow them to charge into the city. “We could’ve steered clear of this mess if they’d let us pass already. Damn miserly CFA bastards!” Josh cursed. The Chinese Federal Army was not even one of Galerie Berith’s clients. Naturally, they couldn’t join the fight against the Moujuu of their own accord. They could only utilize the bare minimum of self-defense, and being unable to prepare properly for battle was stressful enough. “No, it’s no problem. Josh, you keep gathering intel on the situation. All operators on standby, get ready to fight Moujuu. Keep defending the Yáo Guāng Xīng, though. No offensive.” “Defensive only? You sure? They’ll break through the wall in less than five minutes.” Josh worriedly relayed the data reported by the train’s tactics AI. It predicted that the CFA forces alone would not be able to stop the Moujuu invasion. If they only stood and watched, the Moujuu would come in like an avalanche and surround the Yáo Guāng Xīng. Still, Rosé kept a straight face and shook her head. “I’m telling you, it’s no problem. We have Iroha on our side.” “Ah…” Josh mumbled. Iroha was shocked by the sudden sound of her name while she was just standing around with Nuemaru in her arms. “M-me?” “You’re our best bet against attacking Moujuu. Can you take care of the Yáo Guāng Xīng?” “R-right. Yeah… I’ll do my best.” Iroha nodded awkwardly. Yahiro looked at her suspiciously. She was being strangely meek; where did her mysterious and endless source of confidence go? “Yahiro, you guard her. Do not take your eyes off her.” “…Yeah, I got it.” He nodded, still confused and distracted by Iroha’s unusual behavior. With their sudden strategy meeting over, the Galerie operators moved in unison. Giuli, not dressed for combat, returned to the Yáo Guāng Xīng while Rosé took over command. The operators spread out to protect every car of the armored train. “Take care of the kids, Nuemaru.” Iroha put the white Moujuu down carefully. Nuemaru looked up at her and shook its long fluffy tail reluctantly before heading back into the train to be with Runa and the rest. Only Yahiro and Iroha remained. “You’re acting weird,” Yahiro said while looking at Iroha’s profile. She was biting her lip in worry. She turned to look at him with surprise. “Huh? Why?” “You’ve never been wary of Moujuu before.” “Mmm… I’m not wary of them. It’s just, they’re weird.” Iroha’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked in the direction of the fortress wall. Thanks to her dragon medium powers, not only did she sense them approaching, but she also felt something was not right with them. “They’re weird?” “Yeah. The truth is, Moujuu don’t usually attack people unless their territory is invaded.” “Right.” “But they hate this fortress. Not the Chinese Federal Army, but this fortress itself. I don’t know if they’ll listen to me…” “They hate…the fortress?” Yahiro narrowed his eyes in confusion. The Moujuu loathed their territory being intruded upon. Yahiro was attacked many times in the 23 Wards because he set foot into their habitat to retrieve artwork. He now understood the reason why, if vaguely. The Moujuu were Japanese people, and their territory was the very land where they were born and raised. They were trying to protect their homeland from outside forces barging in. This also meant that they rarely attacked people outside their territory without impetus. The exceptions were the Moujuu summoned by Superbia’s Ploutonion, and the marine Moujuu Vanagloria ordered to attack Yokosuka. “The Moujuu attacking this fortress are not being manipulated by someone, are they?” “No. That’s why I don’t know if they’ll listen to me. I don’t think they’ll stop fighting until this fortress is gone.” Iroha shook her head weakly. Her power to control the Moujuu was not absolute domination. Although she could free them from the control of another dragon, she could not make them obey orders against their will. If the Moujuu were seriously trying to destroy this fortress, then Iroha had no way to stop them. This was her weakness. “Then…we’re in big trouble…” Yahiro grimaced as he heard a change in the cannon roars beyond the walls. The howitzer and machine-gun fire began to be frequently interrupted, allowing him to hear the Moujuu’s howls more clearly. The fortress’s defenses were coming apart; the Moujuu were inching closer. The next moment, ringing slashes echoed throughout the metal walls. The entire platform trembled from the impact as guns and screams sounded. “They’ve broken through the walls. Heads up, Yahiro!” Giuli’s sharp warning came through the comms in Yahiro’s collar. Moujuu crossed the barrier and two groups landed almost simultaneously behind and in front of the platform where the Yáo Guāng Xīng was stopped. A pack of giant wolves with jaws like crocodiles. Beetles with six monkey-like arms. Winged, mono-eyed, spherical vines. All hideous monsters that ignited physiological fear. The CFA soldiers fired their assault rifles at them, but the Moujuu brushed them aside and avalanched into the premises. “Please, stop!” Iroha ran recklessly toward the Moujuu near the Yáo Guāng Xīng. Yahiro clicked his tongue before following her. They did hear Iroha’s voice; they showed no intention of attacking her. But they were not responding clearly to the call. This lack of reaction had never happened before. “It’s not working! I can’t stop them!” Iroha cried weakly. The Moujuu showed no leniency as they approached the Yáo Guāng Xīng, despite it being unrelated to the Nagoya Station Fortress. The Galerie’s operators aimed their guns in retaliation, but Iroha was in the line of fire. “Iroha, move!” Yahiro stepped between the Moujuu and Iroha as the operators hesitated to shoot. The one at the front was a grizzly-like beast with claws like giant scythes. It had to be Grade II, at the very least. A formidable opponent that needed a whole platoon to defeat. The Moujuu slashed down but was stopped by Yahiro’s uchigatana. Yahiro was knocked back five meters, the impact breaking both his arms and audibly rupturing tendons in his legs. Yet Yahiro ignored the pain and launched a counterattack the moment he landed. His Lazarus powers regenerated his tendons. He dug his katana deep into the right arm of the Moujuu—defenseless right after its attack ended—and jet-black miasma surged out in place of blood. Then he was paralyzed. Yahiro froze at the sight of the wounded Moujuu. He could kill it with another slash. He knew that, and yet his body would not listen. Revulsion stirred his insides until he threw up on the spot. “Yahiro…?!” Iroha sprinted toward him as soon as she saw him kneel before the Moujuu. She held him close under her protection. The Moujuu did not attack dragon mediums. However, the wounded beast was already halfway through launching a counterattack. Iroha stared blankly at the giant claws approaching from overhead. Yet the Moujuu never slashed her. Right before it could, a shock-wave bullet blew its giant form away and tore it apart. “What’s wrong, Lazarus? You scared at the sight of the Moujuu?” “Jiguan…Xia…” As he sluggishly raised his head, Yahiro muttered the name of the man who had launched the shock wave. Xia was holding that strange handgun. The shock wave it fired had defeated the Moujuu. A Grade II Moujuu. In one shot. “Kept you waiting, huh? Clearing the enemies outside the walls wasn’t as quick as I thought, but hey, I am keeping my promise. Look closely: this is how you use the Relict,” Xia said with a savage, predatory grin on his face. Yahiro finally realized, then. There was an odd stone embedded in the back of his right hand, the one he held the gun with. A crimson gem, like a blood clot. “Vanish, monsters,” Xia said as he pulled the trigger. In that moment, a storm enveloped his whole body. The air swirled around him before getting sucked into the bizarre handgun. The gun turned red from the compressed atmospheric pressure—it absorbed that much densely packed air. Then Xia pointed the handgun at the Moujuu herd crossing the walls. With a thunderous roar, he fired a bullet of compressed air that turned into a hypersonic shock wave. An invisible blade struck the Moujuu. A dozen spectral beasts were torn apart in the blink of an eye before falling to pieces outside the wall. Yahiro and Iroha gulped in awe at the tremendous sight. “This power…is a Regalia’s?!” Yahiro exclaimed hoarsely. He knew the attack Xia had launched. That supersonic shock wave. It was Douji Yamase’s—Ira’s Regalia. “The Lazaruses aren’t the only ones who can use the Regalia,” Xia said while showing off the gem on the back of his hand. “With this Relict Regalia, any human can. And we cannot wait for you to die and leave us a new treasure, Lazarus and dragon medium.” Xia turned his back on them, immediately losing all interest. He left leisurely to exterminate the remaining Moujuu in the fortress while Yahiro and Iroha watched in silence.
Chapter 50
31 min read