“We’re taking Sui back, either way.” “If anything, I would say it’d be best to kill her as soon as possibleee…” Nina shook her head with a wry smile. Yahiro ran up to her, but the young man in the black hoodie stood in his way. “Stay away from her, Narusawa!” “Out of my way, Minato!” Hisaki turned the rooftop into a poisonous swamp to stop the other Lazarus’s approach, and still, Yahiro charged. They were both Lazaruses. Yahiro’s Regalia could not burn away all of Hisaki’s marsh, but clearing the path immediately around him was not so difficult. Realizing he could not stop Yahiro, Hisaki scowled. “Beat it, Minato!” “Piss off!” Hisaki dodged Yahiro’s flaming sword, diving into the marshified concrete using Luxuria’s matter permeation. Yahiro lost sight of his opponent for a moment, and Hisaki attacked from an unexpected angle. He stabbed his long sword like a spear toward Yahiro’s back. Then scorching flames blew into Hisaki’s face. Iroha had shot a stream of purifying fire. The half-liquefied rooftop turned back into concrete after being burned, stopping Hisaki in his tracks. At the same time, Yahiro countered, but Hisaki evaded by jumping back. “Yahiro, are you okay?!” “Sorry. I let my guard down.” Yahiro thanked Iroha as he got back on his feet. In terms of raw destructive force, Ira’s shock waves or Acedia’s freezing were more powerful, but Hisaki’s Regalia far exceeded them in trickiness. On top of being shapeless and unpredictable, what hurt the most was that there was no way to block his attacks besides countering with the purifying flames. Hisaki could very well melt the Kuyou Masakane if Yahiro tried slashing him head-on. “Dammit… Slippery bastard!” “Ah-ha-ha, it’s a very Nina-ish Regalia. But…” “Yeah. We can burn it away if we focus the attack.” Yahiro held his sword at hip height as he lowered his center of gravity. Luxuria’s matter liquefaction was menacing, but its wide area of effect made it possible for Yahiro’s Regalia to be effective when focused. It shouldn’t be impossible for Yahiro to break Hisaki’s defenses in close-quarters combat, and yet… “If we can…just get…close…to him…” Yahiro felt dizzy all of a sudden and fell to one knee. “What? I feel so heavy…” “Yahiro…?!” Iroha ran up to him in a panic. Nina stared at them with a smile of relief. “Miasma born from Luxuria’s power. A lethal amount like that would suffocate any regular human, but you should get well after a bit of rest. Sweet dreeeams!” Nina explained triumphantly as Hisaki sheathed his sword. Yahiro crawled desperately toward them, but he was too slow. “Wa…it…” Nina and Hisaki turned their backs on Yahiro and Iroha after confirming they were unable to fight anymore. In that moment, a fierce smile popped onto Yahiro’s face, certain of his victory. “…Yeah, right!” Yahiro, who they thought was nearly unconscious, kicked off the floor, and Hisaki turned around, jaw dropped. “Nina!” “Gotcha, Minato!” Yahiro yelled. Yahiro’s flaming sword slashed Hisaki’s horizontally. He took the hit, covering for Nina. That would kill any regular human. Even a Lazarus needed some time to recover. “Hisaki…?!” Yahiro touched Nina’s neck with the tip of his sword. She gave up and stopped all movement. Blocking Yahiro’s attack was impossible at this distance, even with her powers. “I see… You warmed up the concrete at your feet and used the ascending air current to clear the miasma. You knew I would use a colorless, odorless gas?” Nina asked, looking up at Yahiro with interest. Her innate curiosity would not let up, even when she was cornered. “Sumika told us about how you ran away from them!” Iroha showed Nina her smartphone as she stood up, dropping the act. Zen Sagara and Yahiro’s relationship was not good in the slightest, but Iroha was friendly and in contact with Ira’s medium. Sumika Kiyotaki had grumbled to Iroha about the time Nina and Hisaki took Miyabi Maisaka right from under their noses. Iroha, too, coerced Yahiro into putting on the act, based on that info. For a moment he was worried Iroha’s act was overly dramatic, but they’d tricked them in the end. “Ahh, the girlfriend network… I couldn’t have come up with that, seeing as I don’t have any friends. Geez, kids these days…” Nina pouted sulkily. “We’re taking Sui back.” Yahiro didn’t move the sword from Nina’s neck. But he spun around when a sudden hostile presence sent shivers down his spine. Hisaki forced himself up despite his injuries, using his long sword as a cane. He was not healed yet. Not able to fight yet. And still, the air around him was overwhelming. The massive dragon aura he exuded intimidated Yahiro. “Do not touch her, Yahiro Narusawa!” Hisaki’s dragon aura, like purple flames, drew an illusion in the air. The image of a giant nine-headed hydra. A phantom that covered the whole of the government building rooftop, glaring at Yahiro and Iroha before it roared. “This is Luxuria’s real power?!” Yahiro jumped away from Nina. Hisaki’s Regalia did not hurt his medium, but Yahiro and Iroha weren’t safe. Even a Lazarus was not guaranteed to survive the hydra’s attack. “Yahiro!” “I know.” Iroha dove for Yahiro’s chest and he held her close. There could only be one way to block the hydra’s attack: for Yahiro to summon a dragon to counter Hisaki’s. Yahiro’s dragon aura exploded out of fear and a duty to protect Iroha. It spread out and pushed against Hisaki’s, the air itself creaking under the pressure of the opposing forces. Then, just as his dragon aura was about to bring forth the phantom of a giant dragon, a sudden clap rang out. “Thaaat’s enough. Stop it, Hisaki.” Nina grabbed Hisaki’s right arm and buried it in her voluptuous chest. Hisaki, up to then lost to his wrath, let his dragon aura fade and the purple hydra disappear. “Nina…” He looked at her with dissatisfaction, a rare reaction for the usually devoted young man. Yet Nina shook her head, her expression stern as though scolding a small child. “We can’t keep going. Let’s give Sui up. Old Salas won’t complain so long as he gets the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, so let’s call it a truce.” The last bit was directed at Yahiro. He shot her a bitter glare. “I’m supposed to trust the woman who won’t hesitate to use toxic gas on us?” “From the very beginning, I said I had no intention of fighting youuu!” Nina pouted and puffed her cheeks; she had a baby face to begin with, and the expression only made her look even more childish. “But well, I understand your skepticism. So I’ll give you a little bonus to compensate.” “…Bonus?” Yahiro and Iroha looked at each other in confusion; the suggestion had no context whatsoever for them to imagine what she would say. “Eeeyup! You want to get Ayaho back, don’t you?” Nina grinned. Then she glanced at the military chopper, its engine finally restarted. 7 The armored T-Bullet train accelerated gradually as it left the Nagoya Station Fortress. On its command car were Liu Ryland and Jiguan Xia. Their destination: the Port of Osaka. Liu had connections with the English army occupying the Hanshin area, as well as a Melora branch. His plan had already been to depart for Osaka, even if he hadn’t lost the artificial Relict factory. “You sure about leaving the Galerie behind like that, General?” Xia asked while polishing his precious handgun. Xia also understood that they had to abandon the Nagoya Station Fortress. It was only a matter of time until it fell now that the Moujuu had infiltrated it. However, he was upset at not being able to crush Galerie Berith. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been able to kill the Lazarus, but with the full forces of the Relict Deservers, at least they could have destroyed the Galerie’s armored train. “It’s no issue, Shangxiao Xia. Nina Himekawa will stall Yahiro Narusawa and Iroha Mamana. Let the Lazaruses kill each other for the rest of eternity.” Liu Ryland sneered as he took a vintage wine out of the fridge. “Even if the Galerie comes after us, they won’t stand against your troops without the Lazarus. Or is it that you’re feeling guilty about forsaking your compatriots?” “I don’t give a damn whether that mass of drones lives or not. What I’m asking is how much you’ll give us.” Xia frowned at Liu. Xia’s violent and independent personality had never been acceptable to the army’s top brass. Which was why they sent him to Japan on top of assigning him to the artificial Relict experiments. His frustration with this treatment only made him more willing to abandon the Nagoya Station Fortress. His focus now was on seeing how high he could rise by using the Relict troops. In the end, Melora was but another tool for him to achieve that goal. “Don’t worry. Chief Hou will bear all the responsibility. The reports will say that you weren’t in the fortress at the time of the attack because you were guarding me. I have many friends in the Joint Staff Department of the CFA—I will not let your standing take a hit.” “Let’s hope so.” “The production of artificial Relicts using Moujuu was already reaching its technological limits, in any case. It will not hurt us much to abandon that base. It’s a shame we lost the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, but in exchange, we got her.” Liu smiled in satisfaction as he held his glass of wine up to the light. Laying on the seat behind him was Ayaho Sashou, hands and feet bound. Now that the marsh gas’s effect had worn off, they had her drugged unconscious in order to stop Vanagloria’s Relict Regalia from losing control. “Now you’ll use that girl’s flesh to cultivate the Relict?” Xia asked wryly. Liu did not refute it. “Her Relict compatibility is off the charts, not to mention Vanagloria’s Relict Regalia is the freshest dragon factor crystal in existence. The Relict troops will be even stronger with the data drawn from her body.” “Let’s hope so.” Xia grabbed the wine bottle off the table and gulped it down like water. Then the sound of cannon fire shook the T-Bullet’s windows. A rocket launcher’s point-blank shot. Only another armored train could attack one at high speed. “Looks like Galerie Berith’s armored train is here.” Xia licked the red off his lips and bared his teeth. The T-Bullet was running on the Tokaido Main Line, which they had destroyed so Galerie Berith could not pursue them. But the Galerie’s armored train was running on the Meitetsu Nagoya Line parallel to the JR track. “How stubborn. They have no incentive to get Ayaho Sashou back.” Liu Ryland raised his voice in anger for the first time. The Galerie’s armored train ran just under a thousand feet from the T-Bullet, and it was getting closer. The closer they got, the more precise their shots. The point-blank fire continued nonstop, shaking the T-Bullet violently every time. They slowed it down. “It must be out of consideration for Iroha Mamana’s feelings. She called her sister,” Xia said as he looked down at sleeping Ayaho. Liu Ryland clicked his tongue violently. “Foolish…! What are you doing?! Strike back!” “They’ve crushed all of our cannons! As though crushed by invisible walls!” the operator on the fire control seat reported with a crack in his voice. Liu’s cheeks twitched at the sound of that. “Auguste Nathan’s Relict? What a nuisance.” Jiguan Xia finished his handgun’s maintenance and stood up. Nathan’s Relict came from an original dragon factor crystal, just like Ayaho’s. His repelling barrier could not be broken with regular attacks, and it was difficult even with the artificial Relicts. The only one who could stand a chance against him was Xia and his reinforced artificial Relict, tuned for the commander. “Shangxiao Xia.” “I know. I’ll go out. How many useful Deservers are there?” Xia asked his subordinate on standby. “Seven. The damages from the Deserver girl when we attacked the Galerie were too great, and also…” “I know. The guys I pushed into the Ploutonion.” Xia chuckled. The clownish duo, self-proclaimed fans of Iroha Mamana. Xia got rid of them because he was suspicious they were keeping an eye on him, but perhaps they survived along with Yahiro Narusawa. He had to finish the job soon, if that was the case, and so Xia got up on the armored train’s rooftop. The rooftop was equipped with turrets, already destroyed by the Galerie’s fire. Even if they were still intact, though, their fire would be like pellet guns against Nathan’s repellant barrier. “Whatever, no problem. Just gotta wreck their motorcar and that’ll be it. Relict troop, spread out. We’ll launch a simultaneous attack. Nathan can’t keep them safe on his own.” Xia instructed through the radio. The rail lines met, and Galerie Berith’s armored train pulled up right next to them. However, there was only a short distance left for them to run parallel. Once they left them behind, the Galerie would never be able to catch up again. “It’s over, Galerie Berith.” Xia aimed his giant gun. The shock waves from his reinforced artificial Relict could easily blow away the Galerie’s motorcar. His subordinates would attack first as a distraction to saturate Nathan’s barrier, creating an opening for Xia to fire the decisive shot. A simple but effective tactic. However, the moment Xia put his finger on the trigger, he heard an explosion from an astonishing angle. With it came the sound of a helicopter’s rotor. “What?!” Xia looked up to see the black military chopper. Its hatch was open, showing a Japanese boy and girl who should not be there, along with a white Moujuu. “You…!” The Moujuu shot bluish-white lightning to defeat Xia’s subordinates before he could even react. The boy and girl, riding the Moujuu, jumped down to the T-Bullet’s rooftop. Jiguan Xia exchanged glares with the black-haired boy holding a Japanese katana in hand. “We meet again, Lazarus!” Xia roared, aiming his gun. “We’re taking Ayaho back, Jiguan Xia!” Yahiro shouted as he jumped down from Nuemaru. 8 “That girl is Sui Narusawa, isn’t it? Nina Himekawa betrayed us? That bitch!” Jiguan Xia grumbled as he pointed at the sleeping girl on Nuemaru’s back. The military chopper flew away with Nina and Hisaki on it, their work there done. They were not going to interfere with the fight between the Galerie and Melora. Perhaps they thought they didn’t need the help. “Deputy Commander!” “Kill ’em!” Xia’s Relict Deservers aimed their giant guns at Iroha and Yahiro, but even though they pulled the trigger, their Regalia would not activate. Iroha’s purifying flames enveloped their guns. The poor-quality Relict cartridges loaded in their handguns shattered as the Deservers yelped. The artificial Relicts on the backs of their hands fell off in a million pieces. “Looks like your flames really can vanquish the artificial Relicts.” Yahiro sighed quietly as he looked at the agonizing soldiers with pity. Nina had informed them of the Relicts’ weak point. Unlike the original Relict Regalia from the crystallized dragon factor, the artificial Relicts were unstable. Iroha’s flames accelerated their instability, which degraded them, and upon trying to forcefully activate the Regalia in such a state, the Deservers received the full blow of the recoil. “What the…? That bastard Liu never told me about this!” Xia scowled. The artificial Relicts’ weak point was his weak point. Naturally, he was distressed. Still, he wasn’t about to let Yahiro win. “It’s time for revenge, Jiguan Xia! You’re gonna pay for throwing us into the Ploutonion and for harming Iroha’s siblings!” “Tsk! You should’ve died at the bottom of the Ploutonion!” Xia pulled the trigger. Yahiro sliced the shock wave with his flaming blade. He won the Regalia clash—Xia’s shock wave shattered without much effort. But then Yahiro spurted fresh blood. “Yahiro?!” Iroha’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. “Stay away!” he yelled as he saw her approaching. “Surprised? My Relict is a bit special. Don’t think I’m like the other fakers.” Xia raised both arms and exposed the backs of his hands. He had marks similar to Ayaho’s, but too uniform and mechanical. “You’ve got multiple artificial Relicts?!” “Yes. That’s how I can do this!” In the next moment, a flash pierced Yahiro’s right shoulder. His flesh burst open, spreading the smell of burnt meat all around. Yet Yahiro’s face reflected more shock than pain. That lightning blast was Tristitia’s Regalia. “It can’t be… You’re compatible with two different Relicts?!” “Who said it’s only two?” Xia’s eyes lit up sadistically as he took a firm step forward. Sinister dragon aura oozed from the tip of his right toes, morphing the armored train’s rooftop. A metallic crystal blade then slashed shallowly at Yahiro’s feet. It was smaller in scale, but there was no doubt: it was Vanagloria’s power. “Wha…?!” “A Relict Deserver’s body sure is convenient. It heals so quickly even with all sorts of reckless modifications.” Xia rolled up his uniform’s sleeve, exposing an incongruent left arm. It was bizarrely thin compared to his other—it was clearly a woman’s arm. “You…got an arm implant?!” Yahiro felt violently nauseous. Certainly, a way to embed multiple Relicts in one person would be to chop off a Deserver’s arm and implant it in another. But that was an inhuman thing to do. Yet Xia caressed his implanted arm with pride. “I’ve got monstrous healing abilities thanks to the Relict compatibility. It would be a waste not to undergo this kind of transformation, don’t you think? I may not be up to your Lazarus standards, but being a Deserver is not so bad. And I can get as many Regalia as I want!” “This is ridiculous… You really want the Regalia that much?” “Why wouldn’t I? This is power incarnate.” A strong dragon aura shot from his whole body. An aberrant cacophony of auras born from the multiple active Relicts. “Come, Lazarus. Let’s put that immortal body of yours to the test! How long until you turn into a lifeless lump of meat?!” “Stop it, Jiguan Xia! If you keep using that many Regalia…” An explosive shock wave drowned out Yahiro’s voice. He received the blast with his flames, but metallic crystal blades shot up from the train’s rooftop to pierce him. Then came lightning, making every muscle in his body spasm. Each individual Regalia was not very powerful, but the threat came from the simultaneous attack. Yahiro would have died four or five times already if it weren’t for his Lazarus powers. However, the rash use of the Relicts also put a strain on Xia’s body. His implanted left arm turned to white crystal and began collapsing into dust. “Tsk! Already at the limit!” Xia clicked his tongue in hatred, glaring at his left arm. The dragon factor was going berserk due to the excessive use of the Regalia. He was in a near-draconized state. The Deserver’s healing powers fell far short of the Lazarus’s. His cells crumbled upon surpassing their limit. “Stop it already!” Iroha yelled at Xia still fighting. “Please, stop. Give Ayaho back. You have no reason to push yourself this hard to fight us!” “I…do.” Xia sneered at Iroha’s scornful glare. “I will do anything for power. Anything to prove my superiority over anyone else! The man who doesn’t, the people who don’t, the nation who can’t, they will spout pleasantries while they keep getting robbed for all eternity! You should know this better than anyone else, Japanese!” Xia activated his Regalia once again, shooting lightning at Iroha. Yahiro just barely blocked it, wearing his full-body Goreclad. “Stay back, Iroha!” “Yahiro?! But…!” Iroha tried to argue, but lost her words halfway at the sight of the bizarre dragon aura oozing out of Xia’s body. “What the hell is this power…?” Yahiro groaned hoarsely. The volume of Xia’s swelling dragon aura went beyond a Relict Deserver’s limits. It was warped, as an amalgamation of different dragons. Still, in terms of raw output, it met or perhaps even exceeded Hisaki’s when they’d faced him at the Nagoya Station Fortress. “Let’s settle this, Lazarus. Will I reach my limit faster than you can despair?!” “He’s…got even more Relicts…” “It wasn’t just his arms and right leg—his chest, his hip, every section of his body had been implanted, glowing eerily with the power of the Relicts. Naturally, the burden on his body was huge. The crystallization spread throughout his whole body, and fissures began spreading across his face. His hair turned white. And still, Xia sneered ferociously. “I told you, the powerless can only keep getting robbed for all eternity! I’ll blow you away, Galerie’s train and all! You could’ve kept the number of victims down if only you had given up on that girl!” “…That’s not true.” The clear voice of a girl echoed among the raging dragon auras. Iroha’s long hair swayed with the wind as she spoke resolutely. “No matter how great the power in your hands, you will never get what truly matters that way. And the reason you can’t get anything without relying on violence is because you’re weak and wrong. Your weakness cannot rob us of anything.” “Shut your mouth!!” Xia aimed his large handgun. His massive dragon auras converged into one point on his gun, creating a dense Regalia bullet. Upon firing that, not only would he destroy Yahiro, Iroha, and most of the Yáo Guāng Xīng, but also part of the Melora train he stood on. Still, Yahiro remained oddly calm as he raised his sheathed sword. Iroha stood close behind and warm power flowed from her into him. “Burn to ash… Blaze.” Xia went to pull the trigger, but before the bullet could be fired, Yahiro ran beside and beyond him in a flash. Xia’s eyes grew wide as his gun crumbled in his hand. The Relict crystals all over his body shattered one after the other. The rampaging dragon auras vanished like they were never there, and the wicked Regalia bullet was not shot. Yahiro’s purifying flames, focused on the tip of his blade, burned away all of Xia’s dragon aura. “Well done, Lazarus… Now that is true power.” Xia smiled in satisfaction as he held his deeply wounded chest and spat blood. “Go and burn this whole corrupted world, you monster…” He fell, his shredded cells flowing from his crystallized body. Yahiro’s strike was not lethal, but by breaking the Relicts, Xia lost his healing abilities. His body was torn apart as he exceeded the Deserver limits, and could no longer regenerate. He could never fight again. Yahiro mulled over the man’s last words as he looked down at the fallen soldier with a bitter expression. The Yáo Guāng Xīng’s cannons destroyed the T-Bullet’s motorcar and it began decelerating. It did not take long before the train stopped completely and they captured Liu Ryland.
Chapter 60
20 min read