Chapter 91

Act 4 Apocalypse 1 Galerie Berith’s helicopter landed in the middle of the intersection. Iroha jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward Ayaho without so much as glancing at anything else. She practically tackled her with a hug. “Ayaho!” “Iroha…?!” “Ayaho! Thank goodness you’re all right! Thank goodness…! You’re not hurt? You’re so tall now! And so pretty. You look good in that uniform!” Iroha rubbed her cheek against Ayaho’s, caressed her head, and jostled her all over with all kinds of physical signs of affection. Ayaho would have clawed her already if she were a cat. “I-Iroha… Please… Calm down.” “Hee-hee-hee…” Iroha recovered her sanity once satisfied with her contact with Ayaho, then looked at the boy next to her with puzzlement. “Umm, and who is this? He looks kinda like Yahiro, don’t you think? No… More like, he’s just like him! What?! Are they twins?!” Iroha looked Shigure over. He looked similar enough to warrant the reaction. Yahiro looked a bit younger, but that had to be because his aging had reset after he became the world dragon. They would look even more similar if they were the same physical age. “Iroha, stay away from him! You, too, Ayaho!” “Y-Yahiro?” Yahiro held a katana in a wooden sheath. Not the Kuyou Masakane he had lost in his fight against Sui Narusawa, but still a fine sword the Galerie had acquired for him. Zen had also armed himself with a replacement for his Western sword. Both of them were on high alert, recognizing the dragon aura that enveloped Shigure. “You’re the Lazarus who kidnapped Ayaho?” Yahiro asked, ready to activate his Regalia at any moment. Ayaho panicked at Yahiro’s hostility. She got between him and Shigure, spreading her arms. “W-wait! Please wait!” “Ayaho?” “Shigure isn’t a bad person! He helped me escape!” “But didn’t he abduct you to begin with?” Zen remarked. Ayaho grunted. “Yes, but there’s been a misunderstanding…” “What misunderstanding?” “Shigure thought I was a hostage… Right?” She looked at him. Yahiro and Zen looked at each other in confusion. They suspected he had threatened or fooled her. “I get it. So they told you you were being kept so we could hog the Ouroboros’s power?” Giuli joined the conversation now that Yahiro and Zen’s animosity had abated. Rosé got off the helicopter and agreed with her twin sister. “I suppose we can’t deny that.” “Could you please deny it, even if it’s a lie?” Yahiro sighed while relaxing his grip on the hilt. He didn’t trust Shigure, but he admitted there was no reason for this strange Lazarus to harm Ayaho. “It’s true that the kids are under the Galerie’s guard, but that is mainly so other groups won’t use them for wrongdoing,” Rosé explained calmly. Shigure relaxed upon hearing that. “So it’s true. Ayaho told me about that.” “Good thing the misunderstanding is cleared up. So who are you? Why do you look just like Yahiro?” Giuli smiled amicably. Shigure was taken aback by the direct, blunt question. “Do we really look that similar?” Yahiro asked Iroha in a low voice, his brow furrowed. He just couldn’t see it. “Yup, you’re spitting images of each other. But I think that guy looks a little better. He looks so upright.” Yahiro pursed his lips at her candid response. Shigure had a conflicted look on his face, too. Nobody could possibly feel comfortable seeing someone with their own face. Much less so when it was a Lazarus. Even without hostility between them, they had no idea how to address each other. “Wait.” Zen spoke to Shigure instead of Yahiro, who was still awkwardly quiet. He looked carefully at the sword Shigure carried on his back, in addition to the long straight katana in his hand. The sheathed sword was old and an austere Western-style. “Is that my Gram?” “Gram? This sword is yours?” “Kyuos’s operators stole it from me at the airport.” Zen scowled. Even with the misunderstanding of Ayaho’s kidnapping cleared up, Shigure was still suspected of aiding in the theft of the sword. It was only natural that Zen would become aggressive after seeing him with it. Shigure just handed it over. “I see. Okay, you can have it back.” “Seriously?” “My employer gave it to me. I have no reason to keep it.” “I see.” Zen gathered he wasn’t lying and accepted it. He walked toward Shigure, guard still up. Yahiro followed him. Then, someone pulled Yahiro back. He turned around and saw a short girl in a nun’s vestment. Her eyes were emotionless as she stared at Shigure while holding Yahiro still. “Ellie?” “Wait. You mustn’t get near him. Not yet.” “…Yet?” Before he could ask for an explanation, a scream interrupted them. “Zen?!” It was Sumika. He followed her gaze and found Zen kneeling. He had fallen the moment he tried to reach for the sword. “What… What did you do…?” Zen looked up at him with a glare. Shigure was equally confused. “Wait, I didn’t do anythi—” He shook his head hard, still holding out the sword. His white hair waved furiously like he had been hit by a strong wind, and a strange pattern emerged on his cheeks and neck. A rainbow sheen like a film on the surface of water. The same peculiar look of the nameless angels. “Uw…ah…AAAHHH!” He clutched his head. “Shigure?!” Ayaho reflexively reached out to him. Then she lost all the strength in her knees. Sudden weariness left her unable to move or even stand. Something flowed from her body through the Relict Regalia on her right hand. “Zen!” Sumika took a panicked step toward him. “Stay away, Sumika!” her husband yelled. A strong wind blew around Shigure like a tornado surrounded by a stagnant glow and heat. The dragon factor was sucked out of Zen and Ayaho and flowed into the middle of the whirlwind, then into Shigure’s body. He screamed in pain, unable to take the flood. “Shigure… What’s happening?!” “He’s draining our dragon factor?!” Ayaho and Zen growled in distress, looking up at him. Shigure crouched in agony, his body creaking. Giant, colorful wings spread on his back, tearing through his jacket. Not angel wings—twisted dragon wings. “Ellie, what is that?! What is happening?!” Yahiro turned toward her. Yahiro had no idea what was happening to this other alleged Lazarus. Only Ellie could explain this phenomenon. Only the underworld sentry knew anything about the angels. Yet she would not talk. She kept her hands clasped together as if in prayer, a detached smile on her face. “I see how it is…,” Rosé whispered. She held her gun but hesitated to attack Shigure. There was no guarantee a simple bullet could stop him, and no one could predict how he would react to an attack. “The reason they stole Zen Sagara’s sword was to make sure he would eventually meet this Lazarus,” Rosé coldly surmised. “So the same goes for Ayaho. She was bait to lure Yahiro and Iroha out of the barrier. They played us like a fiddle.” Giuli shrugged. Ayaho’s kidnapping had been a surefire way to get Yahiro and Iroha out of their isolated island in the unknown south. Galerie Berith couldn’t hide it from them, because if anything happened to Ayaho without her knowledge, Iroha would be furious. The plan was exceedingly simple, and yet the Galerie had not seen through it. The reason being that Ayaho had a Relict Regalia—she had value on her own. Her being mere bait was not immediately obvious. “Their goal was to gather the surviving Lazarus? But why?” “The answer is what we’re seeing right now,” Giuli remarked. “To steal their dragon factor…!” Yahiro gritted his teeth. Shigure absorbed the surrounding dragon factor uncontrollably. It couldn’t be his own will. He had to be only a pawn. Someone had plotted this whole situation. “Ayaho!” “Don’t, Iroha.” Giuli held Iroha back before she could jump recklessly into the dragon factor whirlpool. Giuli resisted Iroha’s best efforts with a firm grip on her wrists. Iroha was desperate to help her sister. Suddenly, Iroha stopped, her eyes wide in shock. Her gaze was set on the cramped expanse of night sky peeking through the buildings. “Yahiro!” “…!” He noticed, too, once he heard Iroha’s warning. A shadowy flock flew overhead. Colorful winged monsters. “Angels?! Worst possible time for them to show up!” Yahiro glared daggers at the monsters. It was also the most obvious timing for their appearance, if Shigure’s rampage was part of the underworld sentries’ plan. They would make it difficult to rescue Ayaho. “Get out of the way!” Yahiro unsheathed his sword and swung at the angels’ claws as they rained down on him. He unleashed the Ouroboros’s power, ready to burn every enemy in sight to ash, but the world saw no change. The angels were unharmed. “The Regalia’s not working?!” Burning pain ran across Yahiro’s right shoulder. An angel’s claws dug deep into his flesh, dyeing his clothes red. “Yahiro!” Iroha ran up to him, pale in the face. The injury would have killed any normal person, but Yahiro was a Lazarus. Such an injury couldn’t take him down—or rather, it shouldn’t have. He couldn’t stand back up. The Lazarus’s monstrous regenerative ability wasn’t kicking in. Not only did the Regalia not work, but he had also lost his immortality. “Yahiro?! Why?! Why aren’t you healing?! Yahiro!” Iroha wailed in a frenzy. He was immobile. Warmth left his body along with the blood, and his vision went dark. Yahiro lost consciousness under the sneering of the angels in the sky. 2 Zen watched flabbergasted as Yahiro bled out. He was the Ouroboros and had the power to change the world to his will. As a fellow Lazarus, Zen understood the extent of his power. And yet the young man remained wounded on the ground, like a regular helpless human. It was an unthinkable situation. “Narusawa… What’s wrong?! What in the world is happening…?!” Zen forced himself up, fighting the lethargy corroding his body. Shigure’s rampage stopped as though in response to the angels’ entrance. Zen recovered a bit of strength as the suction of his dragon factor let up. About ten angels swirled in the sky. A few of them descended toward Sumika and the girls. Zen grabbed his weapon—the antique Western sword—and reclaimed his partner from Shigure. “Icefall!” The air liquefied and turned into ice spears that barraged the angels. “Zen?!” “Are you okay, Sumika?!” “I’m fine! But Yahiro…!” “I got it!” Zen held her protectively and used his Regalia again. But the dragon factor hadn’t recovered enough, and he couldn’t control it well. He missed two angels, and they flew toward the injured Yahiro and Iroha, who was guarding him. “Iroha…!” Sumika yelped. Zen scowled as he saw he wouldn’t be able to use his Regalia again fast enough. But the moment the angels had nearly reached Yahiro and Iroha, they made a hard turn toward the ground. A silver shadow flew up into the air and struck the angels down as it flew past. Their heads were cut off, their lives ended before they could so much as scream. “You…” Iroha’s savior was the girl in the nun’s habit that Yahiro had called Ellie. Giant silver wings grew from her back, and her hands had changed into the claws of a bird of prey. The angels flew away before Ellie’s glare. She was so obviously superior to the colorful, nameless creatures. “Ellie…” Iroha looked up at her with pleading eyes, holding a bloodstained Yahiro. Ellie did not respond. Her emotionless blue eyes stayed up on the night sky. Newcomers appeared in the air to replace the runaway angels. Three people with beautiful features and pearly wings. Beings much closer to the more common image of an angel than the previous monsters. “Suria…,” Ayaho groaned, looking up at the woman in the sky while Giuli helped her up. “Whoa.” Giuli raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “You know her? This peculiar character descending from the sky?” “I heard she was a consultant for PMC Kyuos. And Shigure’s employer.” “Huh… The mastermind behind your kidnapping, then…and of this whole ordeal.” Giuli licked her lips hawkishly. “I see. So those are underworld sentries.” Rosé let out a cold breath. “Wait, why’re you so calm about this?! Aren’t those angels?! We’re looking at freaking angels right now!” Sumika shouted in confusion. Platinum-winged angels descending from the night sky—how else could this be described but as divine? The sight of them instilled fear in one’s core. Ayaho and Zen were equally uneasy. However, Rosé remained unmoved. “There are dragons in this world. What’s so odd about a few angels?” she retorted apathetically. “I…guess!” Sumika sighed; she couldn’t beat Rosé in an argument. Rosé had a point. This was the underworld—hell. The Bible said that angels fought dragons and exiled them to hell. Indeed, angels and dragons were fated to be enemies. “Wait! But then that means Ellie is with the angels?!” Sumika yelled, looking back at Ellie, whose wings were still spread. An unexpected person replied to that. If she could be called a person to begin with, since she was one of the underworld sentries who had descended from the sky. The woman in solemn white robes. “With us? No, you’ve got that wrong.” Suria glared with contempt and hatred at Ellie. “Elimiel betrayed us underworld sentries. She is an abominable fallen angel.” “A fallen…angel?” Zen muttered. Taking the words at face value would mean Ellie had rebelled against the duties given to her from Heaven. She was an enemy to Suria. And thus she was an ally to humanity. However, they couldn’t celebrate just yet. Ellie was clearly outnumbered, and the underworld sentries had already activated their trap card with Shigure. “It’s been a long time, Suria.” Ellie returned Suria’s glare with a sad look on her face. “You impudent turncoat. We know you abandoned your job and are protecting the Ouroboros. We lost three of our brethren because of you.” “That’s because you’re trying to bring unnecessary tragedy into this world,” Ellie argued back with a calm voice. “Tragedy? Perhaps from the humans’ point of view. But we’re only doing our job as sentries.” Suria spoke haughtily. “The irregular dragon medium distorted this world from its proper form. An endless underworld must not exist.” “Because who knows how the people of the underworld will evolve? And they might endanger Heaven?” “Yes.” “I don’t understand. What’s the problem?” Ellie asked. Suria’s cheek twitched like she had been punched. The question was more hard-hitting than any fist. “What did you just say…?” “Heaven exiled us underworld sentries. No, we don’t even know Heaven. Why do we need to destroy this world for their sake?” “Elimiel… You…” Fear surfaced in Suria’s eyes. The two sentries behind her were restless. Ellie’s remark shook the core of their existence. “If we destroy the underworld, we disappear as well. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for Heaven? We can live in this world. I would rather this world develop, even if it means Heaven perishes instead.” “That is an unforgivable thought for an underworld sentry.” “Elimiel, you are broken.” The two male sentries condemned her. “Yes, Elimiel. You’re broken. That’s why we call you a fallen angel.” Suria’s voice shook with anger. Zen felt something was off about their aggressive argument. Ellie’s position was only logical, from a human point of view. Yet the loyal underworld sentries could not accept it, and Ellie realized this. Still, she kept trying to convince them. Ellie was not speaking to Suria. She was trying to say something to the humans there. “Oh, I see.” “Now I understand the deal with the underworld sentries.” Galerie Berith’s twins interjected with grins on their faces—a look of pity for the sentries. “What can specters expelled to the underworld understand?” Suria looked down at them with indignation. Rosé coldly responded, “The denizens of Heaven aren’t so different from us.” “What?” “Call it Heaven, but that’s just a name they gave it themselves. I imagine there’s an equivalent of an Ouroboros there maintaining their world.” “Yup, that’s why they’re afraid that another world will develop, further from theirs. They’re scared that their world will be attacked. So narrow-minded for a so-called Heaven, isn’t it? Or are they just that cowardly?” Giuli shook her head dramatically and sighed. “Silence!” The sentries’ voices shook with anger. Zen understood why they were so restless. Heaven was afraid of an external attack—that naturally meant their world could be invaded. Ellie was trying to explain that to everyone present. “No, they’re right,” Ellie said with satisfaction, her hands clasped together in prayer. “Heaven is but one of many worlds in this universe. It is not a special place.” “…Perhaps that could be,” Suria said, her voice low. “Maybe completing the underworld sentries’ mission is meaningless.” “Suria?!” “Will you turn your back on Heaven, too?!” The two male sentries glared at her in disbelief. “No, no.” Suria shook her head with a smirk, the first time she showed a human smile. “Elimiel, even if you’re right, it’s meaningless. The Ouroboros has already been sealed. Yahiro Narusawa will die, and the underworld will perish. This fate cannot be undone. We’ve won.” 3 Yahiro’s body was cold on Iroha’s lap. Only the fresh blood flowing from his injuries had warmth. The Lazarus’s supernatural regenerative power did not kick in. Yahiro was just a human on the verge of death. With such heavy bleeding, he wouldn’t last five more minutes. “Wait…” Iroha raised her head, still holding him to her chest. She had heard something she couldn’t ignore during the underworld sentries’ conversation. “What do you mean, you ‘sealed the Ouroboros’s? I’m the dragon medium and I’m perfectly fine!” She spoke with unconcealed anger. The loss of the Lazarus’s power and the sealing of the Ouroboros had to be linked. Yahiro’s dying state was part of Suria’s plan. Suria received the anger calmly. “An organization of this world called Ganzheit had the technology to artificially create humans. And that came from us underworld sentries,” she said with her artificially monotonous voice. Iroha was perplexed. The image of Sui Narusawa crossed her mind. Shigure’s unpigmented hair was like hers. “Shigure Shindou was created from the same technology. We used a nameless angel’s body as resource, as well as the cells of the Lazarus Yahiro Narusawa…” “Yahiro’s cells…?!” “Yahiro Narusawa was injured countless times in past battles. Obtaining the samples was not so difficult,” Suria explained. If the underworld sentries’ goal was to monitor the Ouroboros, it was logical that they would use Ganzheit, who had similar aims. The organization must have been influenced by the sentries for centuries. And they had obtained Yahiro’s cells through this connection. “Even with Lazarus cells, a lack of dragon factor would mean death. But this also means that keeping him alive was simple; he simply needed dragon factor.” “So that’s why you went after the Relict Regalia…” Rosé snorted, impressed. Shigure Shindou’s body used Yahiro’s cells. It would reach the end of its life without the dragon factor; it was an imperfect immortal body. Shigure needed a constant supply of dragon factor through the Relict Regalia to maintain his imperfect immortality. “Shigure…is a Lazarus made from Yahiro’s cells…” Ayaho frowned in despair. Beside Suria, Ayaho had the deepest link with Shigure. She’d realized that Shigure and Yahiro had to have some sort of connection, but she hadn’t thought he could be a copy. The shock was considerable. Shigure stayed on the ground after his rampage, groaning weakly. The three underworld sentries had descended and surrounded him. As though he was a sacrifice for the angels. Suria glared coldly at Shigure where he lay at her feet before she looked at Iroha. “Yes. Shigure Shindou’s and Yahiro Narusawa’s biological data are one and the same. They both have the right to receive Avaritia’s blessing. Which means that Shigure Shindou can become the Ouroboros.” “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense! They’re different people! That doesn’t change just because they came from the same cells!” Iroha argued fervently. Even with the same cellular makeup, they had individual wills and experiences—they were not the same. “Indeed, so long as Yahiro Narusawa is the Ouroboros, Shigure Shindou cannot become it.” Suria plainly agreed with her argument, but the look on her face was cruel. “The solution is simple: Shigure Shindou must steal the right from Yahiro Narusawa.” “Steal?! How—?!” “Ah, I get it.” Giuli cut Iroha off. “What do you get?!” Iroha glared at her, still holding Yahiro’s cold body close. “Yahiro has been injured time and time again. He’s sometimes lost one or two limbs… Even had half his body blown off,” Rosé replied instead. Iroha grimaced. Yahiro was injured at this very moment, nearly dying. “I mean, yeah…” “But even when ripped apart, Yahiro did not regenerate into two people.” “It’d be scary as hell if he did!” “But who or what decides which parts of Yahiro’s body are restored and which parts decay?” “Huh…?” Iroha was baffled by Rosé’s question. Now that she pointed it out, Iroha agreed that was strange. The Lazarus could revive from even one remaining cell—but where was their soul then? “That’s it… The dragon factor…,” Zen muttered. Iroha blinked in confusion. “The dragon factor?” “Yes, that must be it. The cell with the biggest volume of dragon factor becomes the core to regenerate from.” “That’s, um, a pretty sloppy call, don’t you think?” Rosé nodded to Iroha’s confused remark. “And the underworld sentries took advantage of it.” “What?” “Shigure Shindou’s body is part of Yahiro’s body. Which means, if Shigure’s dragon factor went above Yahiro’s, even for a moment, he becomes the main one. Isn’t that right, underworld sentry?” Rosé asked Suria. Suria’s expression barely changed, but her lips twisted up ever so slightly in derision. “Vanagloria’s Relict Regalia in Ayaho Sashou’s possession, Lazarus Zen Sagara’s Gram, and the Kotofutsu-no-Mitama… With the great volume of dragon factor he absorbed from them, Shigure Shindou’s reserves surpassed Yahiro Narusawa’s. As a result, Iroha Mamana… Your blessings switched over to Shigure Shindou.” “You changed my bias without me realizing?!” “Bias?” Suria furrowed her brow. Iroha wasn’t expecting a retort from her. “Then Yahiro…” “He is but a helpless human. And he doesn’t seem to have much time left.” “No…” Iroha teared up as she held Yahiro’s unconscious body tight. He was so close to her, yet her blessing wouldn’t reach him. His dragon medium was powerless to help him escape death. The fact devastated her. Gave her a sense of despair she hadn’t felt since meeting him. The Ouroboros’s medium had the power to change the world, yet Iroha couldn’t save the person she loved right before her eyes. “What will happen to Shigure?” Ayaho forced herself to ask while looking at the depressed Iroha. Suria’s response was short. “Nothing.” “Huh…?” “We will do nothing more. There is no need. Shigure Shindou is the Lazarus Eater… He was born only to seal the Ouroboros’s power,” Suria told her with pity. “His body is not only Yahiro Narusawa’s copy but a nameless angel’s as well. As a servant of the underworld sentries, he cannot oppose our orders. We will take him and seal him. And that will be the end.” “The… end…,” Iroha mumbled in stupefaction while Ayaho was at a loss for words. Suria smiled with satisfaction. The underworld sentry had no reason to tell them everything, and yet she did. Not out of kindness, but to please herself. She was finally free from the centuries-long, perhaps millennia-long, duty. She was high on that sense of freedom. “Sealing the Ouroboros means the underworld will lose his blessing. In other words, it will be as though the world dragon’s life has reached its end.” “And…the world will end…?” “Correct.” Suria responded to Iroha’s weak question with a smile of victory. Then she looked at the traitorous fallen angel. “You lost, Elimiel. Your efforts to protect Yahiro Narusawa ended in vain. We have completed our job.” “…No, Suria Almiron. It was not in vain.” The habit-clad fallen angel chuckled lowly. She narrowed her eyes in euphoria and stared back at Suria, who appeared confused. “You are a brilliant underworld sentry. You doubted not the Heavenly and kept loyal to your programming. And because of that, your actions were predictable.” “What are you getting at, Elimiel?” “I knew.” Ellie looked at all three sentries. “The moment Yahiro Narusawa became an irregular Ouroboros, I knew you would try to seal him. So I prepared the Lazarus Eater as a tool. Ah, but if I hadn’t ‘fallen,’ you would not have used it. Because you hated me. You didn’t trust me.” Iroha stared in bafflement as Ellie giggled. She looked nothing like the scared and insecure girl Iroha knew. Her voice was as soft as always, but spite seeped through her words. “But once I fell, you could use the Lazarus Eater without reserve. I knew that would be the surest way.” Ellie pointed her sobered gaze at Shigure, between the three underworld sentries. Then she whispered. A strange word Iroha and the rest couldn’t understand. Like a spell, a keyword to boot something up. “Yes. I wanted you to use the Lazarus Eater. Thank you, Suria Almiron. Now my wish will come true!” Ellie’s grin was broad, showing her white teeth. Immediately, something changed in Shigure’s body. His eyes opened wide, and flames engulfed him. Scorching fire like lava covered his whole body like armor. A crimson armor reminiscent of dragon scales. Iroha knew this—it was the Goreclad Yahiro used. “Shigure Shindou?! What’s going on?!” “Suria Almiron. Loyal and foolish sentry. You did not realize that I, the fallen angel, cast a spell on the Lazarus Eater.” “A spell?” Suria looked at Ellie with fear. Even Suria, a fellow underworld sentry, could not understand what she meant. Ellie covered her grin with both hands, like a child whose prank had succeeded. “When harvesting the Lazarus’s cells, I planted a little trap. What one in this world would call a virus, or a Trojan horse.” Iroha and the rest watched in bewilderment as Shigure’s body transformed. His body grew larger and larger, into the shape of a monster. The same thing Yahiro had once gone through—draconization. The young man created from the body of a nameless angel and the cells of the Lazarus was being sacrificed to summon a crimson dragon. “The Lazarus Eater is not a tool meant to seal the Ouroboros. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s a sacrifice to materialize the world dragon.” Ellie’s smile widened further. The moment she discovered Yahiro Narusawa was an irregular Ouroboros, she had put a little spell into the Lazarus Eater created from Yahiro’s cells, then became a fallen angel and left the underworld sentries so they would not notice.