Start About six months earlier… After she met Nono Hoshizaki, Momo came up with a plan to save both Akari and Menou. “Nono Hoshizaki prophesied that my darling is going to hand over her own body to save Akari.” Menou would prioritize saving Akari, that much was clear. If Momo trampled on her wishes to save Menou and sacrifice Akari, Menou would only be hurt. As much as it pained her, Momo was willing to acknowledge the likelihood of that prediction. “So if I save both of them, I don’t think she’d have any objections.” “Oho, I see.” The person Momo was consulting with was the Primary Triad conjured soldier, Ability Control. When she followed Nono Hoshizaki’s prophecy and came to the center of the northern continent, she found a single conjured soldier who had slipped out of a hole in the White Night barrier around the Mechanical Society. She took the fantastical form of a beautiful blue butterfly. The butterfly was around the same size as a human, speaking in a mechanical tone. “So what does that have to do with me?” Abbie had already explained that she wanted a homeland. She’d sensed the birth of the “little sister” who would be a necessary component to achieve that dream and left the Mechanical Society as fast as possible to jump into the world where humans lived. “If you help me save Akari, I’ll help you. First off, I’d like to use you as a hiding place for this horrid girl.” “I’m not opposed to helping you, but do you know where this ‘Menou’ person of yours is right now?” “She left the holy land…so she should be right around here, in fact. But will you be able to find her? It’s not easy to track someone down in the middle of a city.” “If I get within a certain range, I’ll be able to sense her. Your big sis here has special talents.” Momo produced a map and pointed at a certain town. If she knew Menou, which of course she did, then Abbie should have been able to find her there. “What do you think of Nono Hoshizaki’s predictions?” “I’d say they’re pretty solid. I did sense the seed of the perpetual motion machine, just like she said.” Nono Hoshizaki had given Momo information about what would happen in the near future. “The only problem is, we’ll need a ceremonial hall that can affect the whole Mechanical Society.” From what Momo knew, Abbie’s hopes of transferring a whole world using a perpetual motion machine sounded rather ambitious. “I do have a lead on one ceremonial conjuring user, actually.” “Really…?” She meant Hooseyard. Momo could tell that she was skilled in ceremonial conjurings to an almost freakish degree. Last Momo heard, Hooseyard had become an Inquisitor chasing Menou around with Michele. If Momo met up with them and steered them in the right direction, she could match the timing with Abbie and arrange for a ceremonial hall to be made in the Mechanical Society. “I’ll lead them into the Mechanical Society and nudge them into making a ceremonial hall. In exchange, there’s something I want you to provide for me.” Momo told Abbie what she needed to free Akari’s body from the erosion of the Sword of Salt. “Hmm, let’s see… If you give me enough time to analyze the person who’ll be using it, I could build that, sure.” Abbie took on Momo’s request easily enough. Each of them had a connection that the other needed. Annoying as it was, Nono Hoshizaki had probably arranged things this way on purpose. “Let’s make a deal, Ability Control.” “Sure. I’m counting on you, Momo.” Thus, Momo and Abbie formed an alliance for the sake of what was most important to each of them. Victory. Momo clenched her fist in satisfaction. Regression was automatically activated by Menou’s death. Momo’s only path to victory had been to wear her down while taking care not to kill her. But Momo knew this wasn’t the end. “…I lost, didn’t I?” Lying on her back, Menou had apparently regained consciousness already. “But it’s too late anyway.” Black was slowly seeping into the last tuft of hair that was still Menou’s natural color. The Suspension she fired at Momo must have hit her limit. Menou’s body was being consumed by the Pure Concept, with no way to stop it. “I see you still don’t understand that I refuse to let it be ‘too late.’” Momo made her move. First, her eyes fell on Akari Tokitou. Even though she was frozen in Time, her posture had collapsed. Menou and Akari had connected their souls through a mutual Guiding Force connection. The more Menou’s spirit wore away, the more Akari’s presence took over Menou and showed itself. Menou knew this and kept using the Pure Concept anyway. So she could hand her body over to Akari. A few words from Nono Hoshizaki had solidified Menou’s resolve to go through with this plan: “There is no way to undo the effects of the Sword of Salt.” When the holder of the Pure Concept of Star made this declaration, Menou gave up on saving Akari’s body. She decided to go through with the plan she’d prepared as a last resort: giving her own body over to Akari. But of course, Momo wouldn’t just stand by and let that happen. For Momo to save both Menou and Akari, she needed Menou to use up her memories to the point of becoming a Human Error. That was why she made sure Michele and Menou would fight, and why Momo then fought Menou herself. Still holding on to Menou’s arm, Momo took Akari’s hand. She became the connecting point between the two. Then Momo sent Guiding Force into both of them. Guiding Force: Connect (via: Momo)—Akari Tokitou—Spirit, Soul— A Guiding Force connection between people was a painful undertaking, akin to shaving one’s nerves down with a hand plane. This held true even between two people who had complete faith in each other, much less a pair like Momo and Akari. They barely trusted each other at all. “Just so you know, I still hate your guts…!” Momo gritted her teeth at the intense pain of the reaction. “But when it comes to the desire to save my darling…I know I can trust you more than anyone else, dammit!!” The Guiding Force connected. Momo pulled Akari’s spirit, which was in the process of transferring into Menou’s body, into her own body instead. The discomfort and distress of letting someone else’s spirit into herself was indescribable. “Wh-whateveeer…! This is nothing—compared to the nausea—of having to talk to you!!” Momo put all of her mental fortitude into surviving and harnessing the pain and chaos, which would drive a normal person mad in a matter of moments, and thrust all of it toward Akari’s body. It worked. The black faded out of Menou’s hair. Akari, who’d been starting to take over Menou, had returned to her own body. But they weren’t done yet. The Suspension that Akari had been under since the Sword of Salt was thrust into her was now broken. The Concept of Time dwelt within Menou, who had become a Human Error. As such, the Pure Concept didn’t need to protect Akari’s body anymore. The splintered blade in Akari’s chest began to eat into her. The salt transformation, which even the Pure Concept of Star holder, Nono, said was impossible to stop, had begun. Momo didn’t hesitate. She plunged her hand into Akari’s chest. If there was no way to stop it, all she had to do was make sure it ended with as little damage as possible. She broke through the skin with her fingers, dug into the flesh, and swiftly and certainly pulled out a piece of the girl’s heart, and the Sword of Salt along with it. Momo tossed the lump of flesh aside. It turned to salt in midair. While the salt transformation was absolute, if it was cut off from the rest of the would-be victim, it would only affect the part it was touching. The fragment of the Sword of Salt fell to the ground. The salt that had been Akari’s flesh scattered on the wind. The salification that was consuming Akari had stopped. But the wound that Momo dealt to Akari in the process was obviously fatal. She’d gouged out half of her heart. Blood was gushing forth from the gaping hole. There was no ordinary conjuring that could heal people’s wounds. The only exception was Pure Concepts, which Momo couldn’t use anyway. At this rate, the only difference was that Akari would die of blood loss instead of turning into salt. But even if it couldn’t heal, there was conjuring technology that could replace a lost part of the body. Momo retrieved a red Guiding vessel from her half-broken suitcase. It was the package she’d received right before Abbie launched the spirit conjuring on Michele. It was a Guiding vessel compatible with the human body—in this case, a heart. Compared to Guiding prosthetic limbs like Sahara’s, the functions of an artificial heart were extremely complex, and it was far more difficult to adapt them to a human body. In the case of this particular artificial heart, however, Momo was confident that there would be no problem. After all, it was created specifically for Akari. Over the course of six months, while Akari’s body was in Abbie’s care, the conjured soldier had analyzed it and fine-tuned this artificial heart to ensure that it would match her body perfectly. Now Momo thrust it into the gaping wound in Akari’s chest. The Primary Color heart built just for Akari absorbed the blood that was gushing out of her and conformed itself to the missing area. It fused with the damaged remains of her real heart and began beating just as true, linking up with her blood vessels and circulating the blood to keep Akari alive. Since Momo had originally intended to pull out the entire heart, the surplus began to rebuild Akari’s flesh and bones. Momo breathed a sigh of relief. Akari would be fine now. It might leave a bit of scarring on her chest, but her life was no longer in danger. Momo placed the scripture Menou had been carrying onto Akari’s newly recovered chest. The scripture contained Akari’s memories, stored as information. Through their Guiding Force connection, Menou had access to Akari’s memories. Half a year ago, she’d transferred those memories into Momo’s scripture. It was insurance that whenever Akari eventually awoke, Momo could return her memories right away. Then Momo returned that scripture to Menou by way of Abbie in the City of Ruins. When she ascertained the state of Menou’s Pure Concept consumption, she concluded that the scripture would be safer in Menou’s hands since Regression would automatically activate to protect her and her belongings. The memories flowed from the scripture into Akari’s body. Now the issues of her body and her memories had both been resolved. She would wake up on her own soon enough. With her rescue of Akari complete, Momo turned around. This next move would be a gamble on Momo’s part. She had to bring Menou’s memories back. Otherwise, Menou would turn into a Human Error. No, even if it came to that, it would still be all right. As long as she could restore the memories after, she could still bring Menou back to normal. As Momo looked on anxiously, Guiding Light overflowed from Menou’s body. Her spirit had already worn away. Akari’s spirit and soul had returned to their original body through the Guiding Force connection Momo created, but the Pure Concept still dwelt in Menou’s body. Momo gazed at Menou in silent prayer. The Time that had buried all the components that made Menou herself began to form a conjuring to change the world, to align it with the time that its vessel wished for in the depths of her heart. Guiding Force: Connect—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]—Invoke [World Regression] The hands of a giant clock began to tick backwards, toward a certain special moment in the past. The World Regression was incomplete. Was it because the medium that invoked it wasn’t the body of a summoned Otherworlder? The reason wasn’t clear. There were any number of possibilities, but nothing would be more pointless than debating a phenomenon that would likely never happen again. The result was that the materials that would have turned into a Human Error were used up completely. Instead of turning into a Human Error, Menou’s body began to age rapidly. She lost the youthfulness of a girl in her teens, then soon passed a hundred years, until her body withered and only bones remained. In a matter of minutes, the burden of trying to turn back Time for the entire world used up all that remained of Menou, her body. But that few minutes’ Regression changed the world drastically. It was enough for thousand-year barriers that were cracking and reaching their limit after being exposed to World Regression over and over to finally break. The World Regression of just a few minutes, brought about by the failed Human Error known as Menou, was the final nail in the coffin for the two enormous barriers. It eradicated the White Night barrier that had isolated the east, dispersed the fog barrier that covered the sea to the far south, and then… Akari Tokitou opened her eyes. “Huh?” The last thing Akari remembered was meeting a girl she didn’t know. The girl’s face looked just like Menou’s, but her eyes were dark and, most of all, incredibly sad. That girl had erased Akari’s memories, she was fairly sure. Although she felt like she’d been dreaming until she woke up, those dreams receded like an outgoing tide. “Umm… Okay. I’m fine. I’m Akari Tokitou, from Nishibori High School, year one, class three. I remember.” Her memories were still intact. Except…she frowned. This place didn’t match her memories. She was obviously no longer in the land of salt. Her hand drifted to her chest. Her clothes were torn. Her skin felt a little strange. There was a scar there, as if a large wound had closed up. None of this felt familiar. Her missing memories made her anxious. Akari looked around and realized there was a familiar girl there amidst the unfamiliar landscape. “Momo?” She was an awful friend whom Akari had met in this world. Akari’s face brightened, reassured by the presence of someone she knew, and she ran over to Momo. Then she realized something was very wrong.
Chapter 149
13 min read