That’s right; I’d wanted to find that sky again. To be ten thousand meters up, working as a certain person’s assistant and saving people. So that day, Nagisa had met me “for the first time” again when I’d been unable to haul myself out of that cold bath.
“That’s why, this time, I’m sure things will also work out…”
“Yeah. I’m all right now,” I told her.
Noches’s eyes went wide for a moment, then she smiled. “I see. May I speed up, then?”
“Sure. Floor it.”
About an hour later, we reached our destination. It was a small island in a bay on the west coast of France, where an enormous abbey towered like a castle. Since it was a tourist spot, there was a land route that made it possible to get across to the island by car, even at high tide. Right now, though, there were no residents here, let alone tourists.
An enormous monument hung in the sky, gleaming silver, in place of the moon. The System. This world’s mechanical overseer, the device that was loaded with the Akashic records. And right beside it was a floating human figure with wings longer than it was tall.
“Abel.”
That thing wasn’t human anymore. Now that he’d absorbed my Singularity ability, the Akashic records were completely at his mercy. He was a god, or a devil.
At this point, I knew why he’d created those monsters, the Seven Deadly Sins. Abel was the physical embodiment of human malice—the Original Sin.
“The Great Cataclysm,” Noches murmured. She’d gotten out of the car and was standing beside me, looking up at Abel.
“I’m gonna have to clean up my own mess here, huh?”
I’d created this monster. When offered a choice between the girl and the world, I’d picked the former. In order to retake Siesta’s will, I’d tossed away the power of the Singularity and given it to a great evil. I had to step up and take responsibility for that.
“You aren’t the only one who’ll be fighting. Look.”
Noches pointed at something. Two motorcycles were racing down a distant hill road.
“It’s the Assassin and the Enforcer,” she murmured, her eyes better than any human’s. Ms. Fuubi and Ookami both had scores to settle with Abel. Right now, they seemed to be distracting him or maybe drawing his attacks. The System was blinking an ominous purple and raining down clustered laser beams as if it were tracking them.
“And there’s another.” Noches narrowed her eyes. A human silhouette was up on the abbey’s roof. Before long, the ricocheting beams from the System started to target that figure as well, but when the black smoke cleared, he was standing there unscathed.
“It appears to be Full-Face the Hero.”
“…Yeah. I think I met him at a Federal Council once.”
That said, we’d never spoken. Had he been involved in a series of tales I’d known nothing about?
Just then, lightning raced across the dark sky, and Noches shouted, “Get down!” Was Abel actually controlling the weather with programs, too? Thin tendrils of lightning struck at us, writhing like snakes.
“We may need another large Fair-Weather Doll.”
Something repelled the lightning. I’d squeezed my eyes shut, but I could sense that bright light even through my closed eyelids.
When I opened my eyes, Rill was floating in space in a carriage that looked like something out of a children’s story, holding a staff cloaked in aqua-blue light. Had the wheelchair she’d been in a second ago transformed? Was it one of Stephen’s inventions? No, this was—
“…Oh. It ended up looking fancier than Rill meant it to.” Rill smiled wryly, gazing down at the carriage. “Still, it’s what an anime magical girl would use, isn’t it? She was that way, too.” And with that, Rill took flight. “Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, and Gluttony. Our wills are on the side of justice, and they won’t lose to mere facets of human malice.”
The Magical Girl’s carriage soared through the air, using blinding beams of light to strike back at the lightning tracking her. It really wasn’t the Singularity who saved the world; it was the Tuners of justice.
“Does this mean the enemy isn’t the only one who can make use of the System?” Noches asked, looking up at Rill. Currently, the peninsula over which the System was floating was the control tower, and all the Tuners could use their wills to draw on the System’s power.
In no time at all, Rill had swept away all the attacks from the sky. Her carriage descended to the ground, then vanished as if a spell had been broken. I ran toward Rill to help her stand—but quickly realized there was no need.
“My, that takes Rill back. Standing on her own two feet.”
Rill’s feet were firmly planted on the ground.
The best doctor in the world had told her she’d never stand or walk again, yet here she was, standing tall without anyone’s help.
It was a temporary miracle worked by the Akashic records.
“Rill…”
“Why do you look like you’re about to cry?” Rill asked, glancing at my face. She gave a wry smile, then turned to confront the enemy in the sky again. “Leave this to Rill and the others. You head for the abbey, Kimihiko.”
Stephen had told me he’d had the Men in Black bring Siesta’s sleeping body to the abbey. It was clear what I had to do.
“Thank you, Kimihiko. You made Rill an ally of justice again.”
“…What are you talking about? You’ve always been the Magical Girl and my partner.”
Reloaded grinned. Then she took off running and vaulted into the air, racing through the sky.
She wasn’t using magic or science but the will of justice.
“Noches, take care of Nagisa until I get back.”
“I will. Stay safe.”
All alone, I started for the abbey to wake up the sleeping beauty.