As Accelerator blew away the white snow on the ground like a blast wave, he charged at the two angels. For just a moment, he considered which of the two, clashing their blades together, he should launch a preemptive strike on.
Whatever the case was, they were monsters with wings growing from their backs.
He had no responsibility to help, either.
In which case.
✦ ✦ ✦
Accelerator applied his reflection to purposely intervene between the two angels.
✦ ✦ ✦
A thunderous ba-bam!! rang out.
Of the two angels, his reflection didn’t work properly on the one flapping wings of water with a doll-like face. It was just like Vodyanoy and the others at the remains of the air base. He was definitely using his reflection ability, but the watery wings twisted and squished like candy, gouging out a forest nearby, ground and all, and flinging it into the air.
The rebound angle was shallow. If the angel pressed Accelerator any harder, it would hit him directly, too.
But his expression didn’t change. The other angel—the one that looked like a woman wearing glasses—his reflection worked on her wings just fine. Ignoring the angel, surprised almost like a human would be, Accelerator forcibly converted his attack vector on the angel wearing the glasses.
He converged it into a single point, then brutally slammed it into the water angel’s chest.
All sound disappeared.
Ignoring gravity, the angel’s body, which had been freely dancing through the air, shot over three hundred meters backward. The monster fell spectacularly, shooting across the surface while pulling up the ground underneath like an airplane crash.
The reason Accelerator had gone after the water angel first was simple.
His ability worked on one of them—and not on the other. It made sense to go for the more troublesome one first.
“You…are…?”
The angel wearing the glasses, who probably wielded a power of a sort even Accelerator could understand, stammered, sounding baffled.
In Japanese. Without any blurring like with Aiwass.
“You controlled my wings, made of an aggregate of AIM dispersion fields…?”
“I’m surprised a monster like you has a brain in there capable of having a serious Q and A.”
Accelerator opened his jacket and showed her the sheaf of parchment he had shoved into his inside pocket.
“Did this thing draw you here, too?”
“…?”
The scientific angel frowned, as though confused.
But then—
Whumm!! Something like a wall of pressure spread out over the area. It was like an invisible explosion—and it had a strange, unknowable killing intent. When he looked at ground zero of the immense negative emotions, more than a single human could ever output on their own, the knocked-away water angel was just getting up.
The snow disappeared.
All the white drifts in a five-hundred-square-meter range centered on the angel melted and turned into water.
Zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm-zm!!!!!! A huge amount of fluid was absorbed into the water angel. In the blink of an eye, its already enormous wings changed into something even more fiendish.
“How candid. Trying to introduce yourself?”
Accelerator closed his jacket and turned to face his adversary.
While standing side by side with the science angel, as it were.
“Um, I…”
“I’ll deal with you later,” said Accelerator, sounding bored. “Got no interest in Academy City–made stuff. I’m getting the feeling that other monster has the key I need to save the kid.”
He’d learned something from the initial clash: Both angels were monsters but not as strong as Aiwass.
It was obvious when it came to the science angel—his reflection and vector manipulation worked on her. Even with the unknown water angel, though, if he could blow it away using the science angel’s power, it was far from being Aiwass.
After all.
Aiwass never even left an opportunity to counterattack.
I can win.
It was a cynical method of judgment—but Accelerator knew it wasn’t wrong.
That was when it happened:
“…hbuiesdfosfnisadofhjohnvouazeswhfpiASNFcpiAENFpiANJvpidnkljndsigps…”
The water angel’s mouth writhed about.
Something was coming out. A small sound, hard to make out.
He didn’t know what country’s language that was in the first place, but…
“…sergvSCOPEhySETTING…”
A clear revolution occurred in Accelerator’s ears.
He felt like someone had shown him another painting buried inside a trompe l’oeil.
“DROPgrePREPARATION…djkuCOMPLETE”
This language.
Accelerator knew this language.
As he brought up his face in surprise, every one of the watery wing tips pointed up to the ominous night sky. Almost like a radio antenna. Almost like it was receiving a signal from the heavens.
And then.
Its voice, which had just become clear, said:
✦ ✦ ✦
“Command Eradicationdropping.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The night sky sparkled.
He didn’t have time to see why.
Tens of millions of destructive stones began to rain down over an area about two kilometers in radius.
Divine punishment, of the same nature as the power even he couldn’t fully reflect.
“?!”
He couldn’t react in time.
Dodge or block? Before he could think about it, the tempest of destruction slammed into him with all its brutality. He lost his concept of where the sky and the ground was. By the time he realized he’d taken a direct hit, his body had been flung through the air. He tried to alleviate the damage through vector manipulation, but the taste of blood crawled up from the bottom of his throat. Snow, dirt, and everything else whipped up and around, whiting out Accelerator’s vision.
“Gh…gah…agh?!”
When he slammed into the ground, his voice was harsh but broken. Breathing felt impossible. Using his ability, he controlled vectors to expel the blood accumulated in his throat all at once, finally regaining the ability to breathe.
You piece of shit…!! What the hell is this…?!
In his vision, now white with the risen snow, he saw one spot of color in front of him.
A blue light.
The symbol of destruction known as an archangel.
“…”
He saw the night sky once again taking on an uncanny glow.
It wasn’t over after that one volley. Whether it took five or ten, the water angel would continue to execute this until its target no longer moved.
You can…fuck right off…
Even as his body creaked and groaned, Accelerator slowly stood up.
He couldn’t afford to die here.
There was still something he needed to do.
He couldn’t afford to lose—not until he tore apart every single bit of the unfairness binding Last Order.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
Doesn’t matter if I can beat it on paper or not. As long as I have a reason to crush it, that’s all I need!
Boom!! went an explosion.
Manipulating the vectors of his leg forces, Accelerator dove straight at the monster’s blue light.
And then the water angel delivered more of its heartless words.
“WAVEkoTWO. ATTACKwagrCOMMENCINGwsPREPARATION. THIRTY SECONDiseUNTIL SECONDnvspERADICATION DROP”