But that kind of precise control would be difficult for him. The Metatron Wings were, in the end, a borrowed weapon, and the awareness of the Archangel Metatron being their original owner was hard to erase from within him. This was no doubt the reason he didn’t have the same fine control over them as he did over the ten metal fins that were his own natural wings.
Given that in terms of the system, ownership of the Wings was with Metatron, it would be difficult to eliminate his feeling of them being on loan to him. But when he’d tried to return the Wings once, Metatron had responded that they were part of the link between the two of them, so they could not be given back.
But if they were embedded in the link, that meant the Metatron Wings were a circuit connecting him with Metatron, an antenna, and an amplifier. In which case, if he enhanced the link itself, that might just also strengthen his connection with the Wings.
An hour or so earlier, in the middle of the intense battle with the werewolf Urocyon, Haruyuki had heard the voice of the Archangel Metatron—Crow! Use my wings! That voice—no, command—hadn’t simply been him hearing things. Most likely, Metatron could detect Haruyuki’s status but was in a place that made it difficult for her to come running, like she had in the fight with Platinum Cavalier.
Metatron, Haruyuki called out to her in his mind through their link. This whole time, I’ve thought your wings—the Metatron Wings—were borrowed, and at some point, I’d have to give them back. But if they are proof of the link between me and you—the bond we have—then I never want to lose them.
Can I make these wings mine forever?
As Chiyuri stared at him in frustration, he waited another five seconds.
At this critical juncture, this is what you come to me with? I have said before that this is acceptable. It was you who refused to the union with them, servant.
He could just barely hear her exasperated voice, and he felt a faint warmth in the wings on his back and the pounding of a pulse.
Thmp, thmp. This pulse came into sync with his own. The heat in the wings came through his metal armor and penetrated the naked body of his avatar. Like a plant setting down roots.
“Haru, your top wings are…,” Chiyuri murmured.
He craned his head around to the limit of his range of motion. He obviously couldn’t see his back, but he did see a surge of milky-white light flowing out from the base to the tips of the Metatron Wings.
Turning his face forward again, Haruyuki closed his eye lenses. He pictured countless roots stretching out from the Wings and enveloping the virtual heart in his chest. These extremely thin roots tangled together in layers, melted into each other, and became one with his heart.
Thmp!
A noticeably stronger, hotter heartbeat pounded in the center of his avatar. At the same time, the ten metal fins and the four Metatron Wings above them fully deployed on their own with a waashp.
The weight of the Enhanced Armament he’d felt when he had the Metatron Wings equipped gradually faded. He couldn’t see it himself, but he could feel the four Wings fuse into two and then fuse with Silver Crow’s own wings. The white wave pulsing along his back flashed with an even more intense light.
As this light died down, the incandescent heat left his body, and he exhaled at length.
“…What’re my wings like now?” he asked, lifting his face.
“They’re like…” Chiyuri blinked a couple times. “At first, they were four on top and then ten below, growing separately. But now the top four are overlapping perfectly so they’re just two, and they’re stuck to the bottom ten. There’s six growing out of each side, twelve altogether. Although the wings on the very top have a kind of different shape.”
“Yeah…?” He opened his storage. The only Enhanced Armament he currently possessed was the Lucid Blade. When he hurriedly shifted to his abilities window, the weapon upgrade of his Aviation ability, which had been +4, had risen to +6. The Metatron Wings had apparently completely disappeared as an Enhanced Armament and been integrated as an ability. He would never again equip or remove the Wings.
When he thought about the fact that his Aviation had been enhanced by a factor of two level-up bonuses, he first felt fear rather than joy. But if he was going to fight the Drive Linkers, no matter how strong he got, it wouldn’t be enough. The reason he hadn’t used the Metatron Wings in normal duels up to that point was because he’d obtained them through the extremely irregular means of a loan from a Being, the Archangel Metatron. But as to whether or not those days spent challenging and being challenged to proper duels would ever return…
“C’mon, Haru. Don’t space out on me. Hurry up and do something about this rock.” Chiyuri tugged on his arm, dragging him back to the present. She was right. This was not the time to be stewing in his own thoughts.
Thanks, Metatron. He offered up his gratitude in his heart, and rather than words in return, he felt his head being patted gently.
He focused his mind on the top two of the now six pairs of twelve individual wings. Unlike before, he felt a clear connection with them, as though the network of his nerves stretched all the way to their tips.