“Chk!”
Seeing us seeing him in his true form, the mayor clicked his tongue.
Extending a finger, he gave a signal to the one remaining mobile infantryman.
He detached the box he had been carrying on his shoulder.
With no distinct markings, it looked like an average, everyday box.
The mayor sped to the front of the box. He pressed a button on the side. One side of the box lifted open like a door. At the same time, the parts folded up inside opened up at different places on the box, springing out all over the place.
The mayor crawled into the box.
The door closed.
The box was really a body. The parts that had emerged formed arms, legs, and a head.
I had never seen anything like this before.
A compacted powered suit.
That made sense. The owner’s body wouldn’t fit into any normal powered suit, but as the mayor he could.
He began to move.
He picked up the hand blaster that had fallen next to Jeff. Jeff had tossed it away when he was writhing in agony. The mayor must have noticed that. It was his in the first place, so there wasn’t anything we could say.
The open area became as still as death. At a surprising moment, considering the circumstances, all movement and talking ceased at the same time.
Of course, this included Yuri and me, as well as the mayor and master, and also Mugi and Yaksha. All perfectly still.
Bound together by this weird coincidence, I held my breath for a moment.
A strange air pocket in the midst of battle.
The mayor immediately took advantage. He wasn’t only armed with a beam cannon and a hand blaster. He was also equipped with mini missiles, hyper-grenades, and other weapons of mass destruction. This extreme hardware could be expected of the mayor’s suit, and the mobile infantryman who carried it all this time was also specially equipped.
The mayor went all in on this coincidental moment in time.
Firing everything at once, he was trying to destroy the temple and everything in it, including the master and us.
It would take more than a little luck for us to exit this situation victorious, much less alive. We were usually able to push fate a bit to help us through. And if our luck never arrived, we would have to take on the master without any weapons.
Suddenly both powered suits were surrounded by bright red flames.
At first I thought this was a suicide attack, but that wasn’t the case.
The missiles fired in a constant stream and the hyper-grenades shot out in every direction. With no aiming or target, they shot off every weapon they had, including their beam cannons, laser rifles, and hand blasters.
The dim open space lit up with bright beams flying all over the place.
It looked a lot like the master when he lit himself up.
The missiles and hyper-grenades exploded randomly around the wide-open space.
There was a break in the emptiness.
Yaksha moved, and when the master turned his body, Mugi took off running.
And then there was us.
And then there was us with nothing we could do.
The floor in front of us rumbled up with a tremendous roar.
Yuri and I grabbed each other’s hands for support.
And all we had were these toy ray guns for defense. We both struck pissed-off poses, as that would do about as much good as anything else.
Mugi rushed to us.
He covered us with his body.
The blasts and falling scrap and embers continued on.
Mugi protected us from the raining debris.
This was no single tiny explosion.
A series of explosions went off here and there. Some blasted into each other, creating small tornados.
Even Mugi couldn’t withstand the battering.
“Kyaa!”
Mugi, Yuri, and I were pulled together into the air. Wrenched from our place, our bodies floated through the air. Dangling like a trio of rag dolls, we were thrown to the rear of the temple.
In other words, toward the darkness.
The darkness that only those chosen by Boralura could enter.
If we couldn’t enter we would be slammed against the darkness and flattened.
No! Somebody help!
I wanted to scream, but even if I could, the words wouldn’t come out in time.
The darkness grew closer.
The fact I wasn’t alone was a little reassurance. To reduce the small chance that Yuri alone would get away, I gripped her hand even tighter.
The darkness was right in front of us.
We slammed into it.
Swoosh.
And went through.
Huh? There wasn’t really time to wonder.
We began to fall down head over heels.
Into the ebony darkness.
There was nothing above or below, or anywhere in between, but there was little question about the sensation of falling.
“Hyaa!”
Yuri and I both screamed together.
The darkness didn’t have a bottom. Falling in a place that didn’t have a bottom meant that we would be falling forever.
Don’t even joke about something like that.
I don’t care how or where, but make it stop.
That was the only wish I made.
And that’s when.
My wish came true.
It was that sudden.
In the middle of the black, we immediately stopped.
But it wasn’t as if we had landed on the ground somewhere. It was as if we were suddenly weightless. We weren’t falling, and at the same time we weren’t rising, either. We were simply floating. Naturally, the “we” included Yuri and Mugi. I knew this because I was still holding on to Yuri’s hand and I could feel Mugi’s tail wrapped around my leg.
What was really strange was that even though we were surrounded in darkness, I could clearly see Yuri and Mugi. It wasn’t as if we were glowing or anything, so why was it we could see each other?
It’s because you aren’t seeing their bodies. You are seeing their spirits. Someone gently told me the answer.
Someone?
Who?
I quickly looked all around. But besides Mugi and Yuri, no one else was around. The darkness around us seemed to spread even farther, though.
We are Boralura.
Again, I could hear a voice resonate.
And they say they are Boralura!
Wasn’t expecting that!
You have nothing to fear.
Boralura spoke again.
You have made contact with Boralura. You have entered the field, and your physical bodies have been set in the contact area.
“When you say ‘field,’ do you mean the black egg?” I asked.
Yes.
“Then that means we are in the egg right now?”
This is such an ambiguous state, but in simple terms you are not mistaken.
“Then why don’t you just say she is right?” asked Yuri sourly. Birdbrain! Back off! There’s no need to throw in unnecessary comments. What are you going to do if Boralura decides to get angry?
We do not get angry.
Boralura spoke again. Hoo boy. Everything I was thinking was heard. Everything.
“You are the different life-form from another dimension that contacted the master, right?” asked Yuri