“My name! Is Dill Steel-Link! Killer of Reincarnators!”
At the same time as Dill’s fight inside the observation tower began, Halberd and the others toppled the chain-link fence and ran to engage the Plantation security troops in battle.
“You’re from the Project, aren’t you? I thought you might show up around this time, you damned war criminals.” Reincarnators emerged wearing silver fireproof suits and began to pompously spout abuse at the Project members. “What is a band of wayward criminals with barbarians as business associates doing here? This land belongs to the Nikko Group! A first-section-listed company on the Tower Capital Stock Exchange, one of the honored few! And we at Fireworks Corp, tasked with their security, have permission to slaughter any intruders without warning! If you don’t want to meet a painful end...”
“Listen! People of Terea!” The speaker system in the observation tower rang out at full volume. The owner of this voice was, naturally, Dill Steel-Link.
“That’s impossible! Are you telling me they’ve already taken control...of a first-section company?!”
“The Ex Machina, who reign over the wide heavens, certainly didn’t leave you all to die here! My name is Aegisthus! Hero of the Holy War, Aegisthus the divine shield, has hastened here to liberate his Terean brethren!”
A commotion rose in the laborers’ quarters. An override of all locks in the facility, to be used in case of fire or other such emergencies, had been triggered in the control tower.
“This is bad... The barbarians’ cells are open! To think our fire safety procedures would backfire on us! Hurry up, people! Restore corporate governance to this facility! You, and you—take care of suppression of their quarters! I will...”
“You can do me the favor of being my opponent.” In front of the security leader, still clad in his fire suit, stood Repeater with her arms crossed. With the man before her fuming, Repeater raised her fists to fight in an almost graceful motion, then beckoned to the man with her outstretched left hand, taunting him.
“Oh...does a wayward criminal...dare to think that she can win against an elite, handpicked Flinter such as me?!” The security chief let his Skill burst forth all over his body, surrounding himself with ever expanding flames. Had he not been wearing his fireproof suit, his own body would have been at risk, given the intensity of the heat. The chief, who was now transformed into a searing humanoid inferno, reached toward Repeater to burn her to cinders. However...
“Too slow.” Right, right, left, right, left, right.
“Ack...! Huh...?!” The flame-wreathed security chief was sent flying back after receiving a high-speed flurry of six blows. The velocity of Repeater’s fists was such that they snuffed out his flames. The security chief slammed into the ground headfirst, knocked out cold.
“This is the difference that real-world experience makes, you self-styled ‘elite’... You weren’t even worth taking out my anger on.” Repeater shook her arm to extinguish the minuscule fire that had flared up on her fist and turned her back to the unconscious man.
✦ ✦ ✦
The uprising grew, and soon a number of other observation towers had fallen under Terean control. Dill turned to head toward his original objective, the hangar.
“So you’re finally here, noble hero.”
A number of Dill’s allies had already arrived. Starlight, who came to greet him, indicated a device situated inside the hangar. “We decided to ally with you because we were afraid of ending up like that.” Starlight pointed at a cylindrical tank. It was filled with a fluorescent blue fluid, inside which floated several spherical objects. Their size was just about the same as...a human head...
Indeed, the things that floated in the tank were none other than actual human heads.
“This is a teleportation device that can be maintained for long periods of time, at a large scale, and over long distances... Didn’t you think it seemed too good to be true? Well, you would be right. This machine is kept running by cutting off the heads of Jumpers like me while they are still alive and forcing them to discharge their Skills through electrical stimulation. Because the maintenance cost is insanely high, this method of large-scale teleportation has not proliferated, so railway companies like NR can still make a decent living.”
The Reincarnators from the Project operated the machine, preparing for their passage through the long-range portal. Starlight left everything to do with the device to his subordinates and simply stood beside Dill.
“You needn’t stand so stiffly, noble hero. In any case, it will take time to open the portal for our passage. Five minutes...maybe ten... Since we have the time, I think I might have a smoke. Would you like one too? Ah...right. Understandable. You’ve got kids, after all.”
After tossing the cigarette he had offered to Dill back into the sparkling lining of his coat, he exhaled smoke from his own with obvious pleasure. “Well, then...how about we take a moment to reminisce? I don’t want you to be bored, noble hero... Have you ever killed someone from your own country?”
Dill neither affirmed nor denied Starlight’s question.
“...I see.” Starlight went on. “I never have. Before I reincarnated, I was in an organization similar to what you might call an army. Once, I was ordered to do it, you see. Ordered to fire upon civilians... That wasn’t the sort of thing that organization should be doing, but...well, those were strange times. It was obvious that I should refuse, and I did. That was how I ended up drafted into the Project, but I have no regrets.”
Starlight took his cigarette, shorter now, and hurled it into the interior of his camouflage coat, where a teleportation gate sparkled. “I’d say that the one advantage of becoming a Reincarnator is that I no longer need to carry an ashtray around. By the way...”
Dill drew his sword and pointed the tip at Starlight’s neck. At the same time, Starlight started to draw his tonfa and dagger from inside his coat, but wasn’t able to do so fast enough. He ended up in a half-hearted battle stance. They had started moving at the same time, but Dill was faster by far.
With a blade thrust against his throat, Starlight smiled wryly as he leaned back a little. “I expected as much from you, noble hero. I was just about to say, ‘By the way, don’t you find it odd that everyone here besides you is a Reincarnator?’”
“There’s nothing odd about it. I never trusted you people from the beginning.” Dill glared at Starlight with his rust-colored eyes. Starlight’s throat slowly moved up and down. And then, an unexpected voice interrupted.
“Manager?! What are you doing?!” It was one of Starlight’s subordinates—all of them turned to face Starlight and Dill. They readied their guns and pointed them—at Starlight.
Even Dill was shocked.
“That’s right. I acted alone. We didn’t plan this. The fact that no one else from Redguard was here besides you, noble hero, was merely a coincidence. I did indirectly ask them to bring up the rear, though.”
“Tell me why. I’m willing to hear you out.”
“I’m grateful, but...nah, it’s no big deal. I mean, well, I just happened to... I suddenly got scared, I guess. I started to wonder if it would really be all right to take you to the Tower Capital.”
“You’re chickening out now, after coming all this way?!” cried Spiralblade, one of Starlight’s subordinates, raising her voice in anger and grabbing a hold of him. “Stand aside, Steel-Link! It’s up to Reincarnators to deal with a Reincarnator’s crime! We came with you because we believed in you. You took us, a gathering of complete scum, and trained us, gave us a sense of order, and turned us into soldiers! Are you really going to spoil this whole operation based on a whim? That’s not how you taught us to act!” The massive chainsaw Spiralblade levitated with her psychokinesis spun viciously for a moment right next to Starlight’s neck. Sparks scorched Starlight’s cheek, but he did not flinch, simply staring back at Spiralblade coldly.
“That’s right, Ryoko. This is just a whim... The moment I saw the Tereans rallied by Steel-Link overthrow the forces of Fireworks, I realized that I had underestimated the man. Taking him to the Tower Capital would be worse than leaving that crazed Yuujin to his rampage. I don’t have a firm basis for thinking this, I suppose—it’s just a hunch. If you understand, take your hands off me. Do you need me to teach you some manners again?”
“You were good enough to teach us that in the army—and that means we don’t respond to such threats or violence! You’re not our boss anymore—you’re just a traitor! I think I’ll cut off that head of yours right now!”
Starlight and Spiralblade glared at one another. The doors to the hangar then opened, and the men of the Halberd Brigade, along with the other Reincarnators who had lagged behind, finally showed their faces. None of them could quite grasp the situation, and an ominous tension took hold of the Terean forces and the Reincarnators.