Across the world, at the top of Al’iksir’s Central Tower was an observation lounge encircled by three hundred and sixty degrees of glass. The Java Sea stretched out in every direction, and towards the south, one could make out the buildings of Jakarta’s harbor, the only sign of human life in the entire expanse.
“I was told Japan would be in this direction,” Ein muttered. She gazed out the window towards the northeast. “If it’s coming, it should be soon.”
Before departing, she had left Ijuin with a few words.
“The ninth Asura, Virochana, rules the sun and all that it sends forth as the King of Dawn. Its Replicant, the one who stands at its side, is the clone of the Fire Bloodline’s liege—the Sun King. Together, they defend the Avalo satellite, itself an extension of the Mark IX that operates by way of a solar furnace. Although impossible to others, I believe that you may be able to sense Avalo’s resplendence with your nanomachines.”
“The key of Perfect Wisdom will guide your prayers to the astral heavens.”
“Beseech Avalo’s favor in the name of my sworn companions—Rudra of the wind and the Dragon King Vritra.”
Commlinks only worked within a range of a few kilometers. Unlike the electromagnetic waves typical cell phones used, resonance between nanofactors was impossible over larger distances. Those few nano-augmented individuals who had manifested their abilities to an appropriate level, however, could communicate with Avalo directly—thirty-six thousand kilometers beyond the clouds. This, to a lesser degree, was essentially what Ein and the Replicants did to download and provide Gospel Codes to the Asura Frames.
Through this process, as long as they were sufficiently awakened to their nano-abilities, one could potentially use Avalo as a medium to transmit data across a much wider range, much like a satellite phone. All the Mark III and VI would need were the satellite’s coordinates to establish a link.
“Yu and Natsuki must keep their minds focused on the battle. So the role falls to you, Ijuin. This, you must do.”
And so Ein waited. A battle was underway in Tokushima, and they could need her at any moment.
“Lady Ein!” At last, the commlink from afar came. “Three and Natsuki are gettin’ slammed out there! Both Frames are already connected to Avalo, so just waiting on you!”
“Well done, Ijuin!” Ein replied.
They didn’t need her, necessarily. Not even the Doomsday Book required her presence. But Asura Frames were limited to carrying only four onboard Gospel Codes at a time, and they lacked the disposition for the kind of arcane formulation that the holy blood of elvish royalty so excelled at. An artificial god of destruction was, after all, still a man-made machine.
Indeed, the Wheel of Orison’s truest miracles were those born of the empowering hymns spoken by a scion of the old bloodlines.
—O Traveler. Heed me, O Traveler,
—Wanderer of the realm and distances vast,
—Rejoice, O Siddha. The awakening has begun.
“We got it, Three!”
“Ein’s Gospel Code! Now’s our chance for a counterattack!”
The two Devicers had been backed into a corner—Yu by the twisters that now numbered over three hundred, and Natsuki by the blue dragon that had, for the high schooler’s first time ever, stretched her to her limits. But with Ein’s voice reaching them from across the world, their minds became one.
On Rudra’s belt and at the ferrule of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade were relics with the potential to unleash an unlimited amount of magical and electrical energy. And they had begun to turn with ever-increasing velocity.
“Rudra! Call your knight once more!” Yu shouted. “Grant it the power it needs to run wild!”
“Let’s pull out a trick of our own, Vritra!” cried Natsuki.
Yu willed the Frame to deliver energy to the windbeast, still bound by the glowing trinities. Meanwhile, Natsuki distanced herself from the dragon and stared it down while she hovered with the guandao in hand.
The drake circled her slowly, searching for an opening to strike. It wouldn’t find it, though, because Natsuki had surrounded herself completely with the Mark VI’s defense field. The faintly gleaming sphere was impenetrable, even to the dragon’s fangs and claws, but that included her own blade. As long as the field was up, Natsuki couldn’t go on the offensive.
She gripped the Green Dragon’s shaft. As she did so, Ein’s Gospel Code from all the way in Indonesia echoed in her ears. Resonating with her nanofactors.
—No earth nor heaven upon which to stand.
—Joy, as fleeting as the life and dharma for which we exist.
—Hark, for the Yuan’s sword is but a lightning’s shade when it sunders the spring breeze.
These hauntingly stirring phrases were but the prelude to annihilation.
“Let’s go!” Natsuki shouted. “Time to show off our first Doomsday Book, Vritra! Chapter one, Draco Blade!”
Suddenly, the force field surrounding her lit up like a flame, shining so brightly that it made the dim gleam from before seem like a fading cinder in comparison. Natsuki thrust out the guandao and propelled herself forward, barrier and all. Drawing a trail of light behind her like a comet, she streaked through the air before colliding with the dragon and burying herself into the beast’s gut as if she were trying to bore through it. Her target was paralyzed.
With a great roar, Natsuki plunged Vritra’s gruesome blade forward. Where the barrier should have impeded her attack, a tiny slit opened, and the guandao fit right through. She felt the edge of her weapon pierce flesh.
“Now!” she yelled.
Natsuki, shining with her force field like a shooting star, continued her charge. Pushing. Gouging. Forcing the blue dragon along at the head of the nucleus. Until finally, she burst through the beast, goring a hole from stomach to spine.
“Not done yet!”
Even after the dragon was slain, Natsuki didn’t pause for a second. She shifted her trajectory straight to the portal-keep. The eight cloud giants fell as the dragon did, and Natsuki swiftly left each of their impaled corpses behind in the tail of her comet of death.
But before Natsuki’s assault had even begun, Rudra’s knight was beginning to stir in its bindings. Infused with the wind Asura’s rapidly spiking energy, the windbeast shattered its radiant shackles.
The beast roared, and as it lept, the winds surged in its wake. Rudra’s servant swirled into a violent tornado, a gusting and unstoppable whirlwind of air that swallowed the smaller twisters whole. The very same spellbound cyclones that had been on Yu’s heels the entire battle.