Chapter 87

A_CARDINAL_ERROR.34 Kumokawa, Oumi, and Saflee all realized something was wrong. The new person who had shown up—Marianne Sringeneier—was dragging one leg behind her as if wounded, and she had a big scrap of gauze taped to one eye. It hurt just to look at her. But those things weren’t what drew the girls’ attention. No, it was the sheathed sword in her hand. That’s very bad, Kumokawa thought, not beating around the bush. She’d fought many opponents in Academy City who used strange, mysterious items or incomprehensible abilities. But that sword was so intimidating, so oppressive, that it terrified even her. As they stood at the foot of the mountain of vegetable containers, she audibly gulped. “…I don’t think we’re going to get out of this one by talking,” she said. “We’re in the danger zone now,” murmured Oumi. Though the ninja had beaten Marianne once before, she realized the sorcerer’s stats were now completely different than they had been before—all because of that sword. There was just something about it. Despite this, Oumi said, “It’s still shaped like a sword. It can only reach so far. We split up and throw off her aim. While she’s chasing one of us, the other two will get behind her for a surprise attack. We can still win.” “You mean we need throwing weapons? I’m terrible with those,” said Saflee with a smile. Her cheerfulness looked forced, but a little auto-suggestion could work wonders. Better than being petrified in fear. Kumokawa kept Marianne squarely in the center of her vision and Saflee in the corner of her eye. “What can you use?” she asked. “An Australian hunting tool. I’m not good enough to call it a martial art, though.” “A boomerang?” “No, simpler. A rope with a stone on each end. You throw the rope so that it spins. It’s for tangling up birds’ legs, but you can throw it at someone’s head, too.” “Centrifugal force, huh?” murmured Kumokawa. “…That should work well with my ability.” “What about you?” Saflee asked Oumi. Oumi twirled the garden spade kunai in her hand. “Guns and explosives made it to my country later on. So we’re very specialized in things like these. Not that they haven’t been rusting ever since firearms were introduced, of course.” They had a plan. No matter what their opponent came at them with, their first move would be to avoid being in Marianne’s range at all costs. It was a basic concept, to be sure, but managing your reach was the key to living through any fight. And ranged weapons would eventually bring Marianne down, no matter how weak or primitive they were. They could win. As long as they didn’t choose the wrong escape route—such as getting caught between her and the vegetable plant containers—they would have the advantage. At least, that was how they thought about it to force themselves to stay positive. But then Marianne said two words: “Loading ammo.” Casually, she brandished the golden sword, keeping it in its sheath. And that was all she needed to do to instantly crush any hope they had. Boom!!!!!!!! A flash of light came down from the heavens, plunging into Marianne’s golden sword. There was an explosion. The massive light centered on Marianne burst, sending a shock wave in every direction. The asphalt ground rattled strangely, and the vegetable plant containers—already unstable—began to collapse, as if the finishing blow had been delivered to them. The accumulated snow all whipped up into the air, then was scattered by the shock wave. It was all Kumokawa, Oumi, and Saflee could do to get their hands up to protect their own upper bodies. “Wh…what…?” The sky was distorted. The thick clouds responsible for the blizzard had blown away, yes. But that wasn’t all. Since the clouds had been blown away, a circle of clear sky was now peeking through. However, something about it was wrong. The sky should have been blue, but it was somehow blurred and damaged, like a TV screen riddled with white noise. It was as if that light had pierced the sky from another dimension. “What in the world…?” “I could explain, but you’re too dumb to understand it,” spat Marianne. She brandished the sheath overhead, and it spewed out bluish-white sparks. It was coming. Kumokawa, taken by a terrible—and terribly unidentifiable—premonition, immediately shouted to Oumi and Saflee. “Spread out! She’s still using a sword! Stick to the plan and throw off her aim—” She didn’t have time to finish the sentence. Using only her thumb on the sheath, Marianne gingerly pushed up the guard of the sword. By just a few centimeters. The horrible red and gold blade touched the outside air. That was all it did. There was no easy-to-understand attack, like that terrifying flash of light or a huge explosion they couldn’t do anything about. No. She just showed a few tiny centimeters of the blade. Ba-bump!!!!!! Without any forewarning, Oumi’s heart stopped. “Huh…?” Kumokawa, standing right next to her, had no idea what had just happened. All of a sudden, Oumi went completely limp. She started to sink down into the white snow. No blood loss, no broken bones, nothing obvious. She practically looked asleep—but in a negative-twenty-degree hellscape. In the cold, you could tell at a glance if someone was breathing from the white puffs of air coming from their mouth. Oumi clearly wasn’t breathing. She wasn’t alive. What…? She died? That quickly? That easily?! What happened? Poison or something? No, we’re upwind. She couldn’t have used a trick like that! Kumokawa heard a hard clink. The sound of Marianne once again moving her thumb to lock the sword back into its sheath. Then she brought her right arm straight out, holding the sheath out in front of her. Not even a word. Her thumb simply moved. It was about to reopen whatever horrible thing was locked inside the sheath. “Shit… Shit! I don’t know what’s going on, but for now, just hide some—” She found herself interrupted again. Because right at that moment, Saflee collapsed into the snow, her eyes rolling back. Her heart had stopped. A clear cause of death. Their lives, their very dignity, had been stripped from them ever so easily. A devil of a few centimeters. A red and gold blade peeking out from the sheath. “……” The soft clink rang oddly loud in Kumokawa’s ears. Without saying anything, Marianne resheathed the sword. She was beyond them. Far beyond them. They were in a different dimension now. Their strength, their wit, their tactics—none of them worked. This wasn’t even a proper battle. Marianne’s sword was too powerful for that. And then, without a word, the sorcerer pointed her blade at Maria Kumokawa. The sword was sheathed, and there was distance between them. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t “aiming” anything. But Kumokawa naturally felt like she was being targeted—like the tip of a blade was being held to her forehead. Like wires were wrapped around her spine, preventing her from moving. The clarity of it all, however, finally made her realize something. She’d figured it out. She knew why Oumi and Saflee’s hearts had stopped. She knew the cause. “…That sword didn’t do anything,” she murmured vaguely, eyes wide. Marianne hadn’t removed the blade from its sheath yet, but something was already eating away at her. And she just barely managed to put it into words. “It was just making us afraid. The very last thing we want to do is stand in front of that sword now that it’s unleashed its full power. It makes us think that if we have to face it anyway, we might as well just let our hearts stop right now.” “One hundred points.” This wasn’t the same kind of technique as Enshuu’s, who had tried to effectively elevate fear levels through logic. This was pure fear, welling up from something much more primitive—her instincts, her soul. She couldn’t use her mind to do anything about it. The terror was unavoidable. If she was intelligent enough to feel fear, then that fear would erase her very existence. That meant the sword had the ability to kill every last human on earth before it was even pulled from its sheath. What would happen, then, if it was fully drawn…? “All right, enough of that.” Marianne’s lips moved. She placed her thumb on the sword guard. “You’re the responsible for this. Time for you to die.” The sheath slid over the blade. There it was. The glimpse. The blade that made you think dying outright was less terrifying than the prospect of resisting it. Kumokawa was helpless. It was the very pinnacle of terror. She was helpless to put up even the smallest form of resistance, like running away or shutting her eyes. And then. Something clearly went wrong. “…Ah?” Kumokawa’s mind blurred. Her short-term memory was wiped. Brilliant colors leaped before her eyes. She lost her sense of up and down. She couldn’t feel heat or cold. She stood stock-still as everything mixed into one jumbled mess. And then she came to a realization. She didn’t know what had just happened, but the fact that she had questions meant she was still alive. The terror hadn’t stopped her heart without her knowing. For some reason, Marianne’s sword hadn’t activated. Actually, it wasn’t as if the sword itself had done anything to begin with. It was the fear it made you feel that forced you to give up on living. But that meant… Kumokawa’s mind had focused on something else. Not the sword. Something even more abnormal. That was why the grip of terror on her had weakened. Why her fear had dulled and why she’d avoided death. But what was it? The cause was right next to Marianne. Bkk-wnnnngggg!!!!!!! In what should have been empty space, a black fissure appeared. And from out of it… …a boy’s right fist burst through. “Damn it!” For the first time, Marianne was acting differently. Clear panic was in her eyes—despite the sword being in her possession. She was scared even with that sword. The boy had clasped his hand over Marianne’s right wrist; maybe she was worried about her weapon being stolen. She violently shook off his hand, then took a big jump back to get away from the black fissure. “…I finally caught up.” She heard the boy’s voice from the fissure. He balled his hand into a clear, tight fist. “I might have been a little late. It might have taken me too long to get inside. But I’ve got you now, Gremlin. The distortion in space you created gave away coordinates. And now that I’m here, you won’t have your way anymore. Because this right hand of mine has the power to destroy the things you and your friends control.” The black fissure expanded. Something peeked out from within. “This is where the line is. This is the furthest point of the world your rules dominate.” It expanded. Expanded. Expanded. As if to reject something. As if to overturn a basic premise. “Let me tell you something…” A single step out of that wide-open fissure. And into this world. “…from this point on, you’re playing by my rules!” Touma Kamijou appeared. A moment later, cracks appeared over everything else in sight, and it all shattered. As though everything Kumokawa had seen before now was one big illusion.