Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Owner of the Stage

Winning means goodbye

Losing means goodbye

I don’t want to cry

But I worry I didn’t practice enough

Point Allocation (This Isn’t a Rehearsal)

●

“Azuchi” saw something she couldn’t understand.

…Huh?

It was unprecedented for an automaton’s thought to end in a question mark.

It happened past the Shibata Team’s formation. That was likely where Kiyomasa’s group was. But something strange had suddenly come into existence there.

“Is that a stone wall? Shaja.”

This didn’t seem possible because it was natural rock not made of ether.

She had not detected any kind of earthquake. She could only detect the sudden appearance of the giant stone wall past the Shibata Team.

The rock looked black in the night. It was a single solid piece of stone, but it was unreasonably large. It looked like a fault had suddenly risen aboveground, so it was nearly 800m wide and at least 30m tall.

It was as if an ironclad ship had grown up from the ground.

But “Azuchi” was more worried about something else.

“Is Kiyomasa-sama alright!? Shaja!”

●

Niwa kept her step light as she danced.

When she raised her arms and lifted her earth dragon armor toward the moon, light raced across every bit of her arms.

…Djinns really do love the moon.

Her encirclement spell used herself as a vessel to fuse with a djinn.

She borrowed its power.

But it did more than that. Ordinarily, the djinn would end up in control of her body. Even if she remained conscious, the djinn would have hijacked control and she would only be able to act in a bestial way.

In that case, she would generally only be active when eating and otherwise sleep. Yes, even with djinns, animals were fairly lazy. They didn’t study or train. If they ran out of food and had no way of getting more, they were surprisingly willing to give up on life and return to the ley lines.

Even so, there were still people who took advantage of that arrangement. There were two or three cases a year where someone claimed “I-I didn’t touch you! The djinn controlling my body did!” and Niwa would be called in as an expert to explain that wasn’t how it worked.

So you had to be careful with this kind of spell. You had to only play with the djinn.

You were borrowing their power, but you couldn’t let them take control.

Hence, playing with them. Simply put, you had to stay in the lead.

You had to understand that the djinn was inside you and make moves to draw their interest, much like playing with a puppy or a cat.

Here, that meant reaching out a hand, stomping a foot, doing a little dance, sometimes crouching low to their eye level, and keeping the dance going.

This earth dragon was the greatest of the earth element djinns. In P.A. Oda land, sand dragons were easier to capture, but she had chosen an earth dragon for the European battle front. Capturing it and befriending it had been a lot of work. It had been too shy to dance with her at first, so it had taken 17- No, I’m still young.

At any rate, everything was working well now.

She danced.

The djinn came from the ley lines, so it had a nice tempo. It matched its rhythm to her dance moves.

In Mlasi, it was said djinns enjoyed song.

So music was necessary here.

After borrowing the djinn’s power, she applied something else as well: Uriel.

That gave her greater control over how to use her power.

Once that was in effect, the rest was easy. She had her 3000-man Mehter play music the djinn would dig and then she focused its power on the attack she wanted to make.

Fully releasing a djinn’s power within a human body would destroy the body. But what happened when she was borrowing the djinn’s power and then applied Uriel to give her free use of that power?

The answer could already be seen: the massive rock jutting up in front of her.

“But so much of this depends on the djinn’s mood, so I can’t use it near a populated area. If something happened, the locals would complain to P.A. Oda.”

So she ordinarily split up this ability and used the individual pieces.

In Novgorod, she had only combined with the djinn.

In Nördlingen, she had only used the 3000-man Mehter.

It had been a while since she had used both and linked them with Uriel. So…

“What will you do, Katou Kiyomasa-san?”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than something collapsed before her eyes.

The long, thick stone wall was pierced through the center and shattered.

A light emerged from the center of the destruction, extending toward her.

“Caledfwlch!”

●

Kiyomasa aimed for perfection.

She had been right to have the rest of her group fall back into the forest.

Niwa’s crust upheaval hadn’t reached the forest and Kiyomasa could predict Niwa’s location on the other side of it.

…She wouldn’t have moved laterally!

So she had pulled straight back from her earlier position and chosen to use a Caledfwlch blast.

Caledfwlch could break through that stone wall. And the great mass of stone before her eyes was the obstacle standing between her and Niwa. With Caledfwlch’s ability to instantly grow, she could reach Niwa faster than a bullet. So…

“Finish this, Caledfwlch!”

●

A white beam raced out.

Niwa smiled at the complete lack of hesitation in the light and its power.

“Splendid job!”

When borrowing a djinn’s power, she could not lose the djinn’s respect, so she would speak more stiffly. She sometimes felt like it changed her personality too much, but she didn’t have a choice. At the moment, she saw Kiyomasa beyond the rubble and rock cascading down from the air.

“Azure Lightning Encirclement.”

She released her second spell cloth.

She added on another.

She invited a second djinn to play along with the earth dragon.

“Lightning beast, show us your lightning speed!”

●

A great blade of ether light stabbed toward Niwa’s chest.

She responded with movement.

She gained bestial ears and claws, the power and form of the earth dragon fusing with the lightning beast’s in the moonlight.

“Too slow.”

She sent out a right hook without even moving her shoulder, shattering the blade.

Caledfwlch’s impressive sword was broken by a right fist carrying the divine protections of two djinns.

●

…Huh!?

Kiyomasa couldn’t believe her eyes.

This wasn’t the first time Caledfwlch’s blade had been broken. At the end of the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, it had been destroyed by the Roi-Soleil’s divine protection. But…

…She did it barehanded!?

But she had done it. And it wasn’t a one-off thing. The blade continued to grow, but Niwa faced that light head on and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Instant after instant, another blow landed. She threw right and left punches and kicks. She would spin around to attack with her heel or backhand. She rapidly smashed Caledfwlch’s blade as it tried to grow toward her. And all Kiyomasa could do in response was support Caledfwlch and…

“Reach her!”

She launched it. But she also saw Niwa look her way while moving and smashing.

“––––”

She smiled. And her lips moved to mouth two words.

“Too slow.”

None of this could be described as slow. It was all happening much too fast.

Niwa’s speed had obviously increased. Both her reaction speed and her movement speed.

…Was it the lightning beast!?

What would happen if she borrowed the power of the djinn that descended to the earth with lightning bolts?

“Hah.”

The final blow shattered the tip of the glowing blade, which had now stopped growing.

It was over.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye. All that remained was the ether light of shattered Caledfwlch, the physical weapon left in Kiyomasa’s hands, the valley formed from the destroyed stone wall, and…

“Look.”

Niwa swung her right leg and struck the ground.

With a tremor and a blow even greater than when Kiyomasa destroyed the stone wall, the two remaining halves of the rock exploded.

Such a massive volume exploding in an instant created a shockwave and explosive blast while a deafening boom rang out.

Countless broken rocks scattered across the clearing, falling atop each other while the view cleared.

That let Kiyomasa see the direction Niwa was pointing: the southeast.

…The forest.

A large portion of the forest’s edge had been felled by the formation of the stone wall and the shockwave of its destruction.

That cleared the view of the night sky and something was visible in the shallow portion of that sky.

A massive group of ships was ejected into the night sky while trailing light.

It appeared right alongside the pillar of light rising from Honnouji.

“Musashi has emerged!?”

“Now, you’re running short on time,” said Niwa, reaching for her hair with the hand that had been pointing toward Musashi.

She released her final hair tie. The scattering cloth was another spell cloth which glowed as it vanished into the sky.

In its place, a Mouse sat in Niwa’s hand. It was colored red and was made of fire.

“This is my phoenix. He was a real pain to capture, but he’s a cute little thing.”

She smiled as the red bird sank into her hand.

That gave her three djinns.

Kiyomasa’s opponent had just become more formidable, but she had already launched Caledfwlch. However…

…I have to do this.

“Understood,” she said, turning away from the Musashi. “Here I go.”

“You’re still doing this?”

“No.”

She wasn’t just “going”. It must have been the same for Musashi. During Mikatagahara, they had only been trying to go to Kantou. But things had changed when they had faced Hashiba after that.

“Here I go.”

They had been turning aside and breaking down everything in their path and making sure they didn’t lose anything as they went.

The word was the same, but the meaning was different. Kiyomasa felt that difference deep down as she said it here.

“Here I go!”

●

“Not so much ‘going’ as it is ‘let me pass’.”

“The Song of Passage you mean, Masazumi-sama? Shall I sing it for you!?”

Masazumi shook her hand to decline Horizon’s offer.

They were currently gathered at the Asama Shrine. The Musashi was on its way to Honnouji, but once it arrived, they would be riding a transport ship down. Their safety was assured since the Musashi would be accompanying them as a shield, but that unfortunately meant they would be landing further away from Honnouji.

…But that’s better than taking an unnecessary risk right at the start.

In that sense, they were asking “let me pass”. But…

“As soon as we leave the white stealth field, we see a pillar of light in the sky. Never a dull moment today.”

“I do feel like I’m growing accustomed to these strange situations,” said Mitotsudaira.

It’s true a lot has happened, thought Masazumi. But…

“Everyone.”

She called out to them and they were all there. Some of them had joined along the way, but on the path to this point, they had all been given important roles and lived up to the challenges presented to them.

Not all of them were the officers or her classmates. The warriors and the various committee members were here too.

She spoke before them all.

“We’re doing the Honnouji Incident this time. This will be a localized battle, but you know what that means, don’t you?”

It meant…

“Even a small mistake could turn this from Honnouji into ‘Oh, No’-ji.”

●

Gold Mar: “What…just happened?”

Art-Ga: “Yikes.”

Flat Vassal: “So, uh, did she really think that was a good idea? Because it wasn’t.”

Vice President: “D-did you think it was a good idea to answer your question for me like that, Balfette!? Because it wasn’t!”

Me: “Did you realize you just did it too, Seijun? Cause you did.”

●

So did you, thought Masazumi with a glare toward the idiot, but then she cleared her throat and resumed speaking.

“Listen, everyone. This is an important battle. Because…”

“Masazumi-sama! This is the Musashino bridge! Please look to the north! That’s to port! Over!”

“Now the bridge is interrupting me!?”

What’s wrong with that? said the idiot. And, “North is…that way, right? Next to Honnouji’s light?”

Everyone turned to port.

The Asama Shrine was located in an atrium-style structure. Everything beyond the outer walls had been purged and large sign frames displayed the outside scenery.

One of those screens showed the Musashi had fully lowered its stealth field.

…Everything is moving toward Honnouji now.

With that thought, she looked to the surface visible on the sign frame.

“Ohh.”

She saw the nightscape lit up by Kyou, Nara, and other cities.

Kyou in particular had a lot of light for such a late hour due to the recovery work continuing through the night. The lights near Lake Biwa were likely on through the night for the Honnouji Incident and Lake Biwa Azuchi.

“Those are the lights of a battle to north,” said the Tachibana Wife.

Sure enough, the sky above Hokuriku was illuminated a bluish-white from below. If the light of the harmonic territory was visible, it likely meant that was the Battle of Shizugatake where Hashiba’s people would be fighting. And…

…Honnouji.

Looking to the ground out past the bow, the light pillar rising into the sky faintly illuminated the hill and the surrounding area.

As reported, the ether light pillar did not provide a view inside of Honnouji. There were occasional gaps, providing glimpses, but…

“Heh heh. I had heard they had some kind of open-air stage and it sure looks like it.”

“Judge. That’s another topic to discuss at our final strategy meeting before going in.”

But, thought Masazumi. I didn’t notice anything unusual out there.

…What was it “Musashino” wanted us to see?

Looking again, she could see a white fog covering Lake Biwa Azuchi since its stealth was active. And Honnouji was the same as it had been last time they checked.

She sensed a strange pulsing coming from Honnouji at times, but that was probably a ley line reactor.

She could tell something big was starting, but…

…Is there something more?

Just as she checked the sign frame again…

“Oh,” said Mukai, holding a hand to her ear. She was probably receiving data from the Musashino bridge. She pointed directly to a shallow northeastern point instead of at the sign frames.

“There’s…an aerial ship…flying toward…Honnouji!”

●

Naito watched Asama immediately zoom in one of the sign frames.

When Asama turned her way, Naito held out a hand to say “I know”. And…

…There it is.

She didn’t mean the ship. She had already located it on the zoomed-in sign frame. This was bout the emblem on the ship’s side.

“That’s Hashiba’s emblem. The circled gourd.”

“Is it the registered original and not the mass-produced version? Then she must be onboard herself.”

“Hashiba is here?” asked Asama. “I know we mentioned this before, but I didn’t expect her to really do it. Why would Hashiba be participating in the Honnouji Incident?”

Naito had been wondering the same time.

Everyone crossed their arms and groaned in thought.

Two positions away from Naito, Neshinbara opened several sign frames. He looked to the warship flying parallel to the Musashi but rushing to Honnouji.

“Listen. If you ask me-”

“Really, she’s probably just going to wait around until the Honnouji Incident is over so she can start the Battle of Yamazaki right away.”

“Judge! Exactly what I was going to say, Takarazuka Honda-kun! And if she hopes to start the Battle of Yamazaki-”

“She needs an early end to the Battle of Shizugatake we can see lighting up the sky over Hokuriku.”

When even Narumi stole his line, Neshinbara stopped moving altogether.

…That’s what happens when you don’t just come out and say it.

Naito decided to keep that thought to herself. Whatever the reason, they knew Hashiba was on her way to Honnouji. We need to be careful, she decided.

“Huh?”

Then she noticed something else on the zoomed-in sign frame.

Hashiba’s ship accelerated, moved further away from the Musashi, and changed course toward the northern side – the rear side – of Honnouji. And a figure stood on the rear deck.

“Is that…?”

Asama zoomed in the image further and applied some image correction to make the face visible.

She also added a fair amount of light amplification, but not as much as she might have thanks to Honnouji’s pillar of light. And this revealed…

“Chancellor! That’s Hashiba!”

●

Hashiba looked up into the sky and sighed.

The Musashi was there.

From their perspective, she would be standing partially in front of Honnouji’s light pillar.

But from her perspective, the Musashi was cruising through the night sky along with the twin full moons.

That empty dark blue sky seemed so vast and so cold. The massive white and black aerial ship floating in that sky would be her opponent in the upcoming Honnouji Incident.

“And now,” she said, lowering her head and removing her mask. “We finally meet.”

She straightened back up.

She looked straight at the Musashi with nothing in between them.

What did she look like to them?

●

Asama gasped.

She saw Hashiba on the sign frame open in front of them all.

“I don’t believe it…” she said with a hand over her mouth.

Next to her, he mimicked her, Horizon and Kimi did the same, Mitotsudaira followed suit, Noriki and Tenzou did too, Mary looked at them all in confusion, and the rest continued the mimicry.

“I don’t believe it…”

“Y-you don’t all have to say it just because I gave a cliché response!”

Neshinbara was stomping on the deck shouting “Dammit! Dammit! Why am I so slow!?”. Did he want to be the one to get the ball rolling that badly?

But Asama really couldn’t believe what she saw on the sign frame where Hashiba looked straight up at them. Her face looked pale, but…

“Why does she look so familiar?” said Horizon, tilting her head.

Asama looked to all the others, Horizon’s arms gave a count of three for them all, and Asama joined the rest in yelling at Horizon.

“Because she looks just like you!”

●

Masazumi shook her head once.

…I need to keep calm.

She looked to Horizon once. Horizon was making a funny face by having her arms stretch her mouth horizontally.

“Hey, um, Horizon? Could you let me compare the two of you?”

“Why bother? She just so happens to look a bit like me is all.”

“How would you know?” asked Naito, turning away from Horizon, but Masazumi thought it might actually be true. But on the other hand…

“I guess she does look different.”

As the image grew more distant, Hashiba bowed once more and Asama argued against the idea she had started herself.

“Now that you mention it, Hashiba’s hair is black and she looks younger than Horizon does now.”

“You aren’t going to say she looks 10 years younger, are you?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“No,” said the idiot. He tilted is head and groaned in thought. “If anything, she looks more like a middle school graduate?”

“Which would put her right in the middle.”

Right? thought Masazumi, but Horizon raised her right hand.

“How about you find her at Honnouji and question her there?”

“Can you stop recommending that other people do what you want to do?” said the idiot.

But Horizon had a point.

“We should learn a lot at Honnouji.”

“Didn’t that same line of reasoning embarrass us pretty badly at the Imperial Palace?”

That was also a good point, but what were they supposed to do about it? Then a transmission arrived from “Musashino”.

“Everyone, the Musashi will now turn to face Honnouji. Please prepare to disembark. Over.”

That settled it.

The situation was underway. So…

“Let’s go to Honnouji,” said Masazumi, noticing a change in the wind produced by the Musashi and the background scenery flowing to the side. She turned to face Honnouji below the pillar of light rising into the sky. “That’s where we’ll settle things with the Genesis Project!”

●

“Do you think this will settle things, Ranmaru-kun?”

Ranmaru tilted her head at the dark silhouette of a half-dragon revealed by the bright light behind him.

“You are visible like this, Yasuke-sama.”

“You never do actually converse with me, do you?”

“Yes, I do,” she said. They stood at the entrance to Honnouji, where they could see the Musashi in the sky. “Do you think they will come here, Yasuke-sama?”

“They’re pretty strong.”

“They are,” she agreed. “I never imagined they would reach the depths of the Imperial Palace on Akechi-sama’s invitation.”

“What did your fellow automata think of that one, I wonder.”

“I can determine it did not end badly for them. So…”

Not often I speak based on speculation, she thought.

“I think we need to ensure this ends badly. In the very end, at least.”

“Probably so,” said Yasuke. “We need to really work at this.”

“Yes, we do. Especially when such a strong helper has arrived.”

She and Yasuke looked to the side.

On the right, another figure was revealed by the light behind him.

He had arrived on a transport ship earlier.

“Excuse me,” said Yasuke. “But the Testament says you shouldn’t be here.”

“Huh? That’s why I said I’m here as an ordinary warrior. I’m not here as a name inheritor, so don’t get bent out of shape over it.”

“Oh, well, in that case…”

“Yes.” Ranmaru nodded and looked up at him. “We thank you for your assistance.” She bowed. “Sassa Narimasa-sama. And I am aware that is a pseudonym at the moment.”

Midnight was fast approaching. That was when the Honnouji Incident would officially begin.

Back to Chapter 28

Return to Main Page

Forward to Afterword