The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume10 Stage4

Status: Incomplete

2/7 parts completed

   

Stage 04: Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign

“No.”

“Queen, we still can’t win like this. No matter what.”

(Stage 04 Open 08/25 23:30)

Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign

Part 1

Midnight was fast approaching.

Nevertheless, Toy Dream 35 bustled with activity even in the oppressive heat. After all, summer break had arrived for the amusement park city. Roller coasters rose and fell through the gaps between buildings, the lights on a giant Ferris wheel kept the time like a clock face, and delighted screams echoed from the freefall ride attached to the broadcast tower sticking above the other buildings. A glance directly down would have shown people crowding the bridges as well. A parade of floats was in progress.

Families were out during the day and lovers during the night.

Toy Dream 35’s attractions never slept; they only showed a different side of themselves.

And within all that…

“…”

If he was being honest, Shiroyama Kyousuke did not know where his mother Natsuginu or the Colorless Little Girl would attack while under Wisdom’s control.

But knowing that Wisdom was specifically trying to harm him changed his plans considerably. He could not predict when or where a battle would begin or who would be caught in the crossfire, so he could no longer visit the school pool for fun.

He chose as deserted a place as he could find and waited there.

That would reduce the possibility of anyone else being harmed once the battle did begin.

“Not that this will help all that much,” whispered a silver-twintailed girl leaning against the complex arrangement of steel beams supporting the back of a sign. They were on the roof of a relatively tall building in the blind spot behind that giant LCD sign, but the brightly lit attractions were still not far away.

She lightly kicked at a reinforced plastic container sitting next to her (although it was only the size of a cooler needing both hands to carry).

“It is fortunate Azalea Magentarain was more obedient than expected. And that she has access to such an excellent transport system. We have the age of Repliglass to thank for the air delivery to take less than half a day.”

Kyousuke crouched down and performed some kind of work while listening to her.

He was lighting some special incense he had spent a small fortune to buy from Incense Expert Ellie Slide. It had not been packed into a grenade, but that allowed the smoke to last longer. A brass censer might sound fancy, but the basic idea was the same as the old-fashioned porcelain pigs used to keep mosquitos away.

Death wafted up into the air.

The stench of death had been artificially reproduced with a delicate arrangement of incense.

According to Ellie Slide, spraying the correct substance on the burning incense could adjust the number of days after death the stench replicated, but he did not need that kind of precision now.

It smelled like rotting fruit with a hint of sweetness mixed in.

The smell must have attracted the bugs gathered around the light of the giant LCD screen because a few of them approached. They looked powerless, but they must have been the kinds of bugs that gathered around human corpses. The lovers enjoying the thrill rides so close by would have no idea Kyousuke was doing this here in the dark.

The hint had come from the stench that lingered in Meinokawa Renge and Higan’s noses.

The girl lightly clenched her battle costume in both hands, perhaps out of concern the stench would mix with the night’s sweltering air and get on her clothes.

“Honestly… You have no right to criticize my interests after this, brother.”

“This is necessary.”

Wisdom’s goal was to have the White Queen all to herself. The global issues did not matter to her. That was why she was bringing those past deaths to the battlefield to shake and fracture the bonds between Kyousuke and the Queen. The combination of his mother and sister would never happen by pure coincidence.

To repeat, he did not know when or where the attack would happen.

So he would take matters into his own hands.

By emphasizing the elements of death, he could increase the odds of this deathly enemy appearing. The school during the day and the school at night were the same physical location, but which one saw more evil spirits? Instead of just waiting, he wanted to prepare a time and conditions favorable for this enemy to change the encounter rate.

“What if they do not show up?”

“Then we keep doing it until they do. There’s nothing else we can do.”

The death incense was only a booster.

That meant they could not use it as a starter. Ellie Slide had not trusted the American dollar because of something or other about the latest counterfeiting prevention tech it used, so he had paid her in old coins that could be exchanged in ticket shops. She had said the following while counting up those coins:

“Your target is wandering around, right? First, figure out the rules behind that. When they smell an abnormally concentrated death smell, does it draw them in or push them away? Once you know that, the rest is like using the north or south pole of a magnet. You can set up the censers to guide the target magnet wherever you want. That means you can start the battle at the location of your choosing. …Listen, you aren’t getting an immediate effect where burning the incense guarantees the ghost appears. It’s all in how you use it. To be clear, I’m not going to give you any further help if you come crying to me about how it didn’t work right away.”

Basically, the incense could spiritually disturb an empty location to move the “haunted location” where the ghost would appear.

Kyousuke breathed a soft sigh.

“So it’s all about figuring out the statistics. The world isn’t going to end tonight if we don’t settle this and our odds of a hit will increase each time we do it. Just like the odds in a game of Russian roulette change with each shot taken. Eventually is good enough. I just care about starting the battle somewhere that won’t get other people involved.”

Yes.

Kyousuke had compared it to Russian roulette.

…Which meant the odds of this happening were not zero.

It all vanished.

The amusement park city was flooded with light and sound even in the middle of the night, but all noise, all human presence, and all signs of life vanished. It was like the depths of a secluded cave. The incredible stillness was reminiscent of thick bedrock and they felt a strange pressure that made them want to scream and run around.

They became less aware of the oppressive heat and the bugs drawn in by the death stench had disappeared at some point. It was like the harbinger of a great disaster.

The silver-twintailed girl stepped away from the steel beam.

“Looks like we got it in one.”

This had of course been possible from a probability standpoint.

It would mean a sudden end to your game of Russian roulette, but now that it had happened, they had to respond. Luckily, Kyousuke had done this because he wanted to clash with the strongest assassin being controlled by Wisdom.

He heard footsteps.

But from where?

A single figure stood at the center of the large square rooftop. The boy and girl who had fought so many deadly battles in the past could not even tell when this person had appeared there. But they doubted she had arrived through the door leading to the elevator or emergency stairs.

It was like Shiroyama Natsuginu had been summoned here regardless of coordinate.

She gave the opposite impression of the silver-twintailed girl.

The figure standing with her back to the attractions beyond the railing was a reserved adult woman who would have easily blended into the city.

She was a parent, but she had to still be in her twenties. Her chestnut hair was tied back behind her head and she wore a blouse and a skirt that reached her calves. She also wore a housework apron on top of that. She may have been intentionally restraining her true abilities. She may have wanted to protect something badly enough to do that.

Kyousuke was taller than her now.

The boy silently narrowed his eyes and spoke.

“Mom.”

“I am aware my presence here is out of the ordinary.”

She did not directly respond.

…And that may have been for the best.

“But…but now that I am here, I am breathing and my heart is beating. That alone is gradually distorting history. That means I do not need to worry about how little or how much I change. My very presence brings change, so I will do this. …Kyousuke. It is true that man killed me. But the person who killed my daughter is right there.”

If the result had been overturned in the same way as with the Rainy Girl, then his mother was not a ghost; she really was alive. But the circumstances were different for their other family member, his little sister. However, Shiroyama Kyousuke did not think making a plea to emotion was going to change anything here. If the world was that simple and as beautiful as a diamond made only out of carbon, then the tragedy in that small house ruled by Doctor S never would have happened.

Even when you found something you wished to protect even if it meant placing your own wellbeing second, there were times when reality would not allow you to reach out and save them.

“If she tells me to kill her murderer, then that is what I will do.”

She must have been the type to go with the flow. Or maybe she had been afraid of change. In a way, that may have been one requirement for adulthood. At the very least, she had been unable to involve the entire world in a battle for her own powerful emotions and pride like Kyousuke and the Queen had. And that was why Doctor S and Wisdom had been able to take advantage of her soul. Even though she might just have enough power to change the world and protect everything.

“But that isn’t what she longed for. It was always ‘protecting Nii-sama’. Even after she was killed, that’s all she ever asked for. So what else can I do? I was a failure of a mother who couldn’t give her anything, so I can at least do this for her now!!”

“No, mom.”

Her shouted words were like a thunderclap, but Shiroyama Kyousuke gently shook his head.

He too had tried that and failed.

He had seen that as the only solution to the fundamental mistake the White Queen had made, so he had been unable to elevate himself to the level of trying to correct her instead.

“We didn’t want a father who shouted angrily at us or a mother who praised us unconditionally. We wanted adults who would scold us when we’d done something wrong and guide us in the right direction. If we’d only had that, we never would have lost our way.”

He had to show her.

He had to teach her.

He had to use to use the hands that carried the same blood as her to let her know that choices were not something you left up to someone else; they were something you made yourself. And this was not about the gods and heroes of some distant world. He wanted to let her know that the people breathing the same air in that small house could have done that too.

And it was not too late to change things.

He would show that it could be helped.

He would not let anything throw his one and only little sister into the great pit of the dead because that story was supposedly already over.

He would bring happiness to them all.

He would give this a happy ending.

“That’s nonsense, mom.”

That small house had become a stifling prison, but he would not let anyone put on a pitying smile and claim that meant there had been no hope or possibility there!!

“You’re doing this for my sister? No, you’re just giving up. You’re only thinking about maximizing cost-effectiveness and stepping down at a convenient place. No one will ever get what they really want that way! Doing things half-assed never saves anyone!!”

Shiroyama Kyousuke pulled out a metal cylinder the size of a hairspray can and pulled the pin with his teeth.

He tossed it onto the building rooftop and pulled his commercial Blood-Sign from the back of his hoodie.

This was the world’s smallest battle. It was a family quarrel.

But some days, he was willing to risk his life for something like that.

Now he just had to raise his voice.

“Queen, help me out. Let’s settle this here!!”

“You can try, but I will show you the power of a mother’s convictions after she failed to protect anything, Kyousuke!!”

As expected, Wisdom herself did not make an appearance.

Kyousuke’s mother was only a vessel, so could she summon the Colorless Little Girl inside herself without using the White Thorns and Petals?

A moment later, something happened before the Incense Grenade could detonate, setting up the 20m cube of the Artificial Sacred Ground.

“Yes, brother. As you wish.”

The strongest Unexplored-class dropped straight toward Shiroyama Natsuginu’s head like a white bolt of lightning. Specifically, this was the real Queen who had been waiting on top of the giant LCD sign.

His mother clenched her teeth and gave a shout.

“Wipe that…smug look off your face, murderer!!”

With an explosive noise, gray dust filled the air. The concrete must have been somewhat destroyed.

But since the Queen’s full power was enough to manipulate the sun to turn a portion of the moon to glass just for fun, this was a miniscule change. Although that only proved she had made sure as much of the blow as possible had burst within the target’s body instead of escaping elsewhere.

But then who was the silver-twintailed girl who had been standing next to Kyousuke in the fancy battle costume this whole time?

First of all, Shiroyama Kyousuke was a summoner who wielded a Blood-Sign.

He could not summon a Material without a vessel.

“You get ready too, Aoi. You’re my trump card.”

“Argh, I thought I was just humoring the Queen with one of her pranks, so I never thought I would end up with such a crucial role!!”

The girl loudly complained while removing her hair clips to regain her long straight hair.

Yes.

The girl next to Kyousuke was Meinokawa Aoi, his contracted vessel.

The Incense Grenade finally detonated and the Artificial Sacred Ground appeared. That was enough for Kyousuke to grimace. The dust had obscured his vision, but the Artificial Sacred Ground itself would capture the enemy and preserve a location for them to fight.

“Not yet…”

A resentful voice reached him from beyond that filthy veil of dust.

But her true grudge may not have been with Kyousuke or the Queen.

“This is not over yet. I can at least grant her wish to be useful for her ‘Nii-sama’!!”

A gust of wind spiraled around.

The gray dust was blown away and a white glow flew toward them. She did not pathetically roll along the roof or anything like that. She elegantly landed lightly on her feet.

But fully blocking an attack from the White Queen and getting her to fall back was an extraordinary feat.

“It has begun, brother.”

“Yes, I know.”

Shiroyama Natsuginu was plain, reserved, and had tried to protect her family even if it meant restraining herself, but she had failed to draw out her courage in the very end. She was a woman drowning in regret.

<Nii-sama.>

But she was nowhere to be seen.

She had transformed.

Into something hopelessly dangerous and psychedelic.

<Nii-sama>

She appeared to be about 10. Her translucent body was covered by something like a one-piece swimsuit or leotard and a clione-like light throbbed rhythmically in the center of her chest. She had long straight hair with bangs that hid her eyes and points on either side of the head that resembled cat ears. Weapons surrounded her hips like a skirt and twelve giant old tomes were arranged around her back like an angel’s wings or a clock face.

She was known as the Colorless Little Girl.

That Queen killer Unexplored-class contained the young life a certain woman had failed to protect.

<When I’m reborn, then I’ll take your side, Nii-sama. I will always, always, always take your side and fight the White Queen for you.>

This power was specifically designed to kill her daughter’s killer.

Summoning her to this world may have been that mother’s form of atonement.

“Yes, if that is what you want, then I will do whatever it takes to give concrete power to your wishes! Even if it means destroying the world or contradicting myself!!”

Two voices mixed together.

The vessel’s own voice forced its way out against the Material’s will.

This may have been a glimpse of the talent that surpassed even Olivia and Sinceria.

If so, it was very sad.

She really had chosen the wrong time to show her courage. Hers may have been a life of constantly failing to reach out a helping hand in time and being crushed by the guilt and regret after the fact.

“But I’ll break that chain here.” The boy spun his long Blood-Sign into a fighting stance. “I too lived a life of failure and disgrace. But my defeats were after I made an attempt! When you lose like that, you can use it to reach your next opportunity. It might be painful, miserable, agonizing, and frustrating, but you can convert all that into the strength to move on!! I’ll teach you that here, mom. You might think you were cleverly backing down before making a serious mistake, but you’re just lying to yourself. You never had to stifle yourself. So I’ll teach you how it’s done! I’ll show you how to reach for what you really want even when you’re battered and bleeding!!”

Shiroyama Kyousuke and the White Queen.

The strongest summoner and Material held hands and faced the symbol of their failure and defeat.

They intently focused their minds on what hung in the balance.

No one was talking about a largescale battle or global stakes.

“Ohhhhhh!!”

“Give up, Kyousuke. This is no longer about logic and I don’t care if I contradict myself. You should be standing by her side, not the White Queen’s!!”

This was about something much more important.

If those two lovers could not save his family here, they would never make any progress.

Part 2

With a pleasant clack, Kyousuke’s White Thorn shattered the three-dimensional Rose. The many red glowing Petals scattered every which way.

They were on the roof of an ordinary building.

In truth, once the White Queen and the Colorless Little Girl were clashing, building up another Material did not really matter. No matter what he summoned from the Regulation, Divine, or Unexplored-classes, the Material’s attacks could not influence the battle.

“If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re wrong, mom.”

“?”

The Colorless Little Girl’s small hand pulled a longish spear from the many weapons spread around her like a skirt. Her aim was difficult to predict since there was no emotion in her gaze, but what Kyousuke’s side had to do remained the same.

“Move out front, Queen! Don’t let the Colorless Little Girl crush you until I’ve finished building up my Material!!”

“You got it, brother!!”

(She is the Queen killer, a special Unexplored-class I built myself.)

The Colorless Little Girl licked her lips.

That translucent Unexplored-class had never done anything like that before.

“Are you bluffing to rattle us? You move out front, Kyousuke. If you don’t, the Queen will die.”

<Don’t let her get to you, boy! Staying calm is the best way to support the Queen!!>

Normally, the Material would be ruled by its fighting instincts and would join the battle even if the vessel tried to stop it. It was only the White Queen’s pressure preventing that now.

He was still only letting her protect him.

He clenched his teeth and moved his Blood-Sign more accurately than ever before.

(That means she might not be able to withstand an attack from an Unexplored-class other than the White Queen. And that would be really useful now that I screwed up and lost control of her! That’s why she can’t completely ignore the other Unexplored-classes even though she’s stronger than the White Queen!!)

That also meant he had no chance if he only relied on the Queen to the end.

That was hardly surprising when he had designed the Colorless Little Girl as a Queen killer. In a simple battle between the White Queen and the Colorless Little Girl, it would end just like a predator devouring its prey in the natural world.

He could not let the apparent stability confuse him.

He needed to deliver the final blow.

There was no winning this if he did not sharpen the scorpion’s tail as the summoner.

The vessel inside the Original Red (b) slime spoke directly in his mind.

<Hurry it up, boy!! We have to at least get past the Divine-class to stand a chance!!>

“I know that! More importantly, restrain its fighting instincts as much as you can, Aoi! Making an attack too early would be suicide!!”

The pleasant clacking sounds continued.

A Blood-Sign hit a White Thorn, which hit the red glowing Petals and knocked them into the Spots open in the air.

However, this did not come from Shiroyama Kyousuke.

The girl of about 10 mechanically opened her lovely lips while sliding her hand along the spear shaft she held.

And a mixture of two voices left those lips.

“Middle #934 (k – nn – td – fh).”

<Understood, mother.>

<What!? The Material is using the Blood-Sign itself!?>

“Calm down, Aoi. Whatever might be theoretically possible, this won’t be all that strategically valuable in practice!!”

The Little Girl skillfully manipulated her spear in one hand while the other hand pulled out a hatchet and aimed for the White Queen’s neck. But whether or not it scored a direct hit did not matter. There was a sound like a giant balloon popping and a massive electric attack burst out in a fan shape. It was a lot like a point-blank range shotgun blast that used high-voltage electricity.

“!?”

Those silver twintails flipped around.

A few pieces of white cloth spread out like wings and fluttered in the wind. The bluish-white electricity caught the edges of those and scorched them black, but the Queen herself was fine. She had perfectly slipped through the gaps of the mesh-shaped attack.

It was the building rooftop that did not survive.

Two or three floors gave out in quick succession and the Artificial Sacred Ground changed location each time.

It was more like being caught several times in a row than it was like falling.

Once they finally came to a stop, they were standing in the toy section of a dark department store. Luckily, it was after hours. In the darkness and with the rubble surrounding them, the Toy Dream mascots looked like creepy monsters instead of products meant to produce smiles.

There was a light in the darkness.

This light was not the Petals or White Thorns floating in the air.

The light calmly flashed at the center of the Colorless Little Girl’s chest.

She did not bother taking care of her hatchet.

Instead of pulling it back, she loosened her grip to throw it while her empty hand returned to her skirt.

Her spinning spear…no, her Blood-Sign struck another White Thorn.

“Now do High #61 (s – st – ag).”

<I will do it repeatedly.>

A blood-red whip sliced through the air and accumulated sound within itself. It was guaranteed to do damage if it hit and a miss would double its force. No matter what happened, it benefited the Colorless Little Girl, so the small girl obeyed the instructions while moving as if dancing with a ribbon.

The shelves and the register counter were knocked over.

But Kyousuke continued building up his Material all the while.

And he observed the situation at the same time.

“They’re focused on a representation of sound and number. Since that usage is specialized for the abbreviated number, the focus is on how many Petals they use, so they should not interfere much in our general gathering of letters. We have to let the Queen bear with it for now, but this will not affect our speed.”

<You seem to be ignoring the key point here. She can fight and build herself up on her own, so no one can control her. This is less like a summoning and more like a god descending to go on a rampage!>

This had not happened when the Colorless Little Girl was fighting as an individual.

Did this show just how powerful Wisdom was?

Or…

“Curse my mom. Come to think of it, she would have had a close-up view of Doctor S’s original research when he completed the format back in 1999. But would those observations really be enough to pull this off? If so, does she have specialized summoner skills on top of the ability to fully control the Material like Olivia can?”

<How many levels beyond the rest of us is your mother!? And I thought I was special as a fully artificial vessel!!>

She did not need to let it take control of her.

That vessel could control the Material and fight as a summoner.

That might sound frightening, but this really just meant she was fighting on the same field as Kyousuke. Since she was gathering Petals based on sound and number, it was incredibly easy to predict what she would target with her White Thorns.

She may have had been unbelievable precision as a vessel, but she was still his mother. She had not focused everything on being a summoner like Doctor S or Kyousuke had.

She could not reach the same heights while trying to master both.

“Middle (k)-…”

“Not good enough.”

<Mother, that is an error.>

She fell out of her tempo.

Kyousuke’s White Thorn bounced off the Artificial Sacred Ground’s wall and knocked the Colorless Little Girl’s White Thorn off course from an acute angle. And this was more than just interference. He also used this hit to knock the Petals he wanted into the Spots.

They were inside an ordinary department store, but he did not need to be in a grand temple or cathedral to deliver a finishing blow to that extraordinary Unexplored-class.

Or more specifically…

“Taboo 3: A White Thorn remaining on the field must not enter a Spot while you have no White Thorns in stock.”

<Nii-sama.>

“Which one of you was that? My sister, or my mom pretending to be young again?”

“Kyousuke!!”

“Oh, now that was mom. If you’re just going to swing that Blood-Sign around blindly, I don’t even need to build up my Material. I can put you in checkmate right here and now!!”

The Queen killer Unexplored-class’s eyes clearly shifted from the twintailed girl to the boy.

He was not talking about whether or not defeating the Colorless Little Girl with the Summoning Ceremony’s penalty was realistic. As long as he highlighted the risk, they would have to respond to it.

He had been given this chance from the moment they used the human rules of the Blood-Sign system.

This was not nonhuman Wisdom or the Colorless Little Girl trampling on the rules with some hopeless divine punishment or calamity. The key person here was Kyousuke’s mother. This was a battle between humans using the human rules.

<Hey, we still haven’t left the Regulation-class. One attack from the Little Girl will obliterate me!!>

“I know that, but the Queen isn’t going to last on her own. Draw their attention and dodge their attacks. We can reach the next stage as long as we keep them from focusing on the Queen!”

<That is easier said than done! The Queen’s presence might be restraining the Material some, but do you have any idea how hard it is to hold the reins of these things!?>

“Here they come.”

The Colorless Little Girl pulled a boomerang from the many weapons spread around her like a skirt.

The mother’s words left the daughter’s mouth.

“I will support you, so do what it is you want to do! Do not hold back!!”

As soon as she threw it, a tornado had already developed.

The giant blender of violent winds and vacuum directly attacked the White Queen while throwing out additional sparks. The color changed in the blink of an eye and it transformed into an orange pillar of fire.

It rose to the higher floors and covered everything from the ceiling to the toy section here.

The tornado’s destructive power tore away the outer walls and pillars that had just barely managed to survive until now.

This floor was essentially the “roof” of the building now.

This was the most violent of methods, like tearing off the roof of a car to make it a convertible.

And.

The stone flung up by the eruption built up plenty of energy in their descent from the sky and struck with more speed than a bullet. It was like the fire arrows raining down upon a castle. There were hundreds of them, thousands of them, or even more. They glowed like heated metal as they fell toward Kyousuke and his Material’s heads.

But Kyousuke actually laughed.

“That’s pretty lazy on the aiming there. They’re attacking over a general area because they don’t have time to aim carefully.”

<That doesn’t make it any easier to dodge!!>

He had no choice but to use his protective circle to defend Aoi.

The Queen and Kyousuke.

The mother and Little Girl could not decide which to attack, so their attacks lost their shine. The edges of the White Queen’s fancy ribbons had torn a bit, but she did not seem harmed herself.

And as long as this situation was allowed to continue, Kyousuke could bring his Material to ever-greater heights.

He now had a sexy woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

Divine-class. Cost: 8. Sound Range: High.

She was an Egyptian goddess whose name began with an N. Her name was the Greek form of Nebtho. As the sister of the victim Osiris and wife of the perpetrator Set, she was the goddess of purification and atonement whose tears had washed away the sin of god-slaying.

“I’ve reached…the gods. This is where it really begins, Aoi!”

< – – –!?>

She flinched.

He heard some kind of voice, but his mind could not convert it properly.

The Colorless Little Girl held one hand out toward them with the other still holding the Blood-Sign spear.

“Let’s do this.”

<Nii-sama, you are in the way.>

And then it happened.

Buzz!!

It sounded like an old cathode ray tube being turned on.

The scenery had already blurred.

They now stood on the decoratively-lit rails supporting the course of a roller coaster that passed between Toy Dream 35’s buildings. They ignored gravity by standing straight out from the side.

It did not matter how far away it was.

As long as he was defended by the protective circle, the Summoning Ceremony battle could continue even if they were touching the sun or a blackhole.

A few centimeters and a hundred light years were essentially the same.

The White Queen clicked her tongue and looked around.

“Is she teleporting around so you miss your shots, brother!?”

She had used this to his advantage when fighting the White Queen before. The terrain had been shifted after the fact to transform even the laziest shot into the perfect shot. But this used it against him. Even when he carefully calculated out the course and focused on every little thing, she would shake the table and ruin it all.

However…

“Not a problem.” Kyousuke did not look worried. “I came up with this strategy and I was the one instructing her. Colorless Little Girl, I perfectly understand your idiosyncrasies This tugging at the tablecloth doesn’t matter when I can predict the magnitude of the effect in advance!”

<…>

His sister fell silent and his mother continued speaking through her mouth.

“Honestly, a brilliant son is a real pain when he makes himself your enemy!!”

“Was that a compliment? Why?”

“I am saying the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You are a lot like that man!”

“I see. Thanks for history’s most effective psychological attack. I’m seriously about to puke!!”

The young hand extended toward him again.

There was a hint of anger in her eyes and her puffed-out cheeks, but did that emotion belong to his sister or to his mother who could not keep up as a summoner?

Vessel and summoner.

It was the same as how the lyricist and composer would use slightly but definitely different parts of their brains when writing the same song.

Buzz!!

Now they were on a twisting waterslide that connected a building rooftop to an illuminated night pool. Specifically, they were standing on the underside. Having them hanging there like bats may have been meant to disturb Kyousuke’s senses and get him to miss a shot.

But it changed nothing.

The more effort the Colorless Little Girl or Kyousuke’s mother spent on these tricks, the more he could build up his Material in peace. He had already explained the logic behind that.

“How!?”

“Is it that surprising? Training is built on a foundation of dissatisfaction and longing. Someone as multitalented as you by default wouldn’t understand the fear of having nothing left if this is taken from you!! Only after feeling that fear and insufficiency can you train your body to the point of destroying yourself!!”

You had to focus on a single thing to truly shine.

You could not master two things at once.

And given Kyousuke’s accuracy as a summoner, his shots would not lose their edge even if he was moved to a freefall gondola or the edge of a bungee jump platform.

Now it was one of the complexly structured supports for a Ferris wheel.

Shiroyama Kyousuke and the Colorless Little Girl jumped down and readied their Blood-Signs like normal.

“Cost: 19. Sound Range: Middle.”

Given time, this was bound to happen.

This was not a true battle where the White Thorns crashed together to interfere with each other in the fight over the Petals. Kyousuke effectively had control of where almost all the Petals went, so he built up his Material in no time.

With 10 minutes to work with, he could just barely reach it.

“Come forth, member of the Unexplored-class – Lady of ‘Purple Lightning’ that Separates Good from Evil (iu – ao – eu – ei – kub – miq – a – ci – pl).”

A light sound followed.

A sickly woman with only some purple cloth to cover her nudity was seated in a rickety old wheelchair. The sound came from the center of her chest.

She had been pierced through by a dart casually tossed by the Colorless Little Girl.

She really was the Queen killer.

Shiroyama Kyousuke had overcome countless difficulties to create this bizarre Unexplored-class from the ground up.

“Too weak.”

His mother’s words rang cold while she stood upside-down on the underside of the waterslide like a bat.

From the tip of the needle to the fletching, that dull-colored weapon was made from a heavy metal even denser than tungsten steel. The Lady of Purple Lightning specialized in long-distance beam attacks, so this attack challenged her in her own field. It was like an armor-piercing round from a tank’s gun. Even the smallest hole would have been fatal, but the dark red damage spread as if the wound was peeling back.

The Unexplored-classes were all shaped much like human girls and their Silhouette weak point tended to be located in their heart.

<Kah!?>

A gasping and dumbfounded noise reached Kyousuke from his vessel, Meinokawa Aoi.

Their defeat was guaranteed now.

Once Kyousuke and Aoi were rendered motionless, it would become a pure battle between the White Queen and the Colorless Little Girl. Then it was no more than predator vs. prey in the natural world. Even if the White Queen was the strongest, she was no match for the Colorless Little Girl who had been specifically designed as a Queen killer.

“Is that how you thought this would work, mom?”

“What!?”

Kyousuke shouted a single word just before his supposedly guaranteed defeat arrived.

“Switch!!”

Facts

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