City Series:Volume8b Chapter19

Chapter 19: Maximum Power

Welcome back!

Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Feel! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!

Thanks, everyone!

It looks like we’ve started the final battle in here!

The boost funding keeps pouring in, but the other side is apparently doing the same thing.

Is there anything left for us to do?

Yes, there is.

If you can wait, then wait.

If you can cheer them on, then cheer them on.

Either way, you’ll see the result in just a moment.

This is going down at 1000 times the speed of the outside world, after all.

Will we survive, or will the great god rise up?

They’re making a real racket over there.

And that racket will lead to our answer.

Let’s see this through.

Let’s find out if this fake city has a real answer!

Let’s do this. This is probably the last entry for this whole affair, so of course I’m going to quote the ending for the Son of God from the eternal best seller: the bible.

“After the Son of God had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.”

(Mark 16:19)

07/07/2000 DT 09:29 PM x1k (+06:29)

Help Text

Words Warn and Reincarnation Theory

It is said the Words Warn illness is incurable because it causes the elements making up your very being to break down, but this presents a problem of interpretation based on current research.

This would suggest that Words Warn is not an illness at all, but a proof of the reincarnation evolution and destruction given to Lives.

According to reincarnation theory, all beings carry karma with them. And all beings are given the abilities needed to face and destroy that karma. They are repeatedly reincarnated with that karma, constantly battling against it. But this theory contains three contradictions.

• Contradiction 1: What happens to a being once their karma has been destroyed too fully to be reincarnated?

• Contradiction 2: Karma changes and evolves with each new age and as technology changes. However, the abilities used to destroy karma do not change or evolve – they reincarnate. How can that keep up with the changing and evolving karma?

• Contradiction 3: Each new era and the changing of the world leads to the creation of new karma, but where do the beings needed to oppose that karma come from? If all beings reincarnate, then there will be no new beings to face the new karma.

It has been suggested that Words Warn is the method of resolving these contradictions.

Words Warn causes a being to fully break down and be destroyed.

This part is only speculation at this point, but it is thought the broken down Lives rejoin the ley lines where they are given a new Lives arrangement. In other words…

• Contradiction 1’s Solution: When a being fully destroys their karma, Words Warn releases them from karma when they reach the end of their lifespan and they are rearranged to face new karma.

• Contradiction 2’s Solution: When a being cannot handle the evolved karma, they are broken down by Words Warn. They are then reconstructed for their next reincarnation and the ley lines grant them new abilities capable of handling the evolved karma.

• Contradiction 3’s Solution: When new karma appears, the broken down Lives that have returned to the ley lines are made into beings who can destroy the new karma.

None of this has been observed as of yet.

Contradiction 1 is especially tenuous as we have no way of determining if karma has been fully destroyed, but if it is true, it would explain why beings reincarnate between species, how evolved karma is handled, and why some people appear to inherit the abilities of people who lived before.

Words Warn is the first disease to exist in our City World, but some experts have suggested that the many times the world was destroyed during the Obstacle Era and earlier were because the people could no longer handle the evolving karma. So to avoid that from happening again, the world itself created Words Warn and gave it to us as a means of freeing people from karma and allowing us to evolve.

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT’s Amusement Park

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

They exchanged blows and Aoe took a few as the battle accelerated.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe saw the sky and the massive structure, saw the forest and the beach, saw the lake and the amusement park’s lights, and saw his enemy.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

An impact knocked Aoe flying.

“Gh!”

He sent out his remaining striking power to stay in the fight. He pulled his right knee to his chest while in midair.

That was to ensure he could throw a kick at a moment’s notice.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Algo was coming.

He was fast.

Algo tore through the wind and aimed for the left leg Aoe intended to land on.

Algo crouched low and threw his hips forward. He slid forward and swept his leg around in front of him.

Airborne Aoe responded by pulling his left leg up to avoid the leg sweep.

Just beforehand, Algo’s sweeping leg accelerated and Aoe’s right leg swung down.

Aoe’s right heel stabbed into the beach.

“Oh.”

Aoe’s attack had missed and Algo threw himself forward. Algo kicked off the ground with his right foot and lifted his butt while jabbing his left heel upwards.

He performed a heel kick from the ground.

Aoe pulled his left knee up to block with his shin. Algo’s left heel struck it from below.

The impact sounded explosive.

Aoe’s left leg strained and a rupture of air sent spray everywhere.

Aoe was launched backwards.

Meanwhile, Algo used the returning force of the kick to roll forward. He kicked at the sand and put some distance between them.

But Aoe didn’t let him go. He forced his left leg up even with the previous impact still affecting it.

He moved to catch Algo’s fleeing left leg with his toes, but he also kicked up at Algo.

“Oh,” said Algo as the rotation of his body sped up.

He had twisted forward in a roll, but the extra force turned the roll into a tumble and he landed hard on his side.

Aoe’s feet slid as he landed, sending sand spraying out in front of him.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

They faced each other from about 4 yards away. Aoe took a fighting stance and let out a breath.

He bounced on his feet with his sweat forming a white steam in the chilly wind.

Algo did the same. He took a fighting stance with sweat on his brow.

Alternative was visible past his shoulder.

Aoe looked down and noted the kick mark left on Algo’s white pants.

“I hit you.”

“You did.”

Algo shook his head to fling the sweat from his brow and nodded.

Seeing that nod, Aoe checked his own body.

He had taken hits to the limbs, torso, back, face, and neck and he still felt the strain.

He had only hit his opponent once. Nevertheless…

“I can do this,” he told himself.

Algo smiled bitterly.

“You’re a tough one.”

“Little late to be noticing that,” said Aoe. He took a breath, adjusted his fighting stance, and listened to the waves of the artificial lake. “I gave up on defeating you once.”

He nodded with a smile on his lips and shook the sound of the waves from his ears.

“But no longer.”

Blood dripped down his lips.

A finger wiped away the blood. A slender hand had reached in from behind him.

That was Yuo.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her lick the blood from her finger.

Her face was a bit pale, but she had plenty of strength in her eyes and eyebrows.

After licking the blood away, she removed the finger from her lips and let out a heated sigh.

And she quietly asked a question.

“This isn’t all you can do, is it?”

Both men answered.

“No,” said Aoe. “It isn’t,” agreed Algo.

Alternative followed up Algo’s words by shutting her eyes and shaking her head.

A moment later, Aoe and Algo clashed in an explosion of sand.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

This battle felt familiar to Aoe on a level deeper than conscious thought.

He had fought like this with Algo before.

That was back when they were at Ungyou’s Kobayashi Dojo. In the early mornings, they had descended the mountain and sparred on the coast of the port village.

In this fake world, Aoe felt some familiar emotions.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Out of the corner of his eye, Aoe saw Yuo feed Monkey a program trigon.

<Senpai!>

Her window popped up and his speed increased.

The speed boost was a variable thing. He could choose to boost his speed anywhere from x1 to x10.

He understood why she had done this.

His enemy – no, his opponent named Algo – was speeding up.

Algo’s fist was coming. A fist with divine speed.

Aoe ducked, digging his feet into the sand to dodge his opponent’s fist barely enough that it tore through his hair.

This new speed brought fresh sweat to his skin, but the wind pressure dried that up in an instant.

His surroundings looked dimly lit. That meant their actions were distorting and shifting the wind.

In that dark scene, Algo’s white clothing and golden hair stood out against the waves behind him.

…And I must be really hard to see.

Because I’m wearing all black, thought Aoe.

He could sense his movements once more. His opponent swung his hand on a downward arc toward his head, but he moved to dodge that.

He moved left, digging his left shoulder into the barrier that was the air.

He broke through that barrier.

The air audibly split and then his evasion went quickly.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

He narrowed his vision, focusing only on Algo’s movements.

His surroundings grew blurry, but he could see the white attacks clearly.

A kick flew rapidly toward him.

Algo’s kick was so fast it visually skipped forward through the air. DT’s visuals could not keep up with the speed.

Aoe considered the situation.

…Since he’s joined with sis, the Words Warn will only give him a few more minutes to live.

Why? he wondered while taking evasive action.

…Why is he wielding all this power to fight?

“Why?”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

His question took the form of a fist.

Algo’s left was coming. Aoe’s instincts launched his right fist in a motion baked into his body.

He swung his arm, threw his entire body forward, and sent all his motion directly into his fist.

The dense attack power crashed into its target.

The two attacks canceled each other out. The impact of deflecting Algo’s fist traveled back up his arm, through his shoulder, up his neck, and into his cheek.

Aoe considered the tremor he felt racing throughout his body.

…Why does he need so much power?

He knew why.

<No matter how great your opponent’s anxiety or fear…>

“There is a power that can destroy that and save them!”

He shouted.

“To save them…

“I must use my own power to surpass their anxiety and fear!”

Shattering glass sounds came from Aoe’s arms.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom – Full Sight Open>

<–––––!>

His thoughts grew clear.

He raised his head, sweat flew from him, and he faced forward with his renewed vision.

He saw Algo and the background so much more clearly.

This was the beach in front of Babel. It was fake sand alongside an artificial lake.

A massive structure split the sky overhead.

The false sky.

The fake sky.

The Minus sky.

The wind blowing below the clouds and the night was chilly, but even that was created by a weather program.

His own body was fake in the same way, even if he had Loaded into it.

He knew all that. But…

<I can surpass it!>

The things he felt within all these fake things were no lie.

He looked to Algo as they exchanged blows. He looked to Alternative.

Why Algo fought was obvious.

It was just as clear why he wanted to win.

So there was only one way to defeat him.

Algo carried an anxiety telling him he had to bring all of this to an end.

Telling him he had to summon the great god.

Telling him to fear Words Warn and the Plus world. Telling him to purify it all with the great god.

“I must overcome it all!”

Aoe shouted his will and jumped back to put some distance between them.

<I will surpass everything you have.>

“Because that is the only victory you will accept!”

If he only had to win from his perspective, there had to be better ways and other strategies.

But that wasn’t what he wanted.

What was the strongest power? He already knew the answer.

<I must believe in myself, think about my opponent, and use the decisive power that gives me!>

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Algo’s afterimage smiled at the window reconfirming Aoe’s will.

<Yes, the strongest power is gained by thinking about your opponent. And that is the only power you can safely use against your opponent.>

Aoe nodded in response.

…It’s a power that can’t be put to words and that will make your opponent accept defeat.

He understood something now.

He understood how Algo had managed to use the strongest power in the battle that had killed Ungyou.

<Death was a result the old man could accept.>

Algo sped up as he viewed that window.

<Yes. I was too inexperienced, so he couldn’t teach me the strongest without accepting that fate.>

Algo’s expression changed for just a moment. He looked close to tears.

<So let me make this clear: if you hope to defeat us, prove that you can surpass us!>

“Can the two of you surpass the divine symbolism we chose in order to conquer our fears!”

Blood sprayed from Algo’s skin as he broke through the wind and approached.

The heat burned his skin and his blood vessels and nerves appeared on the surface like knots on a rope.

He sped up and reached the limits of his control.

He couldn’t eliminate his momentum and he briefly entered the water.

But even as a pillar of water erupted from the lake, Algo kept charging toward Aoe, the water failing to catch at his feet.

It all happened in an instant.

“This all ends here!” shouted Algo, his white afterimage kicking up the sand as it rushed in.

Alternative raised a fist while seemingly supporting his movement from behind.

Their movements were synced and she used her Load Emblem to assist his actions.

Aoe sensed Yuo moving behind him.

<Algo and Alternative are boosting themselves even more!?>

That window disappeared nearly instantly. She eliminated her doubt and produced a different window instead.

<I will boost us as well!>

Aoe heard a song from behind him.

In their high-speed motion, her hands produced a circular grid keyboard from her key guarders and began boosting Aoe.

But her song also created a program to support his movement.

She sang to keep his body intact and whole.

He answered her song with movement.

The movement felt almost slow within the high speed of the imminent clash.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe pulled his right fist back at eye height.

He inhaled.

He tensed and relaxed his right fist.

He tensed and relaxed his right wrist.

He tensed and relaxed his right arm.

He tensed and relaxed his right shoulder.

Same for his chest, back, hip, butt, thigh, knee, shin, ankle, and big toe. He gathered strength in them all before relaxing them again. It traveled in a straight line from his arm to the foot planted behind him.

“…!!”

His entire body told him to roar, so…

“Oh!!”

He released a biting roar.

His entire body shot forward.

All 175cm of him tore through the wind as he leaped.

Power exploded below his feet, blasting the sand behind him.

On his way forward, he gathered his strength in the opposite direction from before. From the foot to the fist.

The foot, the ankle, the shin, the knee, the thigh, the buttocks, the hip, the back, the chest.

And finally the right shoulder, the right arm, and the right wrist.

He poured forward-directed power into them all and clenched his right fist.

All the strength in his body concentrated there.

If he sent that fist out, it would form a straight line from his foot to his fist.

“Mh.”

He sharpened the straight line running through his body and placed the knuckle of his middle finger at the leading edge.

All of his speed and weight were there.

He took a powerful step forward, toward his opponent. He ducked low from the head.

A great sound rang out.

It came from his feet digging into the sand.

He also heard the waves and the wind rushing by his ears.

He heard his breath leaving his throat and joining the air.

All of those sounds were fake.

They were no more than sound effects created by DT.

The sand below him was also fake.

…Yes, that’s right.

The beach was fake.

The waves washing up to his feet were fake.

The lights of the amusement park visible past the waves were fake.

Even the sky above all those fake things was fake.

<That’s DT’s sky.>

That’s right, his racing mind muttered.

The darkness in the sky above was fake.

The clouds blowing through it were fake.

The wind blowing the clouds was fake.

Everything he could see when looking up from this fake land was just as fake.

The heavens and the earth were fake in this city.

But he was just as confident that he really was there.

<Ohh!>

He viewed the distant amusement park lights, heard his own breaths, heard the waves blowing in the wind, and felt the sand beneath his feet.

He faced forward as he ran and saw his enemy there.

So he gathered strength in his fist.

“This ends here!”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Algo did not dodge.

He sent his raised left fist into Aoe’s fist.

He went all out.

He showed no hesitation.

He sent out the fastest attack, which was also a killer attack.

Just as their two attacks collided, their powers reached an equilibrium and nearly exploded.

The impact traveled back through Aoe’s fist and up to his neck. The sound rang in his ears and rattled his brain.

In the brief moment of collision, Aoe had a thought.

…How…

He had a realization.

“How is any of this fake!?”

It was all there.

The familiar things.

The things he wanted.

Even the things he had forgotten.

And that wasn’t all.

“Yuo.”

Something so important remained by his side.

He could sense it all. And…

…Look.

He thought to himself.

…Look at it all now.

But that was when his vision distorted.

Thinking there was something wrong with his sense of sight, he shouted his will to correct it.

“I will never exchange blows with this man again!”

His Downloaded vision remained distorted.

There was nothing wrong with his sense of sight. The distortion came from the tears in his eyes.

His great speed scattered the tears into the air and he poured strength into his arm to push on his colliding fist.

But the tears weakened that strength.

And just as he sensed his own weakness, he sensed another strength and a voice.

A gentle strength grasped his upper arm and a powerful voice rang out.

He sensed the strength tactilely, but the voice rang out as a will.

“Don’t give up!”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

It was Yuo.

She leaned out over his right shoulder and swung out her own right arm.

Monkey and the ferret clung to her right shoulder and stared out ahead of his fist.

The Mice watched as her Load Emblem linked with his.

He realized the hand on his right arm was Yuo’s power.

It was a gentle thing that did not supply any additional attack power. Her voice also had no actual effect.

But they were both crucially important to him.

He knew in that moment that he had everything he needed.

He gave a roar.

“I will surpass you!”

His will moved his body.

He shook his head, brushed away the tears, and shouted his thoughts.

“Go.

“I will no longer give up!”

The Son of God emblem on his right arm and Yuo’s back shined and they gained a renewed awareness of themselves. Text strings audibly emerged from the emblems.

■Type-Origin – God-class – Ultima■

The strongest Plus power shot out with no fear of the Minus.

It all happened in an instant.

Algo smiled when he saw Aoe and Yuo on his right shoulder in that moment.

“So the child of god has indeed arrived at the right hand of god!”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Algo’s left arm could not counteract Aoe’s strength, so it shattered.

Aoe’s fist continued on to strike Algo in the center of the chest.

“…!”

The impact produced a great heat that scorched the air.

The sandy beach split apart and water erupted from the artificial lake.

Algo himself was launched backwards.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Fooblicky’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Park

<Fooblicky’s Over Reload>

Their power suddenly vanished.

The mirrors emitting light in front of everyone around Fooblicky disappeared.

It wasn’t that she or Telyb had canceled the spell.

The power had been cut off at its destination. As if to say the power was no longer necessary.

Inside the park, everyone looked to Babel.

The evacuees, the Yard members, the Yard ambassadors, and Telyb all did.

They saw the defense shield connecting Babel and the castle disappear.

The same happened to the shield around the park.

A single large window opened overhead.

<Removing localized speed boost: All of DT returning to standard x100 boost>

“So now it’s all back to normal,” sighed Fooblicky.

Just then, windows opened in front of everyone.

They displayed the numeral 0 in white using the standard large gothic typeface.

That was the virus program the Yard members had created earlier.

The white numeral soon changed to a video of an explosion with a loud sound effect to match.

But the screen suddenly went blank after the explosion finished.

A quiet triple chord tune played as text appeared on the blank windows.

Fooblicky read aloud the single English word written in black.

“Congratulations.”

<Fooblicky’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT’s Amusement Park

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Algo stood on the beach sans left arm.

Alternative stood to his right and worked to helped prop him up.

With the blimp behind him, heat left his body and white steam rose into the sky. The blood vessels bulged out on his upper arm and neck, a few had ruptured, and blood spilled into the waves washing at his feet.

But in addition to that, he had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

That was due to Aoe’s fist and the Words Warn.

He and Aoe faced each other from within arm’s reach.

The wind blew through. The waves reached their feet, reaching up to their ankles.

The water was more ticklish than cold.

The giant wall to the left – Babel – continued to make noise.

The air moved and the wind blew.

But they did not move.

Aoe only sensed Yuo holding her breath behind him.

The wind blew and Algo narrowed his eyes. He wobbled on his feet, scaring Alternative, but it only happened once. He stood tall and spoke weakly but with a smile.

“Such a pleasant breeze. Nice and cool.”

The waves nearly drowned out his voice and Aoe did not reply.

Nevertheless, Algo pulled three program trigons from his pocket.

He looked to the sky.

“Aoe, why is the wind so cold?”

Aoe opened his mouth to respond.

But when he spoke, his voice was squeezed from his throat, not from the mouth.

“Because a wind that wants to be a wind…feels like the wind.”

“Yes. So I ask you, Aoe. Does your Plus fist remain real even in this Minus world?”

Aoe looked to his right fist.

After making his attack and pulling it back, the emblem had vanished.

That was only a PC Body’s clenched fist being run by a subprogram.

He stared at his fist and Algo shut his eyes.

“Yuo.”

“Um, yes!? What is it!?”

She looked up and Algo waved his hand.

He tossed the three program trigons over Aoe’s shoulder, one by one.

Monkey followed them with his eyes and the ferret caught them in his mouth and swallowed them.

“Those are Babel’s management program, the queen’s Demigod Program…and Master Suedomsa’s Demigod Program.”

“You’re really giving me all of this?”

“Oh, no. The Babel one and the Queen’s one I am merely returning. Oh, and Yuo? Take a look at Aoe’s eyes.”

“Mh?” grunted Aoe as he looked back over his shoulder. Yuo placed her hand on his right shoulder and looked at his face.

Her eyes wandered searchingly, until…

“Oh,” she said and opened a window. The window displayed a photo of his face.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Now he understood the reason for her surprise. Something about him had changed in that window.

“My eye color.”

The right one was still black, but the left one had turned green.

He heard Algo’s voice.

“The title of Master has been passed down, creating someone even more powerful.”

Aoe looked back and saw Algo clenching his fist.

Algo approached, stepping through the waves with Alternative.

He was now fully within arm’s reach and he spoke with his face gone somewhat pale.

“This is exactly how Master Ungyou said it would end.”

“What? Old Man Ungyou predicted this?”

“He did. He told me that you could never learn the strongest power from him, since he was your master.”

“You don’t mean…?”

Aoe gasped and Algo shut his eyes, saying nothing more.

But he did pull his fist back in front of Aoe.

He took the most basic of stances for a martial artist: the middle punch stance.

Aoe knew the meaning of this, so he clenched his right fist and pulled it back as well.

Algo asked a question.

“Can you show me the punch that created the strongest power?”

Aoe shut his eyes just once. He clenched his teeth and pushed down what he felt rising into his throat. But it didn’t work. The tremor escaped him in his breath.

He did not perform a Load. Because he knew the fist he sent forward was real.

He opened his eyes and Algo did the same to look at him.

It began suddenly.

Algo’s fist moved.

Aoe watched that movement and pulled back his right arm without lowering his head.

A wave washed over his feet as he threw a weak punch.

“––––”

Algo’s fist grazed his hair, but it didn’t hit. It passed behind him.

Instead, Aoe’s fist struck Algo in the chest.

It was a weak thing, more placing his fist there than anything.

It barely even made a sound.

Aoe heard the sound of the wave receding and then heard Algo’s voice.

“Was that supposed to be a punch?”

“But!”

Aoe hung his head. He kept his fist clenched as he bit his lower lip and grabbed Algo’s shoulder with his left hand.

Algo placed his right on that left hand and squeezed it.

Aoe looked to Algo, still biting his lip.

Algo smiled. His smiling lips parted and his grip on Aoe’s hand increased.

“Begin anew from here, Aoe.”

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

As soon as Algo spoke those words, a window opened between the two of them.

<Warning: Emergency exit has been breached: Great God Lives accumulation within Babel has passed the critical point. They are no longer controllable: Babel could collapse in approximately 270 seconds>

<Warning: All PC Bodies in range of this window alert should immediately evacuate to the southern park>

A siren rang in the distance and Algo let go of Aoe’s hand.

“It is time. The Great God Lives will disappear just as you want them to.”

He spoke with no emotion in his voice and pulled a book from his pocket.

He held out a copy of the bible. It was the one he had inherited from Kobayashi Ungyou.

A ring sat atop the black leather cover.

The pearl ring was the one Algo had been wearing on his right hand earlier.

He pressed the two items to Aoe’s chest.

A single window appeared over Algo and Alternative’s heads.

<May your joys be many.>

Aoe wasn’t sure which one of them that window came from, but he still raised his voice.

“Hey!”

Aoe looked down to catch the bible and ring before they fell, but that was when Algo turned around without another word. Algo picked Alternative up with his remaining arm and ran toward the bow of the blimp.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe looked up in surprise to see long golden hair blowing in the wind.

Those two did not look back.

In an instant, Algo made a boosted leap onto the top of the blimp.

“Wa-”

Before Aoe could tell him to wait, a deep rumble ran through the air.

The blimp was beginning to rise.

He knew where it had to be going: to the top of Babel.

Neither the man standing on the blimp nor the woman in his arm looked back.

Aoe stretched his hand out toward them.

But he stopped himself. He knew what they were doing.

“They’re going to deal with the Great God Lives inside Babel.”

After saying that, Aoe reached his right arm back and around Yuo to pick her up.

The blimp carrying Algo and Alternative was already far overhead and still rising.

He did not look that way. He turned away from the sky and looked Yuo in the eye instead.

She was lowering her head a bit, but she nodded with determination on her face.

She was telling him to do this.

Just then, the air shook and the ground quaked.

“…!”

Just as he braced against the quake below his feet, windows opened all around, displaying alerts in red text.

Yuo spoke from his arm, a note of panic in her voice.

“Has Babel started to collapse!?”

Aoe didn’t answer. He ran along the beach, leaping out onto the artificial lake.

Yuo altered her coordinate setting to take a seat in the air while he gave her an instruction.

“Yuo, put up a shield!”

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>

Fooblicky’s Sight Mode: In DT Park

<Fooblicky’s Over Reload>

It only took Babel an instant to collapse.

The park happened to be the perfect spot to watch it happen, so Fooblicky shouted to everyone around her.

“Switch to Sight Mode!”

Before she was even finished speaking, Babel’s towering form swelled out. The internal structure had given way to the inner pressure of the Great God Lives, breaking the frame from within and tearing open the joints in the outer paneling.

The inner light leaked out through the scars of the expansion.

It was a divine light. It expanded outwards in search of the path of least resistance.

That path was upwards.

It blasted through the heat dissipation device that formed Babel’s roof and continued on into the sky.

It only took an instant.

The top of the tower shattered and emitted light.

Babel exploded, shredding itself all the way down the tower.

The outer paneling opened as if blossoming and light spread from the center like a flower.

At the same time, a cylindrical shield surrounded blossoming Babel and rose toward the heavens.

That was a defense shield.

“That’s Yuo’s Demigod Program!”

The barrier of light created by a Demigod attempted to suppress Babel’s explosion.

But the great god’s power was going to win out. The middle of the shield was swelling.

If the shield was torn through by the inner pressure, DT would be partially destroyed.

Text strings formed in circular orbits around the shield and a song scattered from it, but it wasn’t enough. The surface of the shield glowed bright as it expanded.

And then…

<Fooblicky’s Over Reload: Full Sight Open>

An elliptical shape was blasted up from the center of the explosion while the light enveloped it.

That was the blimp.

Someone stood atop the blimp.

A man with a woman on his right shoulder.

The heat burned his body as he raised his right arm.

The woman on his shoulder also raised her arm.

Then he swung down his arm.

That arm had its boost settings set far above the usual limits.

The arm burned and blood sprayed out, but he produced a massive shockwave at the center of the great god’s explosion.

The shockwave ruptured the blimp and arrived at the bottom of the light without weakening.

The Great God Lives would not be destroyed by such insignificant power.

But it did throw off the Lives’ directionality, creating a large wave of scattering light.

<Fooblicky’s Sight Mode has ended>

Algo’s Sight Mode: In DT Airspace

<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo was surrounded by a deafening roar and a wave of light soaring upwards.

He looked down to see his mangled right arm.

He stared at the arm which was no more than a stick of flesh and blood at this point and then he looked to Alternative who was still on that shoulder.

“I’m a little young to be retiring as a martial artist, but I don’t think I have a choice now.”

He muttered to himself while seeing the Great God’s scattering light.

The light filled the shield from the ground below to the dark sky above.

The light and debris rose like a fountain at first, but soon acted like water flooding the cylinder. Finally, it hit the infinitely looping border surface in the sky.

The shield filled with light. He could no longer see outside of it. He couldn’t see anything to stand on below him either.

Babel’s wreckage was rapidly turning to little more than dust.

It was shattering.

Everything was shattering.

While it all fell apart, Algo collapsed backwards with Alternative still on his shoulder.

He fell backwards in the light erupting toward the sky like fireworks.

His feet began to break apart. Then his ankles and shins. They turned to white ash, particles of light, and formless nothingness.

He did not fight it. He simply let himself break apart as he fell down, down, down.

Then Alternative left his shoulder and moved out in front of him.

<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Her feet were also breaking apart and growing transparent.

He embraced her vanishing body with his mangled right arm.

She no longer had a hitbox, but he still embraced her.

She placed her arms around his back.

She smiled with a window over her head.

<It’s so warm.>

She couldn’t actually sense temperature with her Body breaking down so badly, but Algo still shut his eyes and nodded.

His hearing detected a song coming from beyond the rising light and roaring noise.

The song pierced through all the unconnected noise and it carried the Text of someone’s will.

The song belonged to a girl outside the shield. The song was a program voice input to supply a double boost in the hopes of strengthening the shield surrounding them. But the lyrics continued even after the program Text was complete.

The sound of the song changed then.

“This song…”

Both of them recognized that Text. They had sung it themselves.

Algo narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth while listening to the voice.

“Alternative.”

The girl in his arm looked up.

She was smiling, but with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

His arm was badly broken and she had no hitbox, but he still held her tight.

“Do you know why it feels so warm?”

<I do.>

As soon as she answered, the two of them fully vanished into the light.

<Algo has been fully destroyed>

<Alternative has been fully destroyed>

DT OS Word Mail: To All DT Residents

Notification to all DT residents.

The citywide alert has been canceled and stabilization efforts are underway. Please return to your everyday lives.

<Returning to everyone’s individual modes>

Back to Chapter 18

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