Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

'''7:25 PM

The hustle and bustle of Osaka’s night grew duller and duller the farther one got from the city center.

Northern Osaka’s border between noise and silence was the Yodo River, Osaka’s greatest river.

It was about a kilometer wide and it was spanned by a few bridges.

One of those was the New Yodo River Bridge which contained a wide road and had one primary geographic feature.

The bridge was the shortest route between Osaka’s city center and New Osaka Station.

There were no cars on the bridge.

That was due to the Fourth Alarm.

The ear-splitting siren rang from Osaka’s center.

The sound seemed even louder as it was carried by the river’s winds.

Two people ran across the New Yodo River Bridge as if pursued by that wind and noise.

One was a youth in a T-shirt and jeans.

The other was a girl with a large false left arm.

The youth asked a question as he ran.

“Are you okay? That Word Particle Cannon didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“It might’ve if it had hit me directly, but the Dragon Emperor’s roar is enough to handle anythin’ else.”

The false arm girl, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, lightly tapped the Dragon Emperor’s armor.

As if answering the vibration of the tap, steam burst from the gaps between armor panels.

“I can’t believe I had to take it up to the Seventh Activation, though.”

“Is bringing it to too high an activation a problem?”

“It eats up a ton of power. It’s a bit of a problem when I can only fire cannon blasts,” she explained as she ran. “And if I take it up to the final Ninth Activation, I’ll lose the Dragon Emperor’s arm itself.”

“Rumor has it that would wake up the lightning dragon contained inside the thing.”

“Don’t ya get too interested. When the Third Dragon Emperor was taken to its Final Activation durin’ World War Two, the wearer and everythin’ within a kilometer was turned to scorched earth.”

“Wasn’t that because someone other than the original wearer tried to use it by force?”

“The Dragon Emperor is a false arm with a dragon’s will, so it’ll try to kill any master it doesn’t take a likin’ to.”

“That’s pretty scary. So it’s a false arm that’s on the verge of being Death Techno, huh?”

“I guess. But it does seem that I’ve got some kinda connection with it. It’s probably watchin’ me while it sleeps inside this armor.”

Taeko smiled bitterly.

“I just hope it accepts me as its master when I go for the Final Activation.”

“Instead, how about you pray you never come across a danger warranting that?”

After that comment, Hisahide sneezed.

“Damn, it’s cold.”

They were in the middle of the bridge, where the wind on the river’s surface was strongest.

Taeko glanced over at him as he bent forward and held his arms around his sides for warmth.

“Maybe if ya hadn’t burned yer hoodie…”

“I had to. I needed some kindling to spread the Flame High to the Word Particle Cannon’s light.”

He sighed.

“And after Takada chose it for me and everything…”

“Oh, ya mean that girl who was hangin’ out with Shoui?”

“Don’t put it like that.”

“Why not?”

He looked up at Taeko.

“Because she’s my prophet.”

“Well, she sees it that way too. What’s got ya so mad?”

“…”

“Jealous?”

“Of course not.” Hisahide briefly fell silent. “I’m Tokyo’s Chancellor, I’m the strongest, I’m definitely the star of this incident, and I’m going to be king. I have no reason to feel jealous of or indebted to that Hizaka guy.”

“Then what does that girl see in Shoui?”

“I can never tell what girls are thinking.”

“Ya can’t tell, huh? …Well, it sounds like ya trust her, so that’s fine.”

Taeko gave a pleasantly bitter smile.

“So all the resentment is directed at Shoui,” she said.

–Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit!

But then she gave a sudden shout.

“Jump!”

For just an instant, they heard a roar from overhead.

A moment later, both of them saw several giant icicles fall from above.

“The Koto Chancellor!?”

The thirty meter transparent masses dropped down after they had leaped out of the way.

Several deafening noises and powerful impacts followed.

One, two, and then three ice spears with sharp points stabbed into the New Yodo River Bridge.

The destruction continued without stopping.

–Taeko – Dodge/Gym/Savate Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Running Dodge – Hit!

“That’s a helluva lot of power!”

“This is no time to be praising her! She’s figured out my weakness as a Harmonist!”

“Yer weakness?”

“An attack with greater speed than my paradox. In other words, a surprise attack.”

The giant icicles formed within the ether light that suddenly appeared overhead, so they were impossible to predict.

Seven of them stabbed into the ground ahead of Taeko and Hisahide.

They were well over ten meters in diameter, so they blocked the way as a wall.

The two stopped and briefly saw ether light twinkling overhead.

More were coming.

And come they did.

Eight icicles appeared overhead and giant hunks of rock came into view directly below.

The Lives of the ether that formed the space around them was altered to change everything into ice weapons.

This was the technique of the Cold High Rhythm user. It was the technique of Koto’s Chancellor.

But Taeko fearlessly took action.

She had already activated the Dragon Emperor, so she recited her Words as the dragon gave a cry.

She shouted the song that summoned lightning.

''Nobody takes the middle road

''Nothing lives or dies

''It all either falls into ruin or survives

''Everyone, everyone, everyone

The Dragon Emperor released bluish-white electricity from her shoulder, fist, and claws.

Taeko took action in a big way.

–Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Step Forward – Hit.

:–Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Leap – Hit.

::–Taeko – Lightning High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Ether Strike – Hit!

She jumped and made a simultaneous smash uppercut with the Dragon Emperor to destroy one icicle.

But the overwhelming difference in mass pulled the icicle down and tried to slam Taeko to the ground.

Her jump was forced to a stop and her feet reached the bridge.

But she managed to fully support the icicle with her one fist.

“I can’t let myself die here!”

With that cry, she finished swinging the Dragon Emperor.

She was supported by the Dragon Emperor, her Techs, her Rhythm, her own physical strength, and the anti-shock inner suit she wore.

The Dragon Emperor gave a roar.

Then the icicle flew back up into the air, lightning surrounded it, and it broke.

It shattered.

With the sound of a broken waterfall, a transparent spray scattered through the sky.

Taeko sighed as she looked up at it.

“That was a close one… This is no laughin’ matter!”

As soon as she said that, the ninth icicle arrived without warning.

It dropped in no time.

Taeko had already lost her chance to dodge and she was not prepared to attack.

She could not move, but…

“Get down!”

Hisahide leaped over.

He had his MD’s headphone in his ear.

He spun in midair and swung up a foot that produced fire.

The fire immediately grew into a flame that illuminated the ice while drawing a trail behind his foot.

The clash of ice and heat was over before it began.

The icicle burned.

It became a giant torch thirty meters tall and ten meters wide, it lost its qualities as ice, and it was blown away by the pure flame.

The mass of heat and flame fell over onto the New Yodo River Bridge and rolled loudly.

The other icicles that had stabbed into the bridge were caught in the flames and ignited.

The Flame High’s fire was spreading.

And these icicles had been created by altering the ether’s Lives, so they burned especially well.

Several giant pillars of fire were created.

The ice burned.

The seven giant icicles piercing the bridge became fiery towers.

Their light called in a scorching wind.

As the flames grew stronger, so did the wind.

The bridge itself ignited and was enveloped by hellfire.

Taeko and Hisahide maintained fighting poses as they looked across the burning field that had been a bridge.

And…

–Taeko – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Hear – Hit.

“…!? The bridge is burnin’ down!”

The flames reacted to her shout.

With a blast of scorching wind, the flames rose up like a wall and the bridge was crushed.

The collapse began at the locations weakened by the icicles piercing it.

The center of the bridge crumbled over a length of three hundred meters.

The road, the sidewalk, the railings, and the bridge girders all burned and sank into the flowing river.

“Man, the Flame High kicks ass!”

Hisahide acted like this had nothing to do with him even as the sounds of destruction surrounded him.

Taeko asked a question next to him.

“If Tokyo’s Chancellor had this much power, how’d she die during the Kinki Riot?”

“Well, according to Iba, she was killed by his master, Yuuki Senga.”

“Eh?”

“A corporation was involved in the Kinki Riot and they wanted to end it via single combat between a representative of Tokyo and a representative of Osaka. …The corporation’s troops surrounded the two of them, so they had no choice but to go through with it.”

The din of destruction drowned out Hisahide’s voice.

But he did not stop speaking.

“Then Yuuki Senga arrived and the two of them died. That’s all Iba is willing to tell me. I don’t know what Yuuki Senga did, but her arrival must have triggered the end. In other words, their death.”

He added that he did not hold a grudge against anyone over that.

His words vanished within the roaring of the flames.

The only sounds were that roaring and the splashing of water.

Pieces of the bridge were turning to fire in midair and vanishing into the Yodo River.

The scene of destruction continued.

And as it did…

–Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit.

“Hey, ya’ve noticed this, haven’t ya?”

“Yeah, I have. You mean this killer intent, right?”

Taeko and Hisahide let the intense noise wash over them as they stared straight ahead.

Three hundred meters away, the other end of the break in the bridge looked like a distant cliff.

A girl stood there.

She wore a red blazer modeled after the Suzaku and held a staff that resembled a giant tuning fork.

She was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki.

Across the crumbling bridge and through the gaps in the red forest of burning pillars, they could see a blazer colored an even brighter red.

“So the Killing Holder really is here!”

There was excitement in Hisahide’s voice, but he turned around.

“Ya aren’t gonna fight here?”

“I’d be at a disadvantage in a wide open space like this. She’d just attack from above like before.”

There was a smile on his face.

A smile also appeared on Taeko’s lips and she nodded.

“Yeah, I suppose so…”

“And our real goal is getting to Nagoya. Takada will be on her way to the station too.”

With that, he started running.

Taeko followed while keeping her focus on Yuuki.

Just as the two started running toward New Osaka Station, the destruction reached its climax.

One of the bridge girders burned away and sank into the river.

Flames scattered like snow and spread across the river’s surface as the air shimmered.

The destruction of immense heat signaled its end.