Editing City Series:Volume4b Prologue (section)

===Part 2===

'''7:02 PM

“!?”

They all stopped applauding.

Their gazes pierced through the Alliance Head as they looked to the terminal.

He looked back as if thrown around by those gazes.

He found a new black space in front of him.

The terminal’s screen had blacked out.

“…?”

He grabbed the edge of the screen and peered at it.

A white cursor appeared at the upper left of the black screen and the same question as before appeared again.

“Is this an error?”

Focusing on action over words, he reached for the keyboard.

The keys he pressed were immediately written out by the cursor.

“So it’s responding… Everyone, back to your posts!”

With that, he pulled out the chair and sat down.

He pulled the keyboard close and resumed his conversation with the machine.

“6th Lock: …Then what is your need?”

The repeated password prompt was asking for the final answer.

He answered by trying to quit.

“>exit”

But…

“6th Lock: …Then what is your need?”

He only got the same question again.

He thought for a bit and tried again.

“>Original Words”

And…

“6th Lock: …Then what is your need?”

“6th Lock: …Then what is your need?”

“6th Lock: …Then what is your need?”

The question would not stop appearing.

“…!?”

It was no longer responding to the keyboard.

Something was wrong, so he shouted on reflex.

“This is an emergency! Status report!”

At that moment, fire burst from the terminal’s screen.

“!”

It was not an explosion. It was a directional flame, much like from a flamethrower.

For just an instant, the terminal spewed a bonfire-like flame as if it had become a burning altar.

The machine burned.

The Alliance Head rolled from the chair to escape the heat and intensity of this abnormality.

But his eyes remained glued to the terminal as it burned to ash. He viewed the machine that Ashed into nothingness without leaving a single scorch mark on the wall or floor.

He watched that audible fire and shouted a name.

“The Flame High!?”

At the same time, an alarm sounded from the speaker on the ceiling. The room’s white lights vanished at the same time.

Deep red warning lights switched on in place of those fluorescent ones.

Tension rapidly filled the control room and someone’s voice raced through the room.

“Someone has hacked into Ixolde’s control computer!”

“Into the completely isolated control system!?”

“It’s a direct connection from within! The target firewall’s spoofing supplement was broken through two minutes ago!”

“You moron! Even if they’re inside, could they really break through the defenses!?”

Something answered that shouted question.

The Ixolde Babel Gun gave a roar outside the large window.

It was a great roar.

“Wha-…!?”

The sound acted as a physical blow as it mixed with the alarm and shook their bodies and the room.

Then that machine, which looked like it was made from linked-together containers, began a rapid transformation.

While shaking and producing a mechanical cry, it erased its seams and strengthened its connections.

The mass of metal wriggled like a giant snake.

“A Live transformation!? Is it a Tuner?”

“No! There’s no interference at its Octave! This is…a Word Master!”

“You mean there’s a Word Master capable of transforming Ixolde at will?”

“There’s no other way to explain this! They didn’t hack into Ixolde! They tamed its ''kotodama''!”

The Babel Gun raised a metallic cry as needle-like objects jutted out from it.

Those needles split and spread out thinly to become leaves.

The metal leaves grew out from the seams between containers like heat sinks.

Several of them stuck out long and sharp on either side and straight line veins were visible on them.

Ixolde was rearranging its Live to become a flower.

But that was not all.

That vast underground space was covered by a ceiling. The Babel Gun’s base was attached to that, but it was torn away by a great force pulling downward.

The giant metal stalk rose like a cobra head and the head instantly became a flower bud.

The growth and transformation produced great noise.

Several cracks ran through that bud and an intense noise rang out.

It was blooming.

What had been a machine was blooming as a flower with the alarm, the metallic noises, and the sounds of impact acting as its cries of birth.

It was red.

Even in the red lights of the alarm, it was noticeably deep red as it spread out.

The red flower blossomed in the darkness.

Scarlet ivy wrapped around its stalk, its leaves, and its flower.

That ivy was fire.

The flames raced up from below and wrapped tightly around the surface of the flower petals.

The flower burned.

Just like the terminal, the giant red flower of metal was instantly wrapped in scarlet flames.

It crumbled.

With a roar much like that of a waterfall, the metal blossom crumbled in the darkness.

The roar of impacts created by the bright flames assaulted everyone watching.

“————!!”

Then tension and screams filled their surroundings.

The crumbling flower was falling toward the control room.

Before they could even gasp, the burning red flower petals filled the entire window.

The Alliance Head tried to say something to them all, but…

“Take cover!”

With a roaring voice behind them, the wind raced in.