City Series:Volume8a Chapter6

Chapter 6: System Down

Welcome back!

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

Today’s topic is the collapse of a family.

The Day of the Oracle is arriving fast, folks, so I recommend heading out and enjoying the festival with your families.

And get in a fight if you have to!

The Son of God once said he had come “not to bring peace, but a sword” and to turn people against their families.

“A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

(Mathew 10:36)

• Things are getting kind of crazy… -Clay Pot

Hi from outside the city. I’m a 24yo man who works as a race record keeper at Daytona.

Lately, there’s been some trouble on the team I work for (which is run by my family). Today while we were trying to eat breakfast, the team’s big boss sumo-slapped my daughter, who works as a mechanic, hard enough to send her flying. It sounded like he was trying to explain why, but he stumbled over his words really bad.

My daughter lost consciousness for a moment, but as soon as she was back, she threw table salt in his eyes to blind him and then headbutted him, giving him a real nasty bloody nose. See, it turns out my daughter had accused the big boss of being the flasher roaming the streets recently, but that’s actually me and the new racer who just joined…

07/07/2000 DT 10:15 AM (-04:45)

Help Text

Plus and Minus

The concepts of Plus and Minus predate DT. They have their origins in the 19th century when networks of cable and radio communications began to appear.

It began as petty crimes such as human rights violations and business solicitations done over the phone or radio, but it ultimately led to identity fraud abusing the fact that you couldn’t see the person on the other end. It was rumored that the mafia was behind it, but a largescale investigation run in the United Sates at the beginning of the 20th century revealed that the majority of arrested offenders were minors.

This drew a lot of attention to the networked world. Those unproductive youths had used the networks to hide themselves, take from the productive adults’ profits, and yet didn’t see what they did as wrong, so the commentators at the time said they “lived in a minus world”'.

But those people accepted the title with pride, returned to that life as soon as they were out on bail, and being arrested became a badge of honor among them. And since they were referred to as Minus people, they referred to the adults as Plus people. That is where the concepts of Plus and Minus – and of Plus Elites and Minus Elites – was born.

After the war, the Great Canopy erased the global radio network and cabled networks of computers were developed instead, but that led to a few new problems.

The benefits of computer networks – anonymity, a borderless world, and a record of statements made – led to a world that produced and accumulated hundreds of times more noise than the real world.

In the real world, it is primarily valuable information that is spread, but on the computer networks, information on par with slander spread like wildfire.

For example, if you posted some kind of information on the network, it might be stored in some cache somewhere even if you deleted it, so it could easily stick around indefinitely. It is not unusual for things written with no more care than an offhand comment to remain in the public eye, lead to misunderstandings, and ultimately develop into a major problem.

This placed great pressure on the adults living in the outside world, so more and more of them left the networks.

But there were others who did not fear that storage and accumulation – those who could say, “So what? It’s their fault if they misinterpret me. And frankly, they look pretty silly getting all worked up over something I didn’t even say and shouting impotently at me like this. This world is full of noise, so what if we learn to see through the noise and seek a truth we can believe in?” These were the Minus Elites who followed in the footsteps of the phone phreaks and radio phreaks.

And when computer networks were developed in Japan after the war, they created the concepts of Harmony and Noise to match the concepts of Plus and Minus. Thanks to the oriental boom, Minus Elites the world over became familiar with those alternative names and will sometimes refer to the networked Minus World as Noise World and the Plus outside world as the Harmony World.

These same Minus Elites still form the core of the virtual and data industries, so if they sense their territory is growing unstable, they will use the power of Minus – of Noise – to fight back.

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth stared forward after standing from her throne. Her shocked gaze viewed the audience chamber after the gunfire ended.

Only she, Suedomsa’s group, and the 6 knights who had unleashed the gunfire remained standing.

The ring of the gunfire had faded from her ears.

Those on the receiving end of the gunfire flashed as if to count down the remaining seconds until they disappeared.

The 6 knights armed with submachineguns lined up in front of Suedomsa and stood at attention.

Someone was pounding on the door to the audience chamber. The other guard knights must have noticed something was amiss. However…

<A flaw has been detected in some of the castle’s NPC Bodies. Temporarily freezing them all to eliminate the threat.>

The knocking stopped as soon as that window appeared.

The castle’s security system had been shut down.

Akalabeth knew what Suedomsa was trying to do.

“You had my knights rebel in order to strip administrative authority from me.”

Suedomsa had received emergency administrative authority in order to quell this rebellion.

He viewed the 6 knights lined up in front of him.

<Telyb, the others, and even you have gone soft in the past 2000 years. Did you think I would just let the Words Warn kill me if you sealed my memories?>

He approached one of the knights and snatched the submachinegun from the unmoving arms.

And…

“…!”

Akalabeth raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, opening a window.

<Target Dummy Data: Add Functionality>

The stone floor of the audience chamber yawned open. The entire floor became a giant pitfall.

With a sound like bursting stone, the floor instantly became empty space.

Wind blew from the newly formed pit, but a voice stopped the process.

“It is too late.”

Akalabeth looked to the speaker who stood past the knights behind Suedomsa.

The kneeling man wore a black hood over his head and glowing character strings raced around him in circular orbits.

“That’s how Yuo activates programs!”

Just once, the red carpet emitted bluish-white light.

The carpet gave a sound like breaking rock and the red coloration covering the floor hardened.

Space below was distorted to create a great hole, but the carpet had grown rigid.

It formed a bridge.

Akalabeth unclenched her raised fist without thinking.

Suedomsa crossed the red bridge to approach the dais on which her throne sat.

Akalabeth, meanwhile, gripped the throne’s armrests to resist the urge to flee.

“Why would you want to repeat a tragedy like the 2nd Godtact Experiment!?”

<That wasn’t the plan. If you had given me more time instead of compromising, anyway.>

He arrived at the foot of the three steps leading up to the throne.

<If you had continued that god-summoning experiment after sealing my memoires, you may have been able to save my daughter. And if you had not sealed my memories, I may have found a solution to Words Warn.>

He stopped in front of those steps.

<You sealed my memories to eliminate the man interfering with your precious experiment.>

<But your research didn’t last long afterwards. Because you feared another failure. And you feared the Great Godquake’s destruction if you did succeed. What is that if not compromising.>

He viewed his surroundings.

<Did we create this Minus World and erase our identities with these handles because we wanted to create a comfortable home for ourselves? Of course not. It was to prove that there were things only a Minus Elite could accomplish and shove the results in the faces of those Plus Elites who mocked us in the outside world. And what better accomplishment than saving the world?>

There was no one else around. All the entrances had been locked tight with seals.

Suedomsa took a breath and moved his lips to release his exhausted voice.

“We will now carry out the 3rd Godtact Experiment which spans the past and the present. Using Babel, the Questron, and a sacrificial vessel. First, I require your management programs for Babel and the Questron, your Demigod Program Portal that allows alterations to DT’s settings, and…”

He continued with a slight smile.

“And Yuo.”

“Yuo? Why her?”

“You still haven’t figured it out, Akalabeth? You and the others are to blame for all of this. You are the ones who betrayed our Minus principles and chose halfhearted standards. I am here now to correct those mistakes.”

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

He raised his submachinegun, aiming it at her face.

She stared into the dark hole of the barrel and he no longer used his windows to speak to her.

He stuck to his voice.

“Such a sad story. 2000 years ago, when we thought no one but our own families mattered to us, we were betrayed by one of our own.”

“Betrayed, huh?”

“You heard me.” Suedomsa shut his eyes and continued. “Just before the 2nd Godtact Experiment, the chosen vessel abruptly lost the necessary qualifications. Yes, Fooblicky married Telyb.”

And…

“The next vessel we chose for the experiment was Yuo.”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo stood in front of the small red side door into the audience chamber. She wore a yellowish-green dress and had reached her hand out toward the door.

But she did not go in.

In Sight Mode, she could hear the sounds coming from the adjacent Page that was the audience chamber.

She was pale in the face because she had heard the gunfire and what Suedomsa had just said.

“No…”

<Yuo’s Over Zoom>

Looking around, everything in the stone corridor had frozen in place.

The knights, civil officials, librarian, and maids had all frozen while either walking or running.

Everyone in the castle but her and Akalabeth were NPC Bodies.

But Puppy the ferret shook her head on her shoulder.

<An emergency freeze is in place. Please wait until security control has been handed over.>

Her heart pounded once and a thought reflexively sprang to mind.

<I need to get outside.>

That thought window was followed by a large window appearing in the corridor.

It was a castle security program used to inform everyone of the situation.

<A temporary castle-wide security freeze is in place, so outside security is being called. Castle security control will be passed to DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb. Your safety is guaranteed at a probability of 87%>

Yuo’s face lit up when she read the window.

The Yard.

The castle’s security might be on the fritz and the attacker might be one of the 13 Demigods, but security was being handed from one professional to another. The castle’s security was being passed to the distant Yard representative over Suedomsa who was right here.

“And there is a Yard station on the castle grounds.”

The voice beyond the door seemed to respond to her whispered comment.

Suedomsa’s low voice spoke after a single dry cough.

“The Telyb couple must atone for their sins. If they had not succumbed to their silly emotions, you never would have gone to Yuo. And…”

“Eh?” gasped Yuo while staring at the door.

The door covered in red leather spoke the words that defined her relationship with Suedomsa.

“And then I wouldn’t have had to shoot her to death.”

“…!?”

She took a step back with a hand to her chest while hearing even more.

“The Yard is meant to be the protector of the Minus World, so its chief must atone for the Plus sin of acting on emotion.”

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Yard

<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Silence hung over the Yard HQ command center.

Everyone had frozen in place when Fooblicky revealed the identity of their enemy. Everyone, that is, except for Aoe. Deciding to pay the castle a visit, he looked to the window in Sight Mode to view the castle there.

But as he turned around, something in the opposite direction caught his eye: the southern amusement park.

Below the blimp floating in the distant sky, he could see the white castle and the Ferris wheel in the blurry amusement park.

And that Ferris wheel suddenly disappeared.

“Mh?”

“What is it?” asked Telyb.

Aoe was preparing to do an Over Zoom when more buildings in the amusement park disappeared too. Five at once this time.

But that wasn’t all.

A light appeared in the amusement park. Five beams of light stretched toward the blue sky marred by Babel’s towering silhouette.

The light curved through the sky, gathered together, and wrapped themselves into a single thick thread.

They dropped back down nearby.

Someone in the Yard spoke up in confusion.

“Something’s wrong with the boost supply to the southern district?”

Before the confused observation was complete, the light landed in the street directly in front of the Yard.

The light shined on the interior of the Yard and everyone in Sight Mode turned toward the window.

“…!?”

While everyone else was reacting in surprise, Aoe reflexively ran toward the window.

Then he saw what was outside that window.

The image was blurry since it was in an adjacent Page, so he willed a clearer image.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

At 3 steps until the window, he gained a clear view of the large dirt road.

Two people stood in the very center of the dirt ground there.

<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

One was an enormous man with short brown hair and a square face.

His thick body was covered by a navy blue military uniform with torn shoulders.

The one standing in front of him was a slender woman in a white dress. She had long blonde hair and a face that hinted at a strong will. The arms emerging from the puffy shoulders of her dress carried a giant staff.

The staff was in fact a giant white virtual pen. It was a large Mouse Device.

The descending light was crashing into the pen.

“–––––!”

When the light burst, Aoe saw both of them were looking up at him.

They were separated from him by the window between Pages, but their gazes clashed with his.

Their gazes audibly shattered against each other.

The force of their gazes made him blink and step more forcefully against the floor. He still had 2 steps until he reached the window.

<This means trouble!>

He had no proof of that. It was an intuitive thought.

But Telyb noticed the thought.

“Is there something out there!?”

At the same moment, Aoe saw the woman outside moving.

She easily swung around her virtual pen Mouse Device that looked to be a yard and a half long. First, she swung it to the right, twirling her entire body along with it.

The pen tip accelerated and drew out a line of light that blossomed into a self-expressive Download Text.

“Behold the eminent Myst’s mastery of art.”

With a sound like struck stone, the woman calling herself Myst’s arms and the tip of her pen flickered with a crimson light. A crimson emblem floated on the backs of her hands and the pen tip. The emblem used a writing slate symbol.

<Myst: Gabriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to Avi Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: Accelerated Drawing>

Myst opened her mouth.

She gave an additional shout on top of her Download.

She expressed the free will of her Grandload – the variable Text that only applied to the present.

“Listen, everyone. I, Myst Gabriel, am fond of accuracy!”

“Grant me something immediately recognizable.

“Grant me a hammer to purge silly selfishness.

“Grant me the power of a master artist’s brush!”

<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Premier: Preparing to Activate>

A sound like splitting rock came from her Mouse Device and the arms holding it.

Around a dozen see-through windows opened in the air around her.

<Activation authorized for 28M Lives within the virtual space>

<Pseudo Load Emblem: Activating: Run>

Strings of text grew from the emblems on her arms and pen tip.

The arm emblems grew to her shoulders and the pen tip one to the back of the pen.

●Type-XX076: Imperial-class: Premier●

<Activating Pseudo Grandload of Myst’s technical abilities: Loading highest-level subprograms and releasing upper limit on art ability>

A large diskette appeared halfway down the pen and rotated.

It only produced the sound of splitting rock.

She swung her virtual pen’s tip toward the sky as if letting that sound carry it.

At the same time, Aoe arrived within one step of the window.

This close to the window, he had a wider view of the high-quality outdoors scene.

He could now see into the sky above where something appeared above the Yard.

It was a hammer. It was just like the kind used for DIY home improvement work, except that it was massive and floating in the sky.

The striking surface alone had a diameter of about 100 yards. Its length was at least 400 yards.

The steel edge and the cross-section of the striking surface were visible too. It was as realistic as could be aside for its size.

However…

“Is that a drawn image!?”

The hammer was moving – swinging down toward the Yard.

Aoe attacked the window to leap outside.

He gave the shout needed to punch through the glass.

“Mh!”

He Downloaded his fist with a sound of shattering glass.

But his fist failed to shatter the actual glass. His fist hit the glass and stuck there.

As a criminal, his attack power was sealed.

“Mh?”

His puzzled grunt coincided with the hammer striking the Yard.

<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

Suedomsa: <One explosion to begin with. And then…>

<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake.

An alarm is sounding outside. It is the 3rd Alarm.

An alarm starts to sound inside the castle as well. It is the 3rd Alarm.

Akalabeth: “What did you do!?”

Suedomsa: <Crushed the Yard and all of its stations nearly simultaneously. At the cost of my amusement park.>

Suedomsa: “Akalabeth, this may be your fault for relying on the Yard and refusing to give me the programs.”

<The quake has reached Shindo 4. Please evacuate the castle.>

<Castle Security Program Decision: danger detected outside the castle, so the request for security assistance from outside has been rejected.>

Suedomsa: <See? It’s telling us to evacuate but also saying the outside is dangerous. You see this kind of self-contradiction all the time when programs meet a situation they weren’t designed for.>

Suedomsa: <But even if you try to place the castle security in the Telyb couple’s hands…>

<DT Yard is no longer functioning. It will likely take time to recover.>

<Castle security transfer to DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb has failed.>

<Castle Security Program Decision: Requesting a volunteer within the castle to take over castle security.>

Suedomsa: <And now it all falls into my hands.>

<Archon Suedomsa Txt: the castle security program has a request. Knight NPC Bodies within the castle have rebelled and damage outside the castle has put the castle in high alert. Requesting you and your people take control of castle security as one of the 13 Demigods. Do you accept? Y/N>

Suedomsa: <A flawless decision. Not a mistake to be found.>

Akalabeth: “Are you saying that is why it made the wrong decision?”

Suedomsa: “Y”

<Castle Security Program Decision: Confirmation received from Archon Suedomsa>

<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth noticed what Suedomsa was doing while she looked down from the throne’s dais.

He moved the submachinegun away from her and aimed toward the 6 knights instead.

And he pulled the trigger six times.

The Board Mode firing was handled efficiently by the subprogram.

The six shots rang loud and pierced through the gaps in the knights’ white mobile armor.

None of them screamed as their bodies shook and they were blown backwards.

Six armored bodies clattered down onto the hardened carpet and began to flash.

Suedomsa looked past the vanishing knights to view the center of the audience chamber. He asked a question of the black robed man among the four people kneeling there.

<Excel, how are things in the castle?>

“All of the NPC Bodies have been frozen. The knights are under my control, including the remaining four set to rebel. The foundation of their actions and ethics are all functioning properly.” Excel nodded once. “The Yard NPC Bodies in the castle station are on the move. They are granted independent command authority if the rest of the Yard is lost, so, while I can only provide estimates, I believe they will cause us some minor trouble.”

<Then run the four knights set to rebel. Then use all the remaining knights to eliminate them.>

As soon as Suedomsa’s window appeared, gunfire sounded elsewhere in the castle.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

Akalabeth’s eyes scanned across the stone walls.

She heard gunfire from beyond those walls and the locked metal doors. She heard return fire as well.

The question-and-answer exchange of gunfire continued for a few seconds.

Then the castle was once more ruled only by the sound of an alarm.

The alarm was as loud as ever, but everything else had gone quiet.

In that cacophonous silence, Akalabeth faced Suedomsa.

He had already turned back her way and he had a window open.

<The rebel force within the castle has been eliminated.>

He gave further instructions.

“Place security on alert for outside intruders. Alert level: max. Any intruders are to be eliminated.”

<Intruders detected within the castle>

<DT Yard Castle Station NPC Bodies: Numbers 00-31: Possibility of hostile action against current castle administrator Archon Suedomsa Txt: 89%. Should they be eliminated?>

Y.

When Suedomsa closed that window, a new one opened.

<Intruder detected within the castle>

<Demigod Yuo Natas Wav: Possibility of hostile action against current castle administrator Archon Suedomsa Txt: 69%. Should she be eliminated?>

N.

Akalabeth saw him close that window too.

“Yuo isn’t your enemy?”

<Because I need her soon. I don’t want any of these dimwitted modern NPC Bodies killing her.>

And…

<Now, Akalabeth, let’s negotiate.>

He raised his right hand and walked to the bottom of the dais’s stairs.

“I would like your management programs for the Questron and Babel and the Portal program that allows alterations to DT’s settings.”

“Where is Yuo?”

<There is no rush. She will be found in the castle eventually.>

Then he spoke aloud.

“I would like to settle this as peacefully as possible, but if you refuse to hand over the programs, I will once more set a rampaging NPC Body loose in the city like I did yesterday. So how about it, Akalabeth?”

He waited a few seconds and swung down his hand.

“Wait!” shouted Akalabeth on reflex.

<Such a pathetic plea. Your past self who led us Minus Elites is weeping.>

Suedomsa’s cheeks twisted a bit and he loudly snapped the fingers of his lowered right hand.

“Excel, start up three of them.”

“Yes, sir.”

He was answered by a trio of explosions from outside. They came from much further away than before.

Akalabeth faced south, staring at the unseen city beyond the audience chamber’s entrance.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

The triple sounds of destruction were coming from the south.

She saw Suedomsa raising his right hand again.

“Enough stalling. I will only ask once more: will you or will you not give me your programs?”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has updated>

Myst’s Sight Mode: In Eastpointe, East DT

<Myst’s Over Reload>

Myst, the artist in a white dress, shouted from the center of the road in front of the Yard.

“Have a taste of the pain I felt being reduced to a mere Anon2 while awaiting Master Suedomsa’s return!”

The Yard collapsed in an instant.

The destruction came courtesy of the giant floating hammer.

The power of the metal swung straight down.

It crushed the wind and dropped hard onto the building.

The contact and the crash of destruction were simultaneous. The hammer crushed the 3-story Yard HQ all the way down to the basement. The sound of breaking dirt and concrete was closer to a crashing wave than a rumble.

And after the hammer reached the basement…

<Animated Image Settings: Loop Number: 3>

It struck thrice.

The hammer obediently vanished into thin air once its mission was complete.

Meanwhile, similar explosive noises erupted from all over the city.

Every single Yard station had received the same treatment.

Alarms rang from every part of the city.

And some new sounds suddenly joined them.

The sounds were like collections of wood and rock bursting into the sky and of mounds of sand being broken through.

Those sounds came from three distinct locations.

Three explosions of destruction erupted into the city and giant dark knights stood from within.

The knights looked to the sky and released deafening screams.

Their voices were answered by the citywide alarms.

<Myst’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

The carriages traversing the road around her came to a stop and the cars stopped their wheels.

People left their homes to see what was happening and fled after noticing the knights consuming the city.

Cries and smoke rose into the sky and a destructive wind swept down the roads.

Everything shouted louder and louder as if to confirm its existence among all the confusion.

Myst, the cause of the chorus of screams, chaos, and destruction, spoke in front of the Yard HQ. Her voice was not like the many screams. It was a cheerful thing. She laughed loud enough to be heard over all the confusion.

“Ah ha ha!”

<Mysts’s Over Zoom>

Myst followed up her laughter by opening her mouth and her will and shouting into the sky above.

“Ecstasy!”

She held her left hand to her mouth, bent backwards, and laughed.

“Did you see that, Mekton!? I didn’t even need your protection!”

“I feel like…I wasted my time…coming,” said the large man in the navy blue military uniform standing behind her. He gave a deep nod. “You are…useful. I am…not. You are…not like me. So you are…useful.”

“You better believe I’m useful!” she shouted, slamming the bottom of her Mouse Device against the ground. “In terms of flowers, an artist’s true power is like the beautiful white cherry blossom!”

She spread her arms to embrace the sky and she spoke loudly into the vortex of chaos there.

“An author’s duty is to provide everyone with the same set of values. And everyone who saw this masterpiece must have had the same thing burned into their psyche! It’s like a dream come true!”

After finishing her statement, she nodded at the echo of her own voice.

It was a deep nod of satisfaction followed by a triumphant snort. Then she inhaled in preparation to say more.

But at that very moment, a different voice raced down the street. It was a loud voice brimming with bared anger.

“You’re no artist!” roared the voice.

A man stood on the roof of the convenience store across the street from the Yard and to her left.

<Myst’s Over Zoom>

He had short black hair, he wore a black tank top and white shorts, and his musculature was slender but well toned.

He blatantly clicked his tongue.

“You insult cherry blossoms by comparing them to a moron who mistakes silly games for being useful!”

“Who are you!?”

“Mh,” he grunted before answering. “I am Aoe Shouzou, GASAS Team 4 Commander. My Dance Combat style is the Kobayashi School and my martial arts rank is Superior!”

<Myst’s Sight Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Board Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

You are in 3F Personal Room – Yuo’s Living Quarters, a Top Page of the castle.

It is a stone room. A bed and a desk with a support calculator are located along the west wall. A kitchen and a closet are located at the east wall.

You are the only one here.

Yuo: “Wow.”

Yuo: “What do I do now?”

Yuo: “Um, uh, Puppy, lock this door for now.”

Yuo: “And change the door’s wallpaper to match the surrounding stone wall.”

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

A diskette appears over the door’s seam and begins to spin.

The door changes to match the wall around it. The odds of it going unnoticed are 87%.

Yuo: “…”

Yuo: “What now? The knights will pursue me if I try to do anything. Can I send a Word Mail?”

<All Word Mails on castle grounds require authorization from Archon Suedomsa Txt>

<You would either need to access the directional antennae located atop the communications towers on the east and west of the castle walls or acquire communication authority from the central communication tower on the castle roof>

Yuo: “There are knight stations at both those options, so there’s no way I could pull it off.”

Yuo: <This entire mess is caused by Suedomsa, who is actually my dad.>

Yuo: <That means Alternative is actually my sister.>

Yuo: <And Akalabeth apparently tried to use me as a godtact experiment vessel.>

Yuo: “…”

Yuo: “Does that mean dad shot me to death after I made the prophecy?”

Yuo: <…>

Yuo: “Oh, c’mon. You expect me to believe I was shot for such a pathetically vague prophecy?”

Yuo: “Like that would actually happen. Ah ha ha ha ha.”

Yuo: “Ha ha ha ha…ha…sigh.”

Yuo: <This is so depressing.>

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

You are now seated on the carpet.

The ferret Mouse on your shoulder is staring at you. She is tapping on your shoulder with her front paw.

Yuo: “Trying to cheer me up?”

Yuo: “Yeah, I’m fine. Really. So don’t worry.”

Yuo: <Okay, I need to think through it all.>

Yuo: <This is real.>

Yuo: <All of it is real.>

Yuo: <Yes, this is all real, Yuo Natas Wav.>

Yuo: <Even if you close your eyes to shut out the visual data, even if you cover your ears to block out the auditory data, even if you block the pain to ignore the tactile data, even if…>

Yuo: “It’s all real, even if you hide in Board Mode.”

Yuo: “I can be hurt and I can hurt others. So can everyone else. We’re all the same.”

Yuo: <It doesn’t matter if I don’t see it, hear it, touch it, or notice it.>

Yuo: “The Plus and Minus worlds exist whether I’m a part of them or not.”

Yuo: “This is real. Every part of this is real. I’m not dreaming.”

Yuo: <I’m a part of this reality, so I can’t stay in Board Mode forever.>

Yuo: “Okay.”

Yuo: “…”

Yuo:

<Yuo’s Board Mode has ended>

Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo sprang to her feet.

She used her restored sight to check out the window.

<Yuo’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

Smoke was rising from a few points in the section of the city she could see from the castle.

She could see the disastrous scene and hear the alarms blaring.

She narrowed her eyes.

<Yuo’s Over Zoom>

A few silhouettes moving through the city towered above the rooftops around them.

“Are they the same as yesterday’s knight?” she wondered with tension in her eyebrows. She was trying to make an impassionate observation.

Her narrowed eyes looked to the city and counted the number of knights.

She stopped counting after reaching 3 dark giants.

Then she turned her gaze to east DT. The Yard was there. The HQ was a large building she could usually see from her room.

It had been obliterated.

The center of the building was smashed in as if a giant hammer had struck it from above.

“Senpai!”

She held a hand to her mouth. Or she meant to. But she had grabbed Puppy’s head without noticing and ended up smacking the Mouse against her jaw.

Her teeth clacked together.

After pulling her head back, she crouched down.

After apologizing to Puppy who was shaking her aching head, she stood up.

She viewed the distant rubble of the Yard HQ.

“This is all real.”

There was a bitter note to her voice.

Tension filled her face as she reached a certain decision.

“I know exactly what I should wear today.”

She set Puppy down on the bed and ran over to the closet.

She undid the door’s velcro and pulled out her Yard uniform.

She embraced the uniform made of a tough, green material and sighed.

Her shoulders drooped just before a window opened in front of her.

“Eh?”

It was a Word Mail from the castle’s Yard station.

It had been sent during the slight gap between Suedomsa gaining administrative authority over the castle and him locking down all communications.

<Opening Mail Window>

DT Yard Castle Station Word Mail: To Yuo

Yuo, I assume you have withdrawn to a safe location.

We are currently engaged in combat with the castle’s knights as illegal intruders. To resolve this crisis, we plan to fight our way into the audience chamber.

We have also managed to take back a portion of the castle’s administrative controls. We have control of the castle map. That means we control all DT knowledge of the castle’s layout. We have created a databank only you can read within the Yard station’s memory space and placed the control code there. The seal is weak, so check it ASAP.

With that, you will be able to erase knowledge related to the castle’s layout. We leave it to you to decide whether you will use that to escape or to assist any reinforcements who enter the castle.

<Yuo returns to Sight Mode>

Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Yuo’s Over Reload>

Yuo heard gunfire in the distance.

She could see out the window that the castle gate was closed.

Outside the castle, smoke was billowing from the city and a trio of colossal knights pushed through that black-streaked sky.

“The Yard is going to start with stopping those three.”

An alarm rang through the castle.

“Once the power output is in order, they should place a defense shield around the castle.”

Yuo let the sounds of destruction and the alarms wash over her while she looked into the smokey sky.

Her voiceless lips called for someone.

Instead of a first or last name, she mouthed the title she had used so many times.

She slowly inhaled and held the breath.

Then she gave a firm nod.

“I need to do whatever I can too!”

<Yuo’s Sight Mode has ended>

Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle

<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>

Akalabeth asked a question with her eyes on Suedomsa’s raised right hand.

“You said you need Yuo. You aren’t planning to make the same mistake we made back then, are you?”

Suedomsa did not answer her hurried question.

She sighed and her shoulders slumped at his silence.

And she said more with her eyes still on his right hand.

“Three things are needed to summon the great god: the Questron to receive the great god’s Lives, a reactor to extract them, and a vessel to contain them. I assume you plan to use the Questron stored below the castle and Babel for the first two. Reconstructing and maintaining them should be simple enough for your skilled servants.

“But,” she continued. “No matter how thorough your preparations, the process will take time. The great god’s Lives are extensive and the reactor can only be accelerated so much.”

He finally reacted to her words.

His bitter smile grew.

His shoulders shook, his raised right hand shook, and he spoke.

“You think time is a problem? Have you forgotten what today’s authorization was all about? Have you forgotten what settings we were changing? We will soon place a defense shield around the castle to preserve the peace. But once I receive the programs from you and acquire Yuo, the shield will be redefined to cover the area linking the castle and Babel.”

“You expect that to keep everyone out? Do you really think you can even create such a large defense shield?”

Suedomsa did not sound remotely concerned.

“Once the shield has been redefined, I will use your Portal Demigod Program to change the settings within the shield. I will increase the current 100x boost to a 1000x boost.”

Akalabeth frowned at the figure he provided.

“1000x?” She looked up. “That’s too much. It’s 10 times the current boost.”

“That it is. But DT can handle that with ease. Because we made it that way.” He clenched his raised hand into a fist. “And with that set, I will designate Yuo as the vessel. But not the current half-baked imposter Yuo who lives with you. I mean the full-on Minus Dropout Yuo who gave up on the world after seeing what people were capable of and left me while I suffered from Words Warn.”

He pulled something from his pocket.

<Akalabeth’s Over Zoom>

It was a program trigon with a question mark printed on the center.

“I created this from the program written to remove the seal on my memories. The seal you placed on Yuo’s memories is likely identical, so this should break right on through. But…”

“But what?”

“If her old memories are resurrected too quickly, her past and present personalities will clash. Her current memories will essentially be overwritten and erased by the resurrected memories. Her current memories will drop to the subconscious level and vanish.”

He meant the current Yuo’s memories would be deleted.

When Akalabeth realized that, she took a panicked step forward from the throne and took the first step down from the dais.

“Y-you mean…you don’t accept the current Yuo!?”

“The one you call Natas? She is no more than a half-baked imposter you cooked up. The Yuo I know was a dropout who was sick of the Minus. She was the kind of girl who would give up on her sick father because he couldn’t save her sister.”

“But! The current Yuo has even learned how to smile, so why would you take that away from her!?”

Once she was down on his eye level, she reached for the program in his hand.

She reached out with a cry of desperation, but he swatted her hand away.

And in exchange, he stepped forward and reached his left hand toward her.

It only took a split second.

He grabbed her throat while she reached her arm toward him.

She groaned and looked up at him from below.

“Don’t worry. This program contains reproductions of her memories from after the 1st Godtact Experiment. Memories of when she gave up on us and left us.”

“Y-you can’t just implant false memories in her head!”

Suedomsa barked a bitter laugh.

“You are the ones who filled her head with falsehoods. I bring her the truth, Akalabeth.”

He shook his head.

<The Yuo who betrayed me and dropped out is the real one. I once shot her for doing that, but now I am ready to accept her. I will help summon her true form once more.>

He took a breath and then spat out more words.

“Now, the time to choose has long since passed. We are picking up where we left off 2000 years ago. Will you give up or will you stop me? …I will not be destroyed. And I choose to use my remaining life to hold a godtact experiment on the Day of the Oracle. I will boost this Minus World by 1000x at the time and date Yuo once prophesied.”

<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>

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