City Series:Volume8b Chapter13
Chapter 13: Sky[edit]
Welcome back!
Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Behold! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!
Sounds like something’s going on at the castle!
Earlier, a signal noise played there. It was so loud it shook my cathedral.
So anyway, the key phrase this time is “the curtain opens”. How ‘bout that?
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. The Son of God called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
(Luke 23:44-46)
A 2nd Post This Time -Racter Nosrup
Welcome back! I’m making a post here because some emergency information came in.
I have some info on the castle intruder!
This comes straight from the intruder’s boss and has been confirmed by the interim Japanese government, but any more than that is top secret.
You ready for this? The intruder’s name is Aoe Shouzou, former Japanese North Kantou Chancellor and student to-
07/07/2000 DT 02:57 PM (-00:03)
Help Text[edit]
Old-Style NPC Bodies
NPC Bodies have existed since DT was first virtualized and they were originally created by the Three Sages who managed that virtualization process.
The NPC Bodies created as an experiment during DT’s initial phase no longer exist in the current year of 2000.
They were linked to the initial DT OS, so when Archon Suedomsa completed the mass-produced NPC Bodies, they were all saved to the intermediary layer and made to work as a portion of the OS.
The NPC Bodies created by Archon Suedomsa are divided into the following types.
- Michael Class
Originally a PC Body designed for Words Warn patients, this type can be remote controlled by Mind Lives alone.
The sensory programs directly send the received information to the user’s Mind Lives, but this requires heavy finetuning at the time of creation and is highly inefficient in its use of heat energy, so it was never mass-produced for use as a PC Body.
But the direct link to the Mind Lives means it can converse rapidly through windows and can easily Load the Mind Lives, so it was used by Words Warn patients who requested one at the time.
Its Word Race cannot be changed, so it is restricted to the Word Race it is initially given.
- Gabriel Class
The NPC Body on which all image-related Word Races are based. Originally a female model.
Was given an expansion slot upon creation intended for use with audio Word Races.
It can change Word Races and it is designed to rapidly and precisely output a large amount of data of the type that matches its current Word Race.
- Raphael Class
The NPC Body on which the Sys Word Race is based.
The Bat and Dll Word Races were derived from it as well.
It can be nondescript since it registers as null when its Word Race features are not active, but its influence on the surrounding space is much higher than others when the features of the Sys Word Race are active.
- Uriel Class
Originally an experimental NPC Body. Meant to create Body data in all the languages running on the DT OS and investigate their benchmarks, but due to its standardized foundation, it can actually change its foundational language by switching Word Races.
Most well known for the Bas, C, Asb, and X Word Races.
These NPC Bodies were all originally meant as experiments for future medical PC Bodies, so they were meant to meet human needs, such as being general-use and possessing their own individual memories. On the security front, their personal data was locked down and all but the Michael-class are unable to hide their thoughts.
The flaw of these old-style NPC Bodies was their poor fuel efficiency.
That was why, after the failure of the 2nd Godtact Experiment, when the creation of many more NPC Bodies was needed to create the DT we know now, production of this type was ceased to avoid applying too much pressure on DT’s heat consumption. The new-style NPC Bodies are mass produced nowadays.
The modern NPC bodies use a shared memory and have standardized traits, but they still have some human aspects like displaying their thoughts in windows. That way they can still be used as Bodies for Words Warn patients.
Excel’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Excel’s Over Reload>
You are in BF3 – Large Lift, a Top Page of the castle.
The current time is 2:57 PM.
A steel lift painted white takes up a 20yd square of the floor in front of you.
The stairs down to the Questron are behind you.
A large piece of rubble lies atop the lift. It is a piece of a wall cut away during Daikatana’s battle with the intruder.
One PC Body is there. He is the intruder, Aoe Shouzou Asb.
Aoe has only just arrived from the adjacent page: In the Wall. He is currently running your way.
Aoe: “What, I break through the wall and come running but some old guy is the only person who comes to greet me? And on the same lift that formed the roof? Where’s the fun in that?”
<Excel’s Over Reload>
Aoe looks up at the pit overhead.
He is approximately 10 yards in front of you. He stops in the center of the lift.
Excel: “You arrived quicker than expected. I nearly failed to arrive in time.”
Aoe: “Mh. So you greet even the rude guests? You were trained well.”
Excel: “I am not here to greet you; I am here to determine whether or not you will be allowed to pass.”
<Excel’s Over Reload>
You pull a program trigon from your pocket.
The program trigon is printed with an ear symbol in black.
Excel: “This is Master Yuo’s hearing.”
Excel: “Fearing the slim possibility of resistance from herself and to help her focus, she converted the rights to her hearing, touch, sight, and voice into program trigons and left them with the Quartet.”
Excel: “Although the one for Mekton is currently with Master Algo since Mekton is at Babel.”
Aoe: “Hah. So I’m supposed to take them back? You have terrible taste in games.”
Aoe: “But more importantly, how’s Yuo doing? Has she given up?”
Excel: “She has.”
Aoe: “I see. I suppose there would be no point in defeating her otherwise.”
Aoe: “So are you willing to be my test case? Answer the question I am about to give you.”
Excel: “What might that be?”
Aoe: “When would you be willing to accept defeat?”
Excel: “––––––”
Excel: “What is that supposed to mean?”
Aoe: “Why the surprise? It’s a simple question. I am asking when you would decide you didn’t need to keep fighting.”
Excel: “––––!?”
<Excel’s Over Reload>
Your eyebrows are raised and your eyes narrowed. The meaning is uncertain.
Your expression is changing. You are looking dead ahead now. It is a serious look.
Excel: “Ha. So Myst was right after all.”
Aoe: “Myst?”
Excel: “Do not worry about it. It is none of your business.”
Excel: “Anyway.”
Excel: “To answer your question…”
Excel: “That would be when I confirm Master Yuo has surpassed me as a programmer.”
Excel: “Unfortunately, that can never happen now that she has fallen to resignation.”
<Excel’s Over Reload>
Aoe’s eyebrows are raised and his mouth curved downwards. It is a defiant look.
Aoe: “I can’t strictly call this the strongest power since I wasn’t asking with my fists, but still.”
Aoe: “Understood, Excel Raphael. I will give you what you want.”
Aoe: “And if you accept my answer, then let me pass. Is that acceptable?”
Excel: “Ha. Very well. Assuming you can manage it, of course.”
<Excel’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe’s vision joined with his mind.
He saw the walls around him moving downwards.
Excel stood on the lift ahead of him and snapped the fingers of his raised right hand.
<Movement Device: Accelerate>
Aoe’s entire body felt downwards momentum.
At the same time, wind filled the 20yd lift. It began rapidly ascending.
The lift roared as it pushed up the air. From basement floor 3 to the roof. The wind roiled within the pit leading down into the castle, buffeting Aoe.
He realized he had lost his sense of hearing. He immediately pinched his nose and breathed, popping his ears.
“Are you taking me to the roof!?”
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
He looked around to see his surroundings ruled by wind and speed.
The lift’s motors roared along with the wind.
A square of sky was approaching overhead. The lift was already halfway to the roof.
It was moving fast. It was approaching the speed of an artillery shell launched skywards.
Aoe was nearly toppled to the floor by inertia, but he kept his footing.
Excel smiled a bit and spread his arms.
A red lotus emblem blossomed from his palms.
“Now, let us see
“If you are worthy of passing this point.”
<Pseudo Grandload: Running Pseudo Load Emblem: Lotus: Preparing for Use>
A window opened and text strings raced from the emblems on his palms to his back.
●Type-XX016 – Imperial-class – Lotus●
The lotus flowers on the emblems shined red and a triangle of diskette programs appeared behind him.
He raised his right hand.
The diagram behind him moved. The triangle rotated left as if loading a bullet.
All the wind racing through the sky was dyed by bluish-white light.
The wind swirling around him lost its pressure and a scattershot of 1inch projectiles appeared in front of him.
The wind shotgun drew a rightward curve toward Aoe.
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
The wind rushed in as a solid object.
As soon as Aoe felt the weight of the wind vanish, he moved right.
He kicked off the floor with his left foot. The scattershot hit there.
It was fast.
He attempted to dodge, but a few shots followed his leap.
The disturbance of the air from his leg movement drew the wind shots in.
“…!”
A finger-thick piece was gouged from his left shin.
The remaining shots crashed into the floor. 1-inch holes were torn into the steel floor.
Even with the attack to his left leg, Aoe landed on his right toes. He twisted around to face forward. He was about 5 yards from Excel.
Excel held out his right hand and the emblem behind him made a destructive sound and rotated.
The wind around him was converted into a straight-line blast like an optical weapon would produce.
The wind roared.
The line of wind pierced the surrounding air and left a trail of white as it flew.
It targeted Aoe’s solar plexus.
It was too close and too accurately aimed to dodge.
Especially when Aoe was still on one leg after landing.
Blood trickled from the wound on his left shin.
But he ignored that.
He pushed his left leg out and kicked it up as if to fling off the blood.
He sent it rapidly overhead.
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
His kinetic vision tracked the wind and his body moved accordingly.
“…!”
Just as he kicked up his left leg, he leaped up with his right leg.
His left toes and his right calf muscles broke free of the ascending lift’s inertial force.
He let his rising left knee strike him in the chest and flipped backwards.
He performed a flipping roundhouse kick.
It of course found only empty air.
But the wind produced by his toes caught the incoming line of wind.
That high-speed wind attack pursued the wind produced by his rotating toes and diverted off course.
Aoe completed his flip, making it more compact than usual to account for the lift’s inertial force.
He landed with his hands on the floor and his legs back – a crouch start.
He heard the wind passing him by. He heard it crash against the wall behind him.
He gathered strength in his legs and gave a shout as he launched his body forward.
He took his first step.
The inertia of the lift’s ascent filled his head, shoulders, back, arms, and legs.
But he broke through that inertial weight on the second step.
“Ohhhh!”
The shout of his will helped free his body’s strength. He used that to sprint forward.
To run from a crouch, he pumped his arms and kicked off the floor to propel himself alternately left and right.
It was more like a series of rapid jumps than running and it moved him outside his opponent’s field of vision.
“Sh!”
He pushed a breath from his lips and kept moving. He moved to Excel’s right side, circled wide in toward the left, and then moved further left. He moved so fast, the pounding of his feet on the metal only caught up a moment later.
Excel fell back in response. So he could target Aoe after his sideways leap.
“Kh.”
Too slow.
Aoe instantly closed in, moving to Excel’s left.
Excel did not turn toward him.
Aoe readied his fist. His left fist with emblem fully active.
He swung his right leg in front of Excel. As soon as his toes stepped on the metal floor, he twisted his right heel inwards.
He was crouched and kind of sliding in, starting with his toes, and he placed his full weight behind his left fist.
He threw that fist forward from his hip, aiming for Excel’s flank.
Excel finally looked his way.
The blow landed at the same time.
Rather than the sound of struck flesh or breaking bone, it sounded like a simple impact.
The side of the butler’s vest dented in and his tall, skinny body rose from the floor.
But even as Excel shook from the blow, his mouth opened in a curve.
“Hah. Much too slow!”
His eyes opened wide and sweat instantly appeared on his brow.
“It is no longer possible to grant my wish!” he shouted, raising his arms.
“Fly so high no one can hear you scream.”
His hands moved as if grabbing the red lotus emblem and the triangular formation behind him rotated to the right.
While subject to the lift’s inertia, Aoe saw bluish-white light soar around Excel.
The light expanded in an instant, forming a grid across the lift and in the sky above.
As soon as the lift reached the top, Excel landed on trembling legs and shouted again.
“Gravity!”
As soon as the midair grid vanished, Aoe felt the extra weight leave him.
The lift had reached the top.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Excel’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Excel’s Over Reload>
The 20yd metal panel crashed loudly into the stopper on the roof.
The stopper’s structure could not suppress the lift’s abnormal acceleration.
The metal panel tore apart the stopper and loudly threw its components into the air.
The lift panel tilted a bit and then fell. Its corner made a heavy metallic groan as it caught on the edge of the pit.
The lift would not fall.
Only one person stood on the lift anymore: Excel who was looking into the sky.
Aoe was no longer on the lift.
He was in the sky directly above the lift, where Excel was watching.
Someone had been thrown into the false sky surrounded by the defense shield.
That was Aoe.
After confirming Aoe’s presence there, Excel held his punched side.
“I will not allow you to fall to your death!”
He created a black orb about 10 yards across in front of him. It was formed from gathered and compressed gravity.
While the gravity orb expanded by the second, Excel loosened his tie.
And he glared up at Aoe in the sky covered by the beams of light coming from Babel.
“We of the Quartet were originally meant to manage the amusement park under Master Suedomsa’s command. We were meant to entertain and comfort the terminally ill and children whose parents were busy with research.”
He inhaled and crossed his arms in front of him.
“Master Yuo fell into the latter category and I was so happy when she said she wanted to learn my programs. The girl who had only ever cried wished for my help when I had only ever dealt with programs before.”
A smile on his lips, he pulled the white gloves from his hands.
His fingers were starting to break apart.
Cracks formed across his body and his textures unraveled, but he still spread his arms to the sides. He threw away the gloves, which slowly fell to the floor in the gradually returning gravity.
He opened a transparent keyboard and typed rapidly at it.
He used his Celestial Program Activator.
He instantly typed out several text strings that formed celestial orbits. The texts rotated, intersected, and spun before disappearing. The gravity orb in front of him grew even faster in response.
But his body grew transparent at the same rate.
Maintaining his Load Emblem and activating so my programs was draining his heat energy stores.
But he did not stop himself.
“Aoe Shouzou. I have heard you taught Master Yuo to never give up. But…even if you did teach her that, you cannot defeat us!”
His fingers raced.
All of the text strings forming the celestial orbits vanished, bursting into particles of light.
The gathered gravity orb had taken its final form.
The black orb was now 20 yards in diameter.
But his eyes were on Aoe overhead, not on the gravity directly in front of him.
<Excel’s Over Zoom>
Aoe was about 200 yards up. He was still rising even as his speed dropped.
“You have no footing to throw a punch and no ground to jump from. You shall die in the void.”
Excel raised his arms, which had begun to flash.
The 20yd gravity orb crushed the wind as it was launched.
The dark power roared up toward Aoe.
“Myst. I am afraid we cannot thank Master Yuo after all.”
The tension left his face as he watched the compressed power and his target beyond it. His raised eyebrows lowered and his powerful smile became a gentle smile. He clenched his vanishing hands.
“She really is the same as she was back then. She remains the divine child, left in our care by her father.”
He opened a window while letting his words spill to the floor.
The clock window provided the current time.
The time until the Day of the Oracle had fallen below 100 seconds.
<Excel’s Over Zoom>
His eyes were on the clock, but the corner of his eye caught Aoe still attempting to resist.
<Excel’s Sight Mode has updated>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT’s Sky[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe slowly viewed his surroundings in the sky where the enchanter’s beams of light raged.
A mass of gravity had been launched toward him from the castle below.
He had less than a second to decide what to do about it, so he eliminated all hesitation and spent zero seconds on making the decision.
He needed a foothold. He couldn’t brace himself without that.
That wasn’t something found in the sky, but Aoe knew that it was in fact there.
<Solid rock!>
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
There it was. Overhead, just a few short yards away, was a piece of stone which had been thrown into the sky along with him.
The piece of tower wall cut away by Daikatana awaited him overhead like a floor.
He took action instantly.
He used the wind to twist around, placed his hand on the rising stone, and pulled himself toward it.
“Kh!”
He used the flying rock wall as the ground to stand upside-down.
And once he had that footing, he made a full power dive toward the ground overhead.
He began his attack.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Excel’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Excel’s Over Reload>
Excel saw Aoe raising both arms while diving rapidly down.
He held a data trigon in his hands.
Yuo had created it by sealing the explosion produced by the knight the Quartet had unleashed the day before. The blast was contained inside that trigon.
Aoe’s voice rang from the sky.
“Eat Yuo’s custom attack!”
The sky was engulfed in flames.
The explosion carried the momentum of Aoe throwing the trigon down, so it flew toward Excel.
The flames crashed into the top of the giant black orb Excel had launched from below.
The impact sounded like two stones colliding.
The two attacks bent, swelled, and whipped up the wind, but then something unusual happened.
A text string formed a long elliptical orbit around the flames.
That was a buffering program Yuo had included.
The light raced around the flames, transforming them.
The mass of fire had been radiating outwards and attempting to envelop the black orb, but it rapidly gained a sharper shape.
It became a spear.
Excel responded by activating his own text string to reinforce the gravity orb.
“I don’t believe it. I never imagined I would be competing with Master Yuo in this manner!”
He smiled.
His deteriorating fingers raced full speed across his keyboard to create new celestial orbits.
The orbits created by Yuo and the ones created by Excel rotated at the exact same speed.
The flames attempted to pierce the darkness as a spear.
The darkness attempted to expand and envelop the spear.
The speed of piercing and expansion were identical.
Both orbits were vanishing as the evolution of both attacks came to an end.
The smile on Excel’s face grew.
“Will they cancel each other out!? Are Master Yuo and I on the same level now?”
“No!” Aoe’s voice rang down from the sky. “This is a power she never told you about!”
<Excel’s Over Zoom>
The spear accelerated.
It flew straight along its intended path.
A new acceleration boosting program was cast on top of the spear program, creating a second layer of celestial orbits.
Excel’s eyes widened when he saw the flaming spear’s further burst of speed and the double layers of orbit.
“How can she possibly cast a spell as complicated as the Celestial Program Activator twice!? That means twice the number of text strings! She couldn’t possibly control them all!”
<Excel’s Over Zoom>
The answer was displayed before his eyes.
This program did not use text.
It used song.
A song provided the program around the explosion that was gathered and sharpened into a spear tip.
Yuo’s voice sang comfortably but loudly.
The distributed lines go to the multitude. The variable numbers bring us all together.
The power I produce goes to your pure arms and pure legs.
You carry no restrictions. This city has forgiven you. I have forgiven you.
I use the forgiveness of all as the signal for the running program.
The voice-input celestial program appeared on top of the one Yuo had typed in.
Excel’s typing could not keep up with the double-speed program.
The spear completed its transformation and reached the upper limit of its acceleration.
The attack instantly reached and burned away the gravity with its flames.
The gravity shattered with a burning sound and changed to the bluish-white shards of a grid.
The explosion’s momentum carried it straight down.
Excel stood in the flames’ path and his hands had stopped moving.
<Excel’s Over Zoom>
He stared at the color of the approaching fire.
The shards of his program orbited around the scorching attack that formed a giant spear.
He viewed that shattered light while his own body grew transparent, the glow of the flames passing right through him.
But he was smiling.
“Yes, I had forgotten. Master Yuo sang in order to assist that young man yesterday.”
He watched the scattering and vanishing program shards while listening to the song.
“She had already developed a program superior to my own.”
He slowly looked further up past the flame spear to look at Aoe.
Their eyes met.
Excel bowed even as his body flashed.
He placed a hand on his chest, lowered his head, pulled Yuo’s hearing program from his pocket, and tossed it to Aoe.
“You may pass.”
With those final words, Excel vanished and the spear pierced the lift, splitting the steel panel.
<Excel has been fully eliminated>
Suedomsa’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
Suedomsa saw two separate things underway inside the ceremony room.
The first was the Questron flower moving around Yuo in the back of the room.
The second was the countdown digital clock on the ceiling which had just dropped below 60.
Below it, the metal Questron flower was preparing to accept the great god’s true name.
The 16 large virtual connectors that acted as petals had thin lines of light running through the slits analogous to leaf veins.
The resonance buffer shielding on the bottom of the petals began to vibrate in readiness.
The only part not in motion was Yuo floating in the central glowing fruit.
She was waiting for everything else.
Suedomsa stood on the giant seven-layer diskette program locate at the entrance of the ceremony room.
Behind him stood Myst, Daikatana, and Algo with tiny Alternative on his shoulder. He faced forward with his head somewhat lowered.
<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>
Yuo floated at the center of the distant flower.
His eyebrows drooped some and he sighed.
He raised his eyes from Yuo to the digital clock hanging from the ceiling.
And when the countdown reached 50…
“Time to begin.”
Shattering glass sounds came from both his arms.
The emblems that opened over the backs of his hands were a transparent azure. A cross symbol was drawn in them.
“I will redo this myself.
“To reclaim what I lost.”
After his Text raced out, the air gathered around the emblem on his right hand.
The emblem emitted a text string along with the wind and that string rapidly extended toward his elbow.
The string was also colored a transparent azure. The lengthy combination of text and lines said, ●Type-XX012 – God-class – Explorer●
The text glowed and three diskette emblems combined with the trailing ●. Those rapidly rotated and glowed.
The emblems groaned and light gathered around the symbols on his hands.
The wind audibly blew and he raised his arms in the trembling air.
A dove flew from his shoulder. It flew toward the ceiling, scattering white feathers as it went.
Suedomsa opened his mouth.
“–––––!”
He prepared to yell out loud, but something else happened before he could.
A transparent reddish-purple diskette program floated at the center of the exposed metal ceiling.
<Suedomsa’s Over Zoom>
Suedomsa froze. He heard the breaths of the people standing behind them. After a solid gulp, he heard Myst’s voice.
“A destruction boosting progr-
Her comment could have been interpreted as a statement or a question, but she never got a chance to finish it.
Her voice was drowned out by a noise.
The loud crash of impact came from the ceiling. It came from the center of the emblem floating there.
It was approaching.
Light raced across the ceiling. The reddish-purple emblem had burst to illuminate the ceiling.
Then the destruction revealed its form.
A 5yd-radius circle at the center of the ceremony room’s ceiling was split open.
“––––!?”
Metal shards, rubble, and sparks. Roars, crashes, and rumbles. And a shouting voice piercing through all the destruction.
“Ohhhh!”
Someone’s will roared as they dropped from above. It was a young man with black spear emblems on his arms.
Suedomsa spoke his name.
“Aoe Shouzou! You actually made it in time!?”
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
Aoe landed among the ceiling rubble 20 yards away and stared straight at Suedomsa.
Their gazes audibly clashed.
But Aoe immediately looked away and slowly moved.
He turned around almost lazily.
Toward Yuo.
He looked to the Questron while the countdown displayed above it reached 40.
He ran over, his footsteps sounding loud and powerful in the ceremony room.
At the same time, Suedomsa shook his head.
“Are you going to stop her, Aoe Shouzou?” he asked, using the same tone he used to speak to himself. “Do you think a Plus dropout can find an answer that eluded a Minus Elite like me!?”
Then Suedomsa raised his arms again. To run the program.
The countdown had reached 35.
Suedomsa ran the program while watching the young man running to Yuo. He ran the program to alter the settings to x1000 within the shield linking the castle with Babel.
<Suedomsa’s Sight Mode has updated>
Telyb’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Park[edit]
<Telyb’s Over Reload>
DT’s southern park was a grassy area on a large hill and most of it was contained within a defense shield created by Suedomsa. That had been made for evacuees after the shield linking the castle and Babel was in place.
Inside the shield, the clocktower at the park’s central square had two clocks on it. The dark metal tower had an analog clock that showed the ordinary time and a digital clock that counted down until the Day of the Oracle.
Telyb currently stood at the bottom of that clocktower with the Yard members and citizens who had evacuated here.
“We managed to escape safely, but now we can only watch the godtact experiment playing out in Suedomsa’s defense shield.”
Before looking at anything else, Telyb looked to Babel.
Babel continued to emit power and the park was located between the tower and a mountain to the west. Looking down, Telyb could see countless small colors gathered in the central square.
<Telyb’s Over Zoom>
The citizens and NPC Bodies who had evacuated DT’s city were at the center of the park.
The remaining Yard members were on the south end of the park. They were mainly from the machine force.
All of those Yard members were busy distributing food, water, blankets, and such to the evacuees. When any of them had a spare moment, they would contact the outside world.
Telyb was watching all of them when a window appeared high in the sky.
<1st Demigod Program: Portal: Run>
It happened suddenly.
Everyone who read that gasped and Telyb finally reacted.
He clenched his teeth and shouted.
“It’s finally happened! They’re accelerating the inside of the defense shield!”
At the same time, a grid of light ran along the surface of the large defense shield linking Babel and the castle. The grid surrounding everything from the top of the sky to the bottom of the earth and emitted a bright light.
The range of the effects was being established. After that synced, another window appeared overhead.
<Range Set: DT Boost Settings Change: x100→x1000: Apply>
Everyone understood what those numbers meant.
The inside of the defense shield linking Babel with the castle now had one thousand times the speed.
The current time was 2:59:30 PM.
The countdown until the Day of the Oracle had only 30 seconds left.
A short figure stood next to him. It was Fooblicky.
She looked up at the countdown on the clocktower’s digital clock.
After reading the numbers, she spoke quietly and emotionlessly.
“In another 2.6 seconds, it will be 3 o’clock. But,” she said. “The adjustment program means the human lifespans inside the shield are condensed ten times as much as out here. So when Suedomsa adjusted the settings with 30 seconds left, he will have had 300 seconds of life left.”
A sound rang out from Babel before she was done speaking.
It was a high-pitched thing.
An ear-splitting animal roar reminiscent of a scream.
Fooblicky, Telyb, the Yard members, and the evacuees all looked south.
Toward Babel.
The giant tower on the south side was shaking and roaring.
They all saw the giant word tower moving at ten times its usual speed. The internal components raged, light and noise burst into the air, and it began to operate under the effects of the 1000x boost.
It drew out its full abilities to extract the Great God Lives from the ley lines.
<Telyb’s Sight Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe ran.
He was 10 yards away from the Questron’s core.
He was 9 yards away as he weaved between the ceiling rubble.
He was 7 yards away as he leaped over a large cable.
He was 6 yards away as two windows opened in front of him.
<1st Demigod Program: Portal: Run>
<Range Set: DT Boost Settings Change: x100→x1000: Apply>
He was 5 yards away as he muttered for himself to hurry and arrived at the base of the Questron.
He was 4 yards away as his footsteps rang loud and hard.
He heard a roar like a dog’s howl from behind.
He was 3 yards away as he looked back.
Some people were moving by the room’s entrance, past the giant diskette program. Daikatana and Algo with Alternative were moving his way. But someone else ran out ahead of them – Myst and the beast drawn out by her pen.
The blue wolf charged toward him once its drawing was complete.
“Kh.”
Aoe wasn’t sure if he should respond or not, but Monkey jumped down from his shoulder.
Monkey looked his way in the air before transforming into his standard form. He became a full-sized brown dog standing more than a yard tall.
Monkey ran faster than the wolf to intercept it.
Aoe heard barking and growling, but…
“Take care of that for me.”
He faced forward again and took another step, bringing him 2 yards away.
He viewed the glowing cylinder out ahead and saw 25 seconds remaining on the digital clock overhead. By then, he was 1 yard from the center of the Questron.
He sensed something at his feet and saw a ferret there.
“Yuo’s weasel.”
He tossed a program trigon to the ferret while he took the final step.
The trigon contained Yuo’s hearing.
Aoe smiled bitterly when he saw the ferret jump into the air to catch and swallow it.
“We got lucky.” He sighed as this distance dropped to 0 yards. “Now Yuo can hear my voice in Board Mode too.”
As long as she Over Reloaded, she could receive his name. Since she lacked her memories of him, that name would have no meaning to her, but she would still know he was here.
So he looked to Yuo within the cylindrical defense shield at the center of the Questron.
Her eyes were shut and she was naked while she floated motionlessly inside.
“Quit calling this a godtact experiment. You’re just using that fancy name to make it sound important, but it’s really just…”
“Some lewd ritual!”
An emblem appeared on his fist as he raised his voice.
“Yuo! If you’re in Board, then read these words and Over Reload!”
And…
“Whether you’re in Board or Sight, listen to this!”
He punched the defense shield.
It felt hard, like he had punched a stone wall, but the sound was much more promising. It sounded like he had punched glass.
He shouted a question over that sound.
“Can you hear my punch!? Yuo, where are you right now!?”
A change eventually came over her expression.
She wrinkled her brow a little like she was waking up. It was the minimal change characteristic of Board Mode.
But it was enough to tell Aoe that she was still alive.
He felt rather than thought that he didn’t want to lose her and a word spilled from his mouth.
The word carried immense relief because he knew it would reach her.
“Yuo.”
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Myst’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Myst’s Over Reload>
Myst was the first to react to Aoe’s action.
As soon as she saw him, she drew a wolf and installed a program that would have it pursue him.
She also tossed two trigons to Algo next to her. Those were the Questron control program Excel had given her and the Questron texture trigon she had created herself.
“Just in case!”
After seeing him catch them, she caught her dress’s hem with her left hand and prepared to run.
“Daikatana! Guard Master Suedomsa and Master Algo!”
With that, she took off running.
Her right arm held the giant virtual pen that was a part of her and her footsteps rang loud.
She ran forward.
She looked to Suedomsa atop the seven-layer diskette program as she ran past the giant circle.
“Excel must have let him through, but does that mean he is worthy of Master Yuo?”
She mouthed the question to herself as she erased Suedomsa from her vision to look forward.
Up ahead, the wolf she had drawn had begun battling a large brown dog.
She crouched low as she ran and readied the virtual pen in her right arm.
Her running breaths carried a whisper.
“We are the ultimate NPC Bodies created by Master Suedomsa. So here I must throw out my personal interests and…”
She wrinkled her brow, raised her head, and released her will like she was roaring and breaking free of something.
“Protect Master Yuo’s resignation!”
That Text produced a shattering sound and placed an emblem at the tip of her swung pen.
The pen tip launched a beam of light directed toward Aoe’s back at the center of the Questron.
She came to a stop as soon as the pen tip drew out the line of light. She released her left arm from her dress. She ignored how the white fabric fluttered around her legs as she slapped the program control panel at her hip.
The drawn light gained attack power as it flew straight toward Aoe’s back.
“Take this!” she shouted, but then she saw a wall.
A panel of light suddenly appeared between her and Aoe.
“Wha-?”
Before she could get her question out, her light attack crashed into the yard-tall wall of light.
They both loudly shattered.
She also felt a chilly wind behind her.
She quickly looked back to see a wall of light had appeared there too.
It was a defense shield.
The wall cut her off from everything behind her. It also separated Suedomsa and the others from the Questron.
She gasped and faced forward again.
A woman sat on the bundle of cables below the hole in the ceiling at the center of the room. The gray-haired old woman wore a reddish-purple dress.
Myst shouted her name.
“Akalabeth!”
<Myst’s Sight Mode has updated>
Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>
Akalabeth calmly looked across the ceremony room.
Behind her, Aoe stood in front of Yuo.
He looked over his shoulder at her. He held his right fist at his hip while staring directly at her. Almost like he was waiting for permission to attack.
She narrowed her eyes slightly before looking away from him.
Her partially-shut eyes fell on the result of the dog and wolf battle held nearby.
The large brown dog was ripping out the wolf’s throat.
When she saw the wolf vanish and the dog growl ferociously, she shut her eyes and nodded.
“Suedomsa.”
Another voice cut off that name.
Myst’s. She drowned out Akalabeth’s voice with her own.
“A mere queen dares stand in the way of the great god’s summoning…and an artist’s attack!?”
Hearing the loud, rage-filled question, Akalabeth opened her eyes and looked up. She kept a small smile on her lips, which produced more from Myst.
“What’s so funny!?”
“Silence.” Akalabeth placed her hands on her sides and bent her body. “Someone who calls herself an artist thinks she look down on ‘a mere queen’?”
“What!?”
“You were created as an artist. I have my own actions to thank for the position I hold. Just like Suedomsa has his own actions to thank for being where he is.”
She wasn’t even looking at Myst anymore.
She raised her head and stared straight at Suedomsa.
<Akalabeth’s Sight Mode has ended>
Akalabeth’s Board Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>
Suedomsa stands further back than Myst.
He is Grandloading.
Akalabeth: “Here I am, Suedomsa. This time, I am the one here to take her away.”
Suedomsa: “I do like the look on your face, Akalabeth. Are you here to rescue Yuo?”
Akalabeth: “No, I am not. I am here to ensure the Plus can defeat the Minus resignation.”
Akalabeth: “Yes, a Plus dropout will reach out his hand and a Minus dropout will take that hand.”
Suedomsa: “What? That isn’t-”
Akalabeth: <It is very possible.>
<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>
Suedomsa is wrinkling his brow. It is a look of confusion.
Akalabeth: “I like the look on your face, Suedomsa. You seem to think destiny will obediently do as you say. But listen. There is one thing we have forgotten all this time. Why do the concepts of Plus and Minus exist?”
Akalabeth: “I will now teach you – no, remind you of the answer.”
Suedomsa: “What are you talking about? The Minus is the opposite of the Plus. We exist to consume each other, don’t we? We Demigods were all persecuted in the Plus world. What else is there to remember?”
Suedomsa: “Besides, what can that Plus man possibly do to end Minus Yuo’s resignation? Only the Minus can understand the Minus. Isn’t that right? To us, his call is nothing more than a reminder of the loathsome Plus reality. He thinks truth can only be found in the outside world.”
<Akalabeth’s Over Reload>
A window opens in front of you.
<Preparing to extract Great God Lives from Babel. Preparations will be complete in 25 seconds>
Suedomsa: “Akalabeth. Whoever is right, you only have 25 seconds left. What are you going to do?”
Akalabeth: “That is fine with me. You too can only wait and see how it plays out.”
Akalabeth: “I will protect this place. Suedomsa, and his subordinates too. If you attempt to interfere, you must first get past the Queen of the Minus. Let us wait…and watch.”
Akalabeth: “So show us the answer, Aoe Shouzou. Was Yuo’s prophecy 2000 years ago a statement of resignation or of persistence? Whose will was it born from?”
Akalabeth: <Shatter the wall before you and rescue Yuo!>
Akalabeth: “Take the first step toward the strongest. Experience what it is like for the Plus and the Minus to surpass and eliminate each other’s anxieties. Just like we once did.”
Akalabeth: “Yes, remind us Minus Elites that we once attempted to summon a great god to eliminate our hatred of the Plus world, Aoe Shouzou. Remind us that we too could believe in the ground we stood on because we were with our opposite!”
<Akalabeth’s Board Mode has ended>
Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe didn’t even need to respond to Akalabeth. He looked to Yuo inside the defense shield.
Her eyes were shut and she still looked confused, so he spoke to her.
“You probably don’t know who I am anymore.”
She could define his name if she Over Reloaded, but that wouldn’t tell her who they were to each other.
Their past together was now absent from her memory.
He reflected on that fact and sighed.
“But right here…I’m going to give this my all. I’m not very smart, so that’s the best I can put it. So if you want to find out the whys and the hows, you’re going to have to switch to Sight.”
He clenched his right fist.
“I’m going to use my fists to ask something in real time. And you…”
He pulled back and raised the fist.
“You do whatever you want!”
With that Text, he slammed his Emblem-bearing fist into the shield wall.
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
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