Horizon:Volume 8C Chapter 86
Chapter 86: Victors Before the Gates[edit]
Can you believe it?
Nothing ever goes my way
In life
Point Allocation (Self-Tsukkomi)
Naito had never fired an ultra-close-range anti-personnel cannon before.
She was lying down, her legs spread a bit to fight the recoil of Schwarz Fräulein with its brush aimed forward. She had applied installation anchoring spells on Schwarz Fräulein and on her own body.
“Next one, Ga-chan!”
“Judge. Let’s go straight center but low down!”
Naruze stuck a roll of coins in the brush. Once it was in place, she drew out a guidance path and Naito fired.
…Wow.
A roar rang out and the ground shook. An impressive plume of ether light smoke formed, but…
“–––––!”
The blast blew away the tightly-packed baseball team up ahead.
But they were all tough. They had prepared plenty of defense spells in order to hold Musashi here.
…This is the first time I’ve seen someone go with full-on defensive buffs without even giving themselves some acceleration!
She had heard M.H.R.R.’s Schau Essen unit was similar. If so, maybe the nations had compared notes over their long history together.
This cannon was meant for use against gods of war or ships, but they were only launched a bit through the air when they took a hit.
“You can’t judge these books by their cover.”
As a baseball team, they looked lightly equipped, but they were not. That explained why anyone who carelessly charged at them was having such a hard time.
Neshinbara must have known them well. Naito and Naruze’s sniping generally used 10-yen coins, but that wouldn’t have accomplished much here.
So instead of taking potshots from the sky…
…We can win by blasting open a path with horizontal shots!
The anchoring required a low-to-the-ground stance, but the defenders around them provided cover that also hid the timing of their shots.
So if they kept this up…
“Ga-chan, how many shots left!?”
“I brought everything from our summer sales, so another 7!”
Will that be enough? wondered Naito. Yes, it will, she decided and fired.
…Judge!
This would work. The response was promising and her mood was improving. And…
“Wait!”
The enemy pushed in from the sides to fill the path they had opened. As defenders, they wore gloves and armor designed to block attacks, but Naruze…
“Forkball.”
The shot fired with that word drew out a sharp curve and ricocheted off the ground. It collided with the lead defender’s crotch despite all his armor and sent a few of them flying.
All the other guys there shrieked and pulled back, but…
“Slider.”
They couldn’t avoid that dropping angle from up high. And Naito kept firing too.
She hit them over and over. Schwarz Fräulein’s brush had heated up a lot and the very end was starting to scorch, but she didn’t let that stop her. This was what she had to do now. As long as she kept firing…
“I see it now,” said Naruze.
Hearing that, everyone looked forward while crouching low.
The wave of people there parted, revealing the imperial palace’s entrance.
The enemy was still there, but the situation had improved. So…
“Let’s clear the way!”
Naruze nodded and drew out a line.
“Fastball.”
One position on Tres España’s baseball team had a greater defense than any other: the catcher.
Catchers were chosen for their armor, build, strength, and glove handling. To be a regular, they had to make sure they “stopped” any ball or runner.
After all, they had to deal with magic balls, extraordinary blazing fastballs, and nonhumans. “Catching” the ball simply wasn’t possible most of the time, but they needed to know how to “stop” it. And…
“This is where we dry our tears after ranking 4th!”
The regular catcher and the reserves dove into the center area everyone else had left.
They had one thing on their minds: during the nationals, they had managed to “stop” Pedro Valdes’s disappearing magic ball, but they had never managed to “catch” it.
Thanks to that, the catcher had dropped the ball, leading to an uncaught third strike which allowed the opposing team to get a point thanks to the batter’s acceleration spell.
They had been working on a way to prevent that ever since the regionals and it still mostly came down to luck.
But he had given a point away.
Their loss could also be blamed on the team’s failure to earn another point, but they wouldn’t have had to if not for that point.
Aki’s academy had won. That was a reservation academy. Several of their athletic teams had joined together after Aki sank and that swift-footed batter had apparently been from the track team initially. They could only laugh bitterly at that revelation. Their own baseball and track teams got along well, but they had never thought to plan for an opposing batter being a track team finalist. So Takakane had laughed and said it couldn’t be helped, but at the hotel afterwards, they had all seen his back as Fusae comforted him.
That was why the catchers had to do this here.
“You think a visible shell can scare us!?”
They jumped into the center as it arrived.
It flew perfectly straight.
…Nicely done!
The Weiss Hexen’s guidance path was so straight it gave them chills. There was no attempt to avoid or hit anything. It simply ran straight and fast.
It scored a direct hit.
The regular catcher caught it in his glove. But the power of the shell pushed on his glove, knocking it into his body. However…
“I caught it!”
That was when the next one came.
But this one wasn’t a projectile. It was a small steel-colored shape. Musashi’s vassal was charging in with spear held out.
“…!”
She crashed into him. She had a lot of speed, making it a powerful blow. In fact, hitting me with a spear meant for mobile shells is no joke. But…
“I barely felt that puny blow!”
No sooner did he get the words out than the vassal spun around with the spear still sticking into him.
He thought she was going to stab it in more and prepared himself, but something else happened.
A silver wolf rushed in toward the back end of the spear.
“Time to steal home!”
She crashed into it.
…That guy is heavy!
At the moment of impact, Mitotsudaira was impressed by her opponent.
Kicking the spear in felt like kicking a stone that had grown up out of the crust.
He wouldn’t budge. But she was Musashi’s #1 Knight. She poured on another burst of acceleration for an even faster straight kick.
“…!”
It was more like trying to kick through the spear than simply kicking it. She hoped the blow would…
…Break through!
It worked. The catcher collided with the catcher behind him. The process repeated until 5 of them had collided into each other. But…
“You aren’t getting through!” roared the front catcher.
She had moved him, but not gotten through him.
She had shaken him, but he hadn’t fallen. So she used the force of the kick to jump back.
“Futayo!”
Takakane saw someone soar.
Musashi’s Vice Chancellor, someone he had faced before, leaped forward.
She carried their Vice President over her shoulder and flew through the air using short-distance acceleration. Since the catchers had been pushed together by the previous impact, she managed to soar over their heads.
“I will accept your challenge some other time. But for now, I have gotten through.”
Quit trying to act cool, thought Takakane while she landed behind the baseball team. That put her at the palace’s entrance.
The enemy had a single strategy here: achieve their minimum win condition.
…Which means entering the palace!
They had chosen their Vice Chancellor and Vice President for that task.
They were Musashi’s greatest fighter and greatest mind. Well, that “greatest mind” does seem to start wars over nothing, but aside from that. Those two had gotten into the palace ahead of the others.
They had outdone Tres España there.
The hole opened by the enemy was soon filled. Their gunners didn’t have unlimited ammo.
So Takakane had a single command.
“After them!”
The baseball team’s formation collapsed. The enemy was probably counting on that, but they weren’t out of the fight just yet.
“Join us, south group!”
Naomasa was moving Suzaku and withdrawing to the west of the main street when she saw Tres España rushing in. The baseball team’s outfielders – around 300 in all – charged in from the south of the street.
They were on their way to the palace’s entrance where something new was underway.
…Just when I thought Futayo and Masazumi had gotten in…
Naito was apparently out of ammo. Toori, Horizon, and the rest of their main force were trying to get to the palace to make the most of the hole opened by the Technohexen.
But the baseball players were already running to the palace’s entrance and some were pursuing Masazumi and Futayo.
Naomasa had hoped they would all give chase and enter the palace, but Takakane kept his cool. He fortified their defense at the entrance to keep Musashi’s main force from getting through.
On top of that, enemy reinforcements were arriving from the south.
…And unfortunately, our main force includes Toori and Horizon.
She wished she could use Suzaku, but then she heard a rumbling in the sky.
It came from a pair of Tres Españan transport ships. They were moving to hide the palace from Musashi.
They likely expected Righteousness to attack. Naomasa could see pitchers standing on the deck, preparing for anti-air interception.
They were completely surrounded.
They did have a way out. They could join the Tachibana Couple securing an escape route or they could have Righteousness break through just like Tres España predicted.
“And Naito and Naruze can carry out two each.”
Toori and Horizon for one. And given their jobs and positions, maybe Asama-chi and Mitotsudaira for the other? Kimi is important too, but I feel like she knows how to look after herself at times like this. But more than any of that…
“The Logismoi Oplo.”
Naomasa tried to remember if any of them could attack just the enemy and leave the surrounding area untouched.
As the enemy pushed in, Mitotsudaira formed a wall with her silver chains and pushed back.
Her king was behind her. She heard him speaking to Horizon through the yelling and shouting.
“So, Horizon, do you have a Logismoi Oplo that’ll just hit the enemy and not get us any complaints about damage to the residents here? If so, I’ll help you use it.”
“I see. I have just the one.”
Horizon pulled out Aspida Phylargia and handed the giant shield to the king.
“This will not damage the residents or give them any other reason to complain. It will only hit the enemy, so your assistance is requested, Toori-sama.”
“Y-you know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you!?”
“The enemy is coming!” shouted Mitotsudaira as a racket arrived from the south.
“The Tres Españan baseball team’s center fielders have arrived!!”
“They said we couldn’t catch up from behind, but now look at us!”
“We show up on divine TV a lot! Usually our backs as we watch a ball hit the batter’s eye screen!”
“Testament!” they shouted as an impact arrived from behind.
The sudden pressure broke through the rear wall of the Musashi group.
The enemy was passing through.
…Finally!
Mitotsudaira stopped holding back the enemy.
She could send bursts of acceleration into her silver chains now. That would let her take the initiative back with an instantaneous counterattack. So…
Silver Wolf: “Get down, everyone!”
Asama: “Eh!? But I was just about to create a narrow defense field for us!”
Flat Vassal: “No, I can push them back, so everyone get over here!”
Gold Mar: “Huh? I was planning to carry the Chancellor and Mito-tsan on my broom.”
Horizey: “A merciless blast from Maska Orge should work. Everyone, think hard on the mistakes you have made.”
Silver Wolf: “Do we all have separate plans here!?”
Me: “Why not just do all of them?”
Why not indeed? thought Mitotsudaira.
Then something dropped from the sky toward her. The large shape was enveloped in light.
…That’s…
It was a god of war knife.
The weapon carried by one of the enemy gods of war had been thrown out into the air and was now falling this way.
The wolf saw a knife that used an ether blade to reduce its weight. It was about 3m long when including the glowing blue blade.
Based on its position, this had to be from the second of the three gods of war they had brought down. Which meant…
“It’s started back up again!?”
She didn’t look up into the sky. She looked to the top of an ancient building that was becoming part of the evening shadows.
A god of war stood there with damage from its collarbone to left shoulder.
It was moving, albeit slowly and awkwardly.
After ejecting, the pilot must have manually purged the majority of the damaged parts and then reentered the cockpit.
It had dropped its rifle somewhere, but it still had the weapons worn on the god of war itself.
That explained it. A god of war’s computational power and strength would be enough to get the ether blade here. With its position fixed in place, the god of war’s knees gave out below it and it fell off of the building. However…
…This is bad!
Mitotsudaira knew that blade likely wouldn’t hit. They could easily dodge something with that fall speed.
But their separated main force’s movements were currently restricted and this had caught them by surprise. Plus, the enemy was rushing toward them. So…
“Horizon! Tomo!”
Attack and defense. Those two could provide them both right away. Protecting everyone and defeating the entire enemy force would be difficult, but…
“Fire on-!”
She couldn’t even finish her sentence before something dropped from the sky even faster than the ether blade.
It rotated downwards and landed right in front of Horizon and the king. Mitotsudaira recognized the white and black shape.
She had seen it at Mikawa. It was…
“Stithos Porneia!?”
Urquiaga was battling the enemy away from Musashi’s main force.
He had already given up asking each and every opponent if they had an elder sister. Around 30 had answered in the affirmative. Even if they were the enemy, that many elder sisters was a good thing. Amen. But he would still punch them later.
Even so, he wasn’t about to miss something flying this way. His aerial training let him detect where a flying object had come from.
…Over there.
His calculations indicated the top of a building to the northeast.
His dragon eyes saw two tall figures standing there, looking down upon the battle.
“––––”
They turned around and left. Urquiaga gave a silent bow of thanks for their action and decision.
He was Catholic, after all. So…
“Demonstrate your mercy, elder-sisterless people!”
Asama saw Horizon pick it up.
“Oh, dear.”
Several sign frames appeared around Horizon as she rested the hammer on her shoulder like it was a mallet. The sign frames doubled in number and various permissions were given on an emergency basis. And…
“Will this make me dislike lewd things?”
“D-did you have to look at me when you said that!?” he said. “I-I’m not sad! Not at all, you hear!?”
Horizon brandished the hammer at him, so he patted her shoulder and returned to his position. There, he lowered his hands, counted down from three, and raised his hands.
“And…kaboom!!” everyone said together.
Horizon joined in by slamming the hammer into the ground.
Adele knew that Logismoi Oplo’s power.
Stithos Porneia had been given to K.P.A. Italia. Its overdrive would “defang” any enemy weapon within a 3km radius.
…That thing caused us so much trouble.
It had kept her from starting up Raging Beast and any other weapon had come apart, fallen from their hands, and couldn’t be picked up again. It was a very thorough disarming. But at the same time…
“It only eliminates the enemy without affecting anyone else nearby!”
Horizon had used it without fully synchronizing with its power. Several sign frames appeared with emergency text on them and Horizon commented on the current maximum output.
“Only 30%. But that should do for now.”
A field spread out from the impact point. And…
“Oh.”
Adele heard the opposite sound she had last time.
All of the enemy’s weapons were removed and sent far away from here.
She heard quiet metallic sounds as the weapons clanked together, scattered around, and fell to the ground. All of the dismantled weapons fell from the enemy’s hands.
“Kh!”
The enemy felt the same frustration Musashi had last time. But since Adele knew how that felt, she didn’t like seeing the confused way the enemy looked down at their hands and the ground.
But she had a job to complete now.
“Charge!”
She readied her spear and charged straight forward.
She didn’t have to look back to know the others were following. She also knew Mitotsudaira’s group would pass her eventually. But as the 1st Vassal…
“Here goes!”
She charged toward the imperial palace.
The enemy was breaking through the Tres Españan forces.
The Tres Españan warriors had only lost their weapons. They still had their armor. But…
“Damn! When we try to repel them instead of just stopping them, it takes away our armor too!”
“Is it a no touching rule!? This lewd weapon is strict!!”
“If anything, it’s anti-lewd!”
While they all reached their own understanding of the situation, their weapons had been fully disarmed. Their weapons mostly consisted of bats, but the grips slipped from their hands and all the spells and divine protections shattered into ether fragments.
Meanwhile, the enemy was passing the gate into the imperial palace.
They were going to make it. That would mean defeat, but…
“Lady Juana!” someone shouted.
Only a Logismoi Oplo or divine weapon could oppose a Logismoi Oplo.
Juana’s Akedia Katathlipse would break the disarming field and free them from this situation.
Everyone turned toward their main force to the north which was engaging the Date Vice Chancellor. Juana wielded a large sword at the eastern end of that main force.
She pulled the sword back by her side and jabbed it forward.
Her footing was solid and her attack flew straight toward the light of the expanding field.
“…”
It hit.
A massive amount of light shattered.
It sounded a lot like breaking glass.
Stithos Porneia’s field had been broken by Juana’s Akedia Katathlipse.
All the Tres Españans cheered and reached for their weapons. Some picked up bats, others javelins, and yet others gloves.
But just as they picked them up, readied them, and prepared to pursue the Musashi group, they all heard a metallic clang over the shattering field.
They looked to the north – toward Juana.
The Vice President, who had just saved them all, was crouched down.
The Logismoi Oplo was missing.
No, the white and black sword was up in the air. It had flown up over her head.
“The field overpowered it…and deflected it?”
Narumi did not overlook this opportunity. She used her prosthetic legs to dash.
“…!”
She used a mandible sword to make the airborne Logismoi Oplo skip once before she caught it.
She had it. It was captured. So she held it in close so she could…
…Land!
She quickly spun around to check on her surroundings.
But Juana, Flores, and the other enemies weren’t even looking her way.
They were all looking at sighing Juana and her hands.
…What is going on?
Narumi’s thoughts were interrupted by Flores.
“I’d heard the Logismoi Oplo choose their own wielders.”
So what did it mean for one to be deflected like this?
Flores continued.
“Lady Juana…this means you don’t need Akedia anymore, doesn’t it?”
Narumi found the answer to an earlier question.
Earlier, she had seen Juana fall back during the fighting.
It had happened just before Musashi’s main force turned the tables on Tres España.
…Her only chance was to fire her Logismoi Oplo.
Juana must have considered the possibility. But what if she was no longer suitable as that Logismoi Oplo’s wielder like Flores had suggested?
She had not fired the Logismoi Oplo or even activated it while Musashi attacked.
She tricked us, thought Narumi.
“I never would have guessed you were a diversion.”
Her job had been to pull away fighters as powerful as Narumi and him. By keeping her distance but not too much distance, she delayed them while hoping her allies could wear them down.
But she couldn’t have predicted the arrival of Stithos Porneia at the very end. She had fired a single shot and destroyed the field to save her people, but that was all she managed.
The Logismoi Oplo had rejected her. Narumi couldn’t say if that was a good thing or not. But…
“I’ll be taking this Logismoi Oplo.”
“I can hand it over to you willingly, can’t I?”
Was she telling them to prepare to negotiate at a later date? If so…
…She must have planned more or less how this would play out.
She was staying on Hashiba and P.A. Oda’s side but also leaving Musashi indebted to her. Based on the stories she had heard, Narumi had assumed Juana was more straitlaced than that, but it looked like she needed to adjust that opinion a bit.
And Juana raised her right hand.
“Only 5 minutes remain. I say we have fulfilled our role, so I order a full withdrawal!”
Takakane sighed. He wished he could stick at it longer as Vice Chancellor, but this was indeed the right time to withdraw.
They had done their duty and, given the time remaining for Akechi Mitsuhide’s dragon reactor, this really was the limit.
…I hate how unfinished this feels.
A solid conclusion always seemed to elude him. When he had died at Aki, it had been by suicide along with Fusae.
The Armada battle was meant to be a major fight for his nation, but his comrades had forced him to leave the fight and escape.
And now this was ending without a proper conclusion.
His history recreation was already over, so he might never get any kind of conclusion.
“Hey, Fusae,” he said while everyone relaxed and sighed. “We’re never getting a satisfying death, are we?”
“Lately, I’ve been thinking that was our punishment for failing to live a satisfying life and killing ourselves, Taka.”
Maybe so, he thought, closing the divine transmission.
That was when he saw someone bowing in front of him.
It was the English Princess. She brushed her hair back with the sunset shining on one side of her.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Judge. For blocking my sword so flawlessly each and every time.” She gave a troubled frown. “I hope you will pass on to the others everything that happened leading up to the Armada battle.”
“Are you going on?”
“Judge,” she said, turning toward the imperial palace with that annoying ninja by her side. “I have decided I will go wherever my heart leads me.”
“Testament,” replied Takakane. Then she took off running. Her footing was solid even after all that moving around. She must not have stopped training. Because she wanted to remain worthy of those 300 scars. And with all that in her past…
…Where her heart leads her, huh?
“Whelp, I lost.”
“Why’s that, captain? Cause you can’t win against beautiful women?”
“If so, I’m never winning anything against Fusae.”
He heard the excited cries of the girls of the track club in the distance, but he didn’t mind. Because he was an expert defender. Deflecting any and all attacks was what he did. However…
“By blocking all of those attacks, I was letting them all hit me. I’d lost from the beginning this time.”
“So the battle in Kyou is ending. It sounds like things are getting dicey there, so I would love it if they would all evacuate soon.”
A voice spoke in front of a white domed school building awash in the colors of sunset.
A man in glasses was tending to the flower bed. He was weeding, smoothing out the dirt where it had gotten uneven, and using a spade to let some air in where the dirt had gotten too hard.
“But regardless, that was excellent work from them all. The Chancellor’s Officers and warriors said they wanted some way to help out after the Armada battle, so I hope this fulfilled that desire while providing us all with some benefits as well.”
He tended to the spaces labeled “Juana”, “Flores”, and other names before his own one labeled “Segundo”.
Another man was tidying up an easel, canvas, and other art supplies nearby.
He spoke up while getting a close look at the growth of the flowers from below.
“It sounded like Takakane and the Valdes Siblings enjoyed themselves. Even if they made it to the final four, a loss is still a loss. Although it also sounded like Fusae got into quite a fight along with the track team.”
“Yes, and women’s intuition is a scary thing. When she decided to bring Byakko along this year, I never imagined she would actually use it. I doubt even Juana expected that one.”
“And it’s only allowed through customs when travelling through Kyou or K.P.A. Italia which have connections to M.H.H.R. But, still, Fusae always seems to know what’s going on. She can fill the gap left by Muneshige.”
“Have you ever considered doing any work yourself?”
“Your new pottery hobby could be a risk too, you know? Juana was complaining that ‘Mister is too busy with his potter’s wheel to have any time for me’.”
“If she would just come talk to me, I’d be more than willing to listen.” He mimed spinning a potter’s wheel. “Plus, it was honestly awkward the time she sat across from me and let me keep working without saying a word.”
“You could have said something.”
“You know I have trouble with that!”
“Why not invite her to try her hand at pottery?”
“If I did, I imagine she would fail miserably her first attempt and, a week later, she would have started a dedicated workshop and gotten so ridiculously good at it that it became one of the primary industries supporting Tres España’s recovery.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you started working in a field and growing fruits a while back, didn’t you? And didn’t you tend to this flowerbed originally?”
That question made Segundo pause for a moment. And after ten or so seconds…
“Would you like to know what new industries are on the rise here? And would you like to know who it was that asked me to tend to this flowerbed for the first time in a while?”
“I-I’m good, thanks.”
“I was thinking of picking up oil painting next.”
“Don’t you dare! Hands off! This is my hobby and contribution!”
“Wasn’t your art burned on the Ariake recently?”
“Because I’ve started providing the art for a wide variety of groups lately. You can run a single search for my name and get a list of them all. Flores apparently did that to around up all of my art and now there’s an awful rumor going around that your circle will be shut down if you get me to do your art.”
“Juana is having the time of her life over there, isn’t she?”
Segundo smiled bitterly, but then he sighed and removed his hat.
“Anyway, they need to keep an eye on Kyou and P.A. Oda after withdrawing.”
“I’m sure Fusae will do that, but is there anything in particular you want her to look for?”
“Yes.” Segundo nodded and pointed down at the ground. “We haven’t heard a peep out of P.A. Oda regarding our protection of Akechi Mitsuhide.”
“What does that mean? Is P.A. Oda trying to politically erase this entire incident?”
Segundo tilted his head at Velázquez’s question.
“Well, they can’t really address anything outside the battle itself since we’re mercenaries, but it’s still worrying that they haven’t sent anything to Juana or me. It’s almost…”
Almost…
“Like they’re saying there will be no more room to discuss politics or battles following this incident. Including the fact that the Apocalypse is so close at hand.”
“Hold on. You can’t be serious.”
“That was basically how it worked with Houjou, wasn’t it? Granted, they’re a more distant nation, but still. After a certain point, they put an end to negotiating with other nations.”
So…
“I want everyone there to keep an eye on Kyou and P.A. Oda, but this could be a problem.”
Segundo looked to the flowerbed and smiled bitterly.
“Juana tended to this bed so much better than I ever did, so it’s going to be a mess if she stays away too long.”
Masazumi received word via divine transmission that the battle outside had come to an end.
Futayo was currently carrying her deeper inside the imperial palace.
They had started off in the garden that was really a full-on park. From there, she had seen large buildings to either side.
…Ohh.
They had passed through three tall torii.
The final one was the entrance to the structure leading underground and its gate sat open.
Or rather, it had been opened for them.
“This looks familiar,” commented Futayo.
“Yes,” agreed Masazumi. It was just like… “Novgorod.”
After traveling down a corridor about 15m wide and tall, several doors sat open. And…
“Look.”
There was a god of war. The midsized god of war was about 7m tall and it was a combat model, but it was destroyed and lay collapsed in the corridor. And it wasn’t alone. There was an area with what looked like guard stations positioned here and there, but it was littered with destroyed gods of war and…
…Automatons.
They were an old model. Masazumi initially thought they were like Reizei or Ranmaru, but they looked different.
A cloying scent reached her nose there. It all led Futayo to speed up.
“It looks like a battle was fought here. Was there an internal conflict?”
“I know the automatons sided with Akechi in his attempt to reveal the palace’s secrets, but everything here probably dates back to the Age of Dawn.”
She wondered if they had received some automatic updates and noted some components and frames bore the IZUMO logo. Had the automatons updated their bodies and parts while maintaining the same OS? If so…
…How long have they been guarding this place?
The thought made Masazumi feel faint and her breath caught in her throat. After passing what she counted as the 7th barrier door, something came into view.
“It is just like Novgorod.”
There was a pit about 30m across. The outer edge of the circular hole was carved with stone stairs and walkways leading down. The walkways had lights illuminating them.
“Masazumi.”
“Don’t you dare fall, okay?”
“Ha ha ha. Don’t worry. I would never jump down.”
Futayo hopped up onto the railing and then leaned out until her body was perpendicular to the ground.
“I will run down instead.”
And she really did run down the railings.
Futayo raced straight down the pit using the railings as footholds.
| Back to Chapter 85 | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 87 |
