After running for around an hour carrying Iroha, Yahiro finally came to a stop.
They were near the border between the former Bunkyo ward and the former Toshima ward, in front of an old cemetery said to be the resting place of famous literary masters.
Yahiro’s unnatural stamina, which could be compared to a top-class athlete, was a result of Lazarusimmortal’s regeneration ability. He had been forcing his body to move while ignoring the damage sustained by his muscle fibers and the accumulated fatigue.
However, even if he was able to repair his body, the pain and weariness didn’t vanish and the exhaustion was catching up to him. There was also the damage from his previous fight. Yahiro’s body had long since surpassed its limits.
“We should be fine at this distance……”
Before the fatigue made him unable to move, he chose a suitable building and went in.
Inside it was a convenience store in a relatively decent condition. Naturally, the perishable foods had already spoiled, but a portion of confectionery and canned foods was still edible.
It seemed like the battle between RMS and the Spirit Beasts was still ongoing as intermittent gunshots could be heard sometimes from behind them. That was the reason why Yahiro and Iroha managed to shake off their pursuers without encountering any Spirit Beasts.
“……Damn, it hurts. Don’t go biting and scratching people…… I’m doing most of the work here, so the least you can do is to quietly let yourself be carried.”
While adjusting his disordered breathing, Yahiro threw Iroha, who he was carrying, to the floor.
On top of losing the sensations of both of his arms due to the fatigue, they were also covered in countless teeth and scratch marks. Those were the signs of Iroha’s violent resistance as she cried out for him to leave her behind.
“Shut up. What’s with you, making a big deal of those light scratches……”
Iroha glared at Yahiro with her red, tear-stained eyes. Sulking like a kid, she looked more childish than when he first saw her.
“──Oh yeah! You! How are your wounds!? Didn’t that actor-like foreigner cut your throat──”
Iroha stood up and approached Yahiro in a fluster as if she just remembered what happened. She had seen the moment Yahiro was killed by Firman La Hire.
“You don’t have to worry. Since I don’t die.”
Deciding that he can’t hide it, Yahiro showed her the neck that should’ve been cut off.
Iroha’s eyes widened in amazement.
“Don’t die, you say……but why?”
“Who knows. Maybe it’s because I’m already dead. Since that day, four years ago──”
Iroha fell silent at Yahiro’s detached words.
Four years ago. The J-nocideGreat Massacre. No further explanation was needed for the people that had experienced that tragedy. There was no way of surviving the J-nocideGreat Massacre without any kind of miracle or supernatural ability. Iroha, who possessed the ability to control Spirit Beasts, naturally knew that.
“……Why did you save me?”
Iroha asked quietly, her tone different from before.
Yahiro sat down on the spot holding his head between his hands.
Aaah damn……why did I do that……”
“Ha!? You saved me on your own and now you regret it!?”
Having not expected that reaction, Iroha trembled in anger.
“It’s not like I regret saving you. The situation wasn’t one which allowed me to choose who to save after all.”
Yahiro muttered with a sigh.
“It’s just that my client would’ve been troubled if you died. And also I’ve yet to receive my reward.”
“By client……what do you mean?”
Iroha’s voice turned cold. Hearing that, Yahiro’s tone got casual as well.
“I work as a retriever. That means I bring back works of art and handicrafts left behind in the 23 wards and sell them to the rich abroad.”
“……That’s plain robbery.”
“Yeah maybe. But don’t you think it’s better if they are put on a show in some foreign collector’s mansion rather than gather dust in Japan?”
“That’s……probably true but……”
As Yahiro easily admitted to his fault, Iroha faltered to say anything even though she was dissatisfied.
“……Wait. If you do that sort of work, then why did you come to us?”
“Like I said, it was the client’s request. They wanted to have you retrieved, so they asked me to guide them.”
“Me……? But why? Because I’m cute?”
Iroha blinked in surprise.
“I’ve been thinking this ever since we first met, but what’s with your overly high self-esteem……?”
Yahiro muttered to himself, unsure of how to react.
Going by looks alone, there was no doubt that Iroha was a beautiful girl. But her current tattered state after bawling her eyes out and the fact that she was wearing a school jersey made him reluctant to honestly accept that she was cute. Nonetheless, for the sake of argument, he did admit that she had the charm of a pet looking at how quick her facial expressions changed.
“To be precise, what I heard was that they were going to capture a boss-like someone that was leading a swarm of Spirit Beasts. But I never thought that the leader would turn out to be a Japanese girl.”
“Leading a swarm……it’s not like that. Nuemaru and the others are my family……”
Iroha cast her eyes down feeling depressed, as if her previous show of confidence was all a lie.
And then she slapped her cheeks as if trying to pull herself together.
“Wait. Don’t tell me, when you said the boss of Spirit Beasts, did you guys imagine me to be something like a boss monkey[1]?”
“My client seemed to know a little about you, though. After all, they were calling you Kushinada.”
Ignoring Iroha who was getting angry saying “How rude”, Yahiro continued.
Hearing his words, Iroha nodded deeply for some reason feeling convinced, and said,
“Isn’t Kushinada the name of a Japanese goddess? I see. A goddess huh……That’s definitely me.”
“Damn this girl is annoying……”
“So, what kind of reward were you supposed to receive after bringing me back?”
Iroha asked Yahiro in a reproachful tone.
Yahiro gave a short and curt reply.
“Information on my sister.”
“Huh?”
“I was supposed to learn the whereabouts of my sister who went missing four years ago.”
“Is that……so. Sorry about that……”
Iroha averted her eyes in a fluster. It seemed like she was feeling guilty for making Yahiro talk about his missing sister.
“You don’t have to apologize for that.”
Yahiro shrugged with a wry smile.
“Besides, it’s not like my client died or anything. It seems like they ran away before us with your children.”
“……Err, I feel like I can’t let that one pass. Why did you say ‘your children’? What do you mean? Shouldn’t you use ‘siblings’ there!?”
Iroha raised her eyebrows in a protest. Yahiro looked at her feeling puzzled and said,
“Siblings? But weren’t they calling you Mama?”
“Mamana!”
“Ha?”
“Like I said, Mamana Iroha! That’s my name!”
Iroha put a hand on her chest and declared. Yahiro blankly looked at her for a moment, without understanding what she had said.
“Aaah……I see now. How confusing.”
“Shut up. It’s rude to call someone’s name confusing!”
Iroha pouted as if sulking. It seemed like this wasn’t the first time she was teased about her name.
“So, what about you?”
“Me?”
“I’m talking about your name! What should I call you?”
“It’s Yahiro. Narusawa Yahiro.”
“OK, so Yahiro it is.”
I’ve got it down, nodded Iroha, satisfied with herself.
“What about your age? How old are you?”
“Age? What year is it now? I think I was 13 when the J-nocideGreat Massacre began……”
“So 17 years old? You’re joking, we are the same age then! What month?”
“Same age you say… You know now is not the time for this……”
Yahiro couldn’t help but laugh at Iroha’s out-of-place words. It was the nostalgic feeling of talking to his classmates, something he experienced after a long time.
“I see……we’re the same age huh…… There were no older boys around till now, so everyone will definitely be delighted. Ren, Kiri, and Kyouta will have more playmates……”
Iroha broke into a pleasant smile as she mentioned the names of her siblings. However, her voice turned hoarse midway, mixed with sobs.
“But you know, I won’t forgive you if you ever carelessly laid your hands on my sisters. They all are really good kids……be it Ayaho……or Rinka…… They’re all……really cute……they’re all……”
She covered her eyes and cast her face downwards as if she couldn’t endure anymore.
After being attacked by RMS’s troops, the well-being of her siblings was unknown. All their allied Spirit Beasts were already killed and there was no one left to protect the children.
Even if he wanted to, Yahiro couldn’t find any words to console her. He knew that whatever he said would only be a mere consolation.
Escaping alive from that free-for-all fight between the rampaging swarm of Spirit Beasts and the Fafnir soldiers would’ve been difficult even for the operators of Galerie. And survival was even more hopeless for the really young children. Even if Yahiro and Iroha had been there, their fate wouldn’t have changed.
Iroha also understood that. That’s why she silently continued to cry without blaming Yahiro.
The gloomy moment that made him feel that it would’ve been better to just get cursed at was broken by a sudden electric sound. Something was vibrating inside Yahiro’s leg bag.
“What’s that……sound……?”
Iroha raised her face which was still wet with tears.
“Isn’t this what Giulie forced me to take……”
Yahiro narrowed his eyes as he took out the small package that was still vibrating from his leg bag.
It was a chocolate bar-sized candy box wrapped in the wrapping paper of a high-class western confectionery store.
「Hellooo. Yahirooo……can you see meee?」
A girl with orange highlights in her hair was waving her hands in a friendly manner on the screen.
What came out of the candy box was a wireless communication device the size of a smartphone. As expected, the video playback was not smooth, but the audio was clear and there was little to no noise. There was a slight time lag in the response, probably due to the complicated encryptions being applied to the contents of the call.
“……Giulie? What’s with this communication device? Wasn’t there supposed to be sweets in the box?”
While looking at the torn wrapping paper, Yahiro questioned Giulietta Berith. His tone was sarcastic, indirectly implying that if he had known about the device, they would’ve gotten in contact sooner.
However, Giulie tilted her head as if confused and said,
「Eh? Wasn’t it there? A single ramune bottle.[2]」
“What’s this, a kid’s meal!?”[3]
Yahiro slumped down when he noticed the poor excuse of a ramune candy placed at the bottom of the candy box. A communication device was too bulky to be treated as an extra with it. And its importance too was incomparable.
「 It seems like you’ve managed to secure Kushinada.」
Perhaps having decided that there would be no progress if things were entrusted to the older sister, the person on the other end of the line switched to Rose. The presence of Iroha next to Yahiro seemed to have been transmitted to Rose and the others through the camera on the communication device.
“What about you guys? Did you manage to escape from the 23 wards? Considering the kind of situation it was, how did you do it?”
「We had already prepared some means to escape. We did have to use one of our trump cards, though.」
Rose answered in a tone that lacked emotions. She didn’t seem to have any intention of revealing the details of the said trump card.
“Did anyone die?”
「Some did get wounded, however, there were no casualties among the operatorscombatants of Galerie. The children Kushinada──Mamana Iroha raised are all safe too.」
“Really!? Ayaho and the rest are all alive!?”
Iroha interrupted Yahiro and Rose’s conversation, her voice close to a scream.
Rose moved the camera to display the figures of the children present in the same room as her.
They appeared to be inside a vehicle. Seven children were seated nestling together on a horizontal row of benches. They seemed tired and anxious, but nobody was really injured.
「Mama-oneechan……?」
「You’re kidding…Iroha-chan?」
「Oh, It’s Iroha.」
The children called out Iroha’s name one by one.
“Runa……Honoka……I’m glad……”
Hearing their voices, Iroha collapsed on the spot with relief and started crying in a loud voice.
Now who’s the actual child here, calmly observed Yahiro. When he looked over, the children seemed to have wry smiles as well.
“So, what’s with this communication device?”
Yahiro asked Rose who was once again on the screen.
「It’s an encrypted communication device which is disguising your current location and the contents of this conversation.」
“That means you knew that Raimat would turn against us from the start.
Yahiro reproachfully looked at Rose.
If they were up against just Spirit Beasts, then there would have been no use for an encrypted communication device. Rose and the others knew that Raimat would betray them before the start of the operation. And they hadn’t told Yahiro a single word about it.
「Hedging is one of the basics of a business deal after all.」
Rose calmly answered.
「However, that communication device can only be used once. After that, there is a high chance of the encryption pattern being analyzed and your location being pinpointed. We can’t continue this call for long due to the same reason.」
“Would it be bad if my location was leaked?”
Yahiro asked a question, to which in a way, the answer was obvious.
Rose nodded as if it was a matter of course.
「Raimat is pursuing you two. In addition, RMS seems to have dispatched 36 new operatorscombatants into the 23 wards. Most likely all of them are──」
“Fafnir soldiers, you mean.”
「That’s correct.」
Yahiro’s expression turned grim at Rose’s affirmation.
From his previous two encounters, he knew how troublesome Fafnir soldiers could be. They had superhuman physical abilities and resilience. Individually, their fighting strength was inferior to Spirit Beasts, but instead, they used group tactics and human weapons. Yahiro had no confidence that he would be able to safely escape the next time he encountered them.
“What should we do?”
「Please annihilate RMS.」
In response to his serious question, Rose nonchalantly declared. It was as if she had no doubt that Yahiro would be able to do just that.”
Her words came out so naturally that Yahiro was left speechless.
“Don’t be absurd! There’s no way I could do that on my own!”
「It would be legitimate self-defense. And it’s not counted as a crime under Japanese law, is it?」
“That’s not the problem here! I’m saying it’s impossible considering the difference in fighting strength!”
「Then, please escape from the 23 wards. However, head south, towards the Kanagawa district. Let’s see, it would be better if you used the Dai-Ichi Keihin[4] to cross over the Tama River.」
Perhaps having expected Yahiro’s objection, Rose suggested an alternate plan.
“Kanagawa District……? Are you serious? Isn’t it an unexplored region that not even retrievers get close to?”
At the blue-haired girl’s suggestion, Yahiro expressed his disapproval for a different reason.
It was because he and Iroha were currently in Minami Ikebukuro. In order to head towards Kanagawa District from there, they would definitely have to pass through either the former Shibuya ward or the former Minato ward.
「I know that. The entire region spanning the Shibuya ward and Minato ward is supposed to be a special danger zone even within the 23 wards. The den of Spirit Beasts, so to speak.」
“If you know that then──”
「That makes it the optimal route. Have you forgotten who you’re with right now?」
Rose interrupted Yahiro’s rebuttal.
He turned to look at Iroha’s profile who was next to him.
“Kushinada, huh──”
The girl who could freely control Spirit Beasts as her own arms and legs. If her power was effective even against the Spirit Beasts she encountered for the first time, the danger level of the unexplored region would be greatly reduced. If anything, it was possible that the existence of Spirit Beasts would hinder the pursuers sent by RMS.
「Anyways, you don’t have any other choice. The reinforcements sent by RMS are heading south from Saitama since the former Saitama city is the turf of the Japanese branch of Raimat after all.」
「──Plus, you’ll find a ship when you reach Yokohama.」
Giulie cut into the conversation with a cheerful voice.
“A ship?”
Yahiro frowned in confusion.
Due to the J-nocideGreat Massacre, the entire highway network was cut into pieces, making ships an important means of domestic travel in current Japan. However, the slow speed of ships made them unsuitable for escape. He didn’t think the situation would be any better even if they reached Yokohama.
But Rose’s next words cleared away his doubts.
「A transport ship under the control of Galerie is standing by at Yokohama port. If you can make it there, we’ll be able to get Mamana Iroha out of the country. And of course, her children too.」
「We’ll go over there first and wait for you, okay.」
“Ah……Oi……!”
Before Yahiro could stop it, the communication was arbitrarily cut off.
With a bitter look, he exchanged glances with Iroha while holding the now-silent communication device.
“So those girls were the client you were talking about? Aren’t they quite young?”
Iroha, who had somehow stopped crying, turned a doubtful gaze towards Yahiro.
He wasn’t unhappy with her reaction as he could understand how she felt.
“Yeah, that’s right. Well, they too must have a lot going on.”
“I see……if not, I don’t think such cute girls would have come to the current Japan.”
Iroha was easily convinced and dropped the subject.
Her opinion was kind of fresh for Yahiro. Those girls who were born in a family of arms dealers might also be going through some hardships he didn’t know about.
“More importantly, the problem is what we should do from now on.”
Iroha looked surprised at Yahiro’s pointless mutter.
“Don’t we have to go to the Yokohama port?”
“How much do you think we can trust their words?”
“What’s with you? Aren’t they your clients?”
Iroha asked back, feeling shocked. Yahiro frowned looking discontent and said,
“I only met them three days ago, and this is our first time working together. So I’ve got no idea if they are trustworthy or not.”
“Hmm……they must definitely be planning something, but I think they are good people.”
She stated in a strangely confident tone. Yahiro looked at her a bit surprised.
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, they did save the children.”
Iroha had a self-satisfied look for some reason, puffing her chest with pride.
“They could’ve saved the children to take them as hostages and make you think that way.”
“There was no need to save all 7 of them if they really wanted to take them hostage. I think it would’ve been difficult to escape with the children from a situation where it was unknown if they themselves would survive.”
Iroha offered her counterargument to Yahiro who wasn’t breaking his cautious stance against the twins.
He was a bit surprised at her level-headed thinking.
Naturally, it was possible that the reason Galerie’s members didn’t abandon the children wasn’t just because they were good people. In order to turn Iroha into their ally, the twins had decided that saving the children was necessary. Conversely speaking, it showed just how high Galerie regarded her.
If that was the case, he thought that Galerie Berith could be trusted at least until he handed Iroha over to them. His conclusion wasn’t wrong for the time being.
“Come to think of it, why were you raising children in such a place?”
Yahiro asked a question that seemed too late to be asking at this point.
Iroha had called them her siblings, but surely not all of them were related by blood. What kind of relationship did she have with them? Why was she looking after them? Why were they living right in the center of the 23 wards?──He was demanding an answer that explained all those questions.
And then Iroha’s reply was something he hadn’t expected.
“It wasn’t as if I was raising them all alone. In the beginning, there were more adults like a nurse, or the grandpa who knew a lot about machines──”
“What happened to them?”
“Everyone died. It wasn’t as if they were attacked by Spirit Beasts, but I think they couldn’t bear the fact that the world had changed. There were also some that tried to leave the 23 wards and got killed by humans.”
Iroha said in a flat tone devoid of all emotions.
Without changing his expression, Yahiro fell silent.
Four years had already passed since the J-nocideGreat Massacre. It certainly wasn’t a short time to confront the transformation of the world. So it was not strange if the adults couldn’t bear the despair of the deaths of their brethren and having to live trapped inside the territory of Spirit Beasts.
“I see. So that’s why those children were scared after seeing us.”
The two children Yahiro and the rest met at the vegetable garden were extremely on their guard.
That was because their acquaintances, the adults, were killed by the people from outside the 23 wards. For them, the humans that came from 『outside』 weren’t salvation, but a disaster that threatened their peace.
“Of course, it wasn’t as if we thought of living inside the 23 wards forever. We knew that the J-nocideGreat Massacre was over. Also, the expiration date on the preserved food too was almost up.”
Iroha let out a short sigh as she looked at the leftover preserved foods in the store they were in.
Although she and the children were growing their own vegetables, there was a limit to the amount they could produce with such a small number of people. In order to get food supplies, they had no choice but to rely on the preserved foods left behind in the commercial facilities inside the 23 wards. However, four years had passed since the J-nocideGreat Massacre and they were soon reaching the limits. Eventually, Iroha and the rest of the children would’ve had no choice but to go 『outside』.
“Even so, we couldn’t have brought Nuemaru and the others with us outside──”
Saying that, Iroha hugged her knees.
The Spirit Beasts living in the 23 wards were dangerous existences, however, they were also the shield that protected the children from the malice of the 『outside』 humans.
But if Iroha and the children wanted to head 『outside』, they had no choice but to leave the Spirit Beasts behind. If that happened, Iroha wouldn’t be able to keep protecting the children by herself. That was the reason why she continued to stay in the 23 wards.
That was how their strange community came into being.
“I don’t think you made the wrong decision.”
Yahiro blurted out his true feelings. Rather than trying to encourage her, his words were a mixture of admiration and envy.
“Eh?”
“The number of Spirit Beasts being less doesn’t make it any different for us. Both the outside and the 23 wards are the same hell.”
Iroha bit her lip in silence at his laconic words. While she was living with her younger siblings, Yahiro was alone in the 『outside』 world. She had realized that fact.
“Just as I had my siblings, did you also have someone who acted as an emotional support?”
“That’s……”
At her simple question, it was now Yahiro’s turn to become silent.
It was not like he didn’t have someone whom he could call his emotional support. However, he was hesitating to talk about them. He didn’t think much about it till now, but now when he tried to talk about them, he felt as if he would be revealing a pretty embarrassing past.
“Come to think of it, it should’ve been a while since you’ve spoken Japanese, right? If that’s the case, aren’t you too fluent? Is it something that’s not forgotten even after four years?”
“I think……it’s probably because I’ve been watching streams.”
Yahiro confessed in a defiant attitude as if saying “Laugh if you want”.
“Streams? The ones on the internet?”
Iroha’s expression turned stiff for some reason. Yeah, nodded Yahiro and said,
“You see, there’s a streamer who goes by the name Iroha Waon, and that girl still streams in Japanese. Although all her streams are just silly things like idle talk or cooking.”
“I-I see……”
“I won’t go so far as to call her my emotional support, but I think there is a part of me that was saved by her. At the very least, it made me think that I’m not alone……wait, why am I talking about all this?”
“I-Is that so…… What can I say, you’re making me blush.”
Iroha awkwardly smiled and scratched her head in embarrassment.
Yahiro gave a cold stare at her suspicious behavior.
“Huh? Why would you blush?”
“Eh? Wait, don’t tell me you still haven’t figured it out!?”
Iroha’s eyes widened in surprise. And then she brought her face closer to Yahiro’s.
“Me! The one you’re talking about, that’s me! Iroha Waon! Waooon!”
“No, stop. You don’t have to do that.”
Are you making fun of me? asked Yahiro with a hint of displeasure. He knew that it was unavoidable for him to get laughed at after saying that a streamer saved him, but he couldn’t stand being teased like that.
However, instead of Yahiro who was not taking those words seriously, it was Iroha that snapped.
“You’re pissing me off! Believe me! Here, look! The new outfit! Rinka sewed it for me!”
Iroha vigorously threw off the school jersey she was wearing.
A nice flowery smell spread.
Underneath the jersey, she was wearing a showy outfit that looked like the one idols or game characters wear. It had a lot of decorations and a pretty high degree of exposure, and the whiteness of her skin was dazzling.
Her appearance was making Yahiro hesitate to look her in the face, but he also couldn’t take his eyes off her. The look in his eyes was that of pure confusion and surprise.
“……Why are you in Waon’s outfit……?”
“Like I said, I am Waon! Even today I was streaming before you guys came!”
Iroha insisted to a surprised Yahiro. The true identity of Iroha Waon was Mamana Iroha. He understood the reason, but the reality wasn’t sinking in. His mind was refusing to accept that fact.
No one actually believed it, but Waon was supposed to be a Japanese survivor living inside Tokyo. And Iroha completely fit that description. Now that he looked closer, her features resembled that of Waon’s. She would be the fitting image of Waon if she put on a silver wig and changed her eye color using contact lenses.
And more than anything else, the decisive factor was her voice. It was exactly like Waon’s to the extent that he felt it was strange for him to not have realized till now, even if he wasn’t hearing it over a speaker.
“Wait, then is Yahiro perhaps, Yahiron-san!? Really……!?”
Iroha screamed while pointing at Yahiro.
Yahiro suddenly felt the urge to cower, holding his head in his hands.
The messages he sent to Waon till now were all read by the girl in front of him. He felt extremely embarrassed thinking that.
However, Iroha’s reaction was completely unexpected for Yahiro. She began crying profusely while looking at him.
“Oi……Why are you crying!?”
As expected even he got flustered. He thought he was used to her wide range of emotions, but her crying in this situation was so nonsensical that he could only be confused.
“Because……after all, I was so glad……”
She said in a voice mixed with sobs.
“I was so scared……that perhaps, there was no Japanese left to watch my streams……But, it reached……properly……”
She couldn’t form words properly halfway through, but her feelings were conveyed to Yahiro.
For Iroha who was isolated in the 23 wards, those videos were the means to check the situation 『outside』 and look for Japanese survivors. That was probably the reason why she continued to stream even though her videos didn’t get many views. However, there was no way she wouldn’t have felt anxious after continuing to stream for many years.
Just like Yahiro was saved by Iroha, it was possible that his existence too was a saving grace for her. It was a weird feeling, but definitely not a bad one.
“Let’s move a bit more before the sun sets. I want to gain as much distance as possible from our pursuers before we enter the unexplored region. Even those guys from RMS shouldn’t move during the night.”
After waiting for Iroha to calm down, Yahiro called out to her.
There were still a lot of things unknown about the ecology of Spirit Beasts, but from his experience, Yahiro had no doubt that they were more active during the night. Even if that wasn’t the case, nighttime in the 23 wards devoid of any illumination from street lights was dark, and it would be suicidal to move around in the abandoned city during that time. The only time to move was now, before sunset.
“Got it……The children are also waiting for me.”
Iroha stood up while wiping away the traces of her tears. She looked more delicate and had a smaller face than what he had imagined looking at her from the screen, but she certainly had the look of Iroha Waon.
“You know, I never would’ve imagined that Iroha Waon would be a girl that cries with her snot dripping……It was honestly quite a shock……”
“Shut up. That’s where you should be more delighted. You did manage to personally meet and talk with your favorite streamer and touch her.”[5]
Yahiro muttered his impressions to hide his embarrassment to which Iroha argued with a laugh. And then as if she had realized something, she hurriedly hid her chest and said,
“When I said touching, that didn’t mean you can actually touch, you know!”
“Who would touch……you……”
As Yahiro reflexively tried to argue back, in that instant, he was assailed by a sudden feeling of exhaustion.
Losing his sense of balance, he placed his hands on the wall but was still unable to support his body and fell to the ground.
He had no strength left in his arms and legs. It was as if it wasn’t even his body. His consciousness was engulfed in darkness. He felt as if he was sinking to the bottom of a deep ocean.
“Yahiro……?”
“You’re……kidding me……the recoil……not in a time like this……!”
His supposedly immortal body lost its strength and its temperature dropped as if it was frozen. The color of his skin, devoid of any blood, looked like that of a corpse.
It was the sudden loss of his blessing of immortality. The time to pay the price of the blood that continued to be spilled had arrived.
“Yahiro!? Hey, what happened!? Hang in there, Yahiro……! YAHIRO!”
Iroha held the fallen Yahiro in her arms and was shouting something.
Feeling only the warmth of her skin while losing all his other sensations, Yahiro completely lost consciousness as if a thread was cut.
“──I hate it, Nii-sama.”
The girl turned around and declared.
She was a petite girl wearing a brand new sailor uniform.
The rain that started falling made her hair wet. She had a slightly childish face with clean-cut features and impressively large pupils.
It was a scene he had repeatedly seen in his dreams. A memory of the past that would never fade.
“This world, I really hate it.”
The evening sun peeking through the gaps between the clouds was eerily red.
The city which could be seen from the rooftop of the building was similarly red.
A blazing flame was covering the earth.
The girl spread both her arms standing on the edge of the rooftop with the deep crimson flame behind her.
“It would be good if everything breaks.”
Behind the girl who had a beautiful smile, a dragon was flying around.
It was a giant dragon, spreading its rainbow-colored wings.
And then the boy clutched his bloodstained hands and screamed inside the dream.
†
Yahiro woke up due to a feeling of suffocation.
When he opened his eyelids, something was on his face, blocking his vision.
The feeling was slightly like that of cats climbing on top of a bed on a cold, winter day. He felt a bit oppressive, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Through the cloth, he could smell a pleasant flowery smell and feel the gentle warmth of a body.
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you up?”
When he heard a voice from above his head, Yahiro’s vision suddenly cleared.
Thereupon he realized that someone was giving him a lap pillow. The pressure he was feeling on top of his head came from Iroha’s breasts, who was leaning forward.
“Ma……Mamana……?”
Yahiro raised his upper body, confused. He did feel as if he had just experienced something outrageous, but since he was in a daze having just woken up, the reality of it hadn’t sunk in.
“Why……was I……”
He looked around to grasp the situation. They were on the first floor of a partially destroyed office building. Right nearby, he could see a small convenience store that looked familiar. It was the spot he had chosen to take a rest right before he lost consciousness.
However, it was dark outside the collapsed walls. A cold night breeze was blowing in through the gaps.
“How many days have I been asleep……!?”
Yahiro’s expression quickly changed and he drew closer to Iroha.
At his forcefulness, Iroha was a bit taken aback and said,
“How many days you say……I think around three hours have passed since you collapsed……”
“Three hours? Only that much……?”
Yahiro looked at her feeling dumbfounded and shook his head.
Iroha curiously looked back at him. She couldn’t understand why he was feeling so shaken.
“I was surprised since you suddenly collapsed. Are you okay?”
“Ah……that was just the recoil of my immortality. I did use up a lot of my blood today……”
Yahiro made a wry face and sighed.
“Recoil?”
“When I use my regeneration too much, then sometimes I lose consciousness like this without any warning. There was even a time when I ended up sleeping for five days straight.”
“Five days……!?”
Iroha’s eyes widened as she became speechless.
“Then, what if you lost consciousness in the middle of a fight against Spirit Beasts──”
“My immortality is not that much of a convenient ability. If I really couldn’t die no matter what, then there would’ve been no need to run around like this.”
Yahiro made a self-tormenting smile and sighed.
The Recoil of immortality. It was the price of his strange and monstrous regeneration ability which came in the form of a sudden 『sleep of death』.
As if compensating for his life force lost due to injuries, Yahiro’s body fell asleep on a fixed basis. In addition, it was a state of deep sleep almost like suspended animation.
During that time, he became completely vulnerable. Even he didn’t know what would happen if he got killed in that state. However, the regeneration stopping meant that his body wouldn’t heal. So there was a high chance that he wouldn’t be able to revive again. Yahiro’s immortality wasn’t perfect.
“Then, why do you do that?”
Iroha asked with a serious face. Yahiro frowned, unable to understand the meaning behind her question.
“Huh?”
“Why do you work as a retriever in the 23 wards? Even after knowing that you might lose consciousness anytime……and never wake up again, why do you do that……?”
“Even if you ask me……”
Yahiro faltered and averted his eyes.
To make a living. To earn money efficiently. He could think of various excuses to dodge that question. However, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to lie like that.
Perhaps it was because Iroha was seriously worried about him. It was definitely not because he felt like he owed her for the lap pillow.
“Say Mamana, where were you when the J-nocideGreat Massacre began?”
“Eh?”
Iroha made a dubious expression at Yahiro’s sudden question. However, he continued without minding.
“The official story says that the cause of the J-nocideGreat Massacre was due to a meteorite fall. The meteorite that fell on Japan brought catastrophic damage to Tokyo, and became the impetus for the J-nocideGreat Massacre.”
“A……meteorite?”
Iroha’s expression stiffened and a hint of anger crept into her eyes. She had understood the meaning behind his question.
“That’s wrong……What I saw was something different. It wasn’t a meteorite. The thing that made a deep hole in the center of Tokyo and summoned the Spirit Beasts wasn’t a meteorite──!”
Her voice trembled as she whispered. Yahiro gave a small nod in return.
“I see. So you also saw the figure of that thing.”
He gave a vacant smile as if shuddering. Only those who had survived the J-nocideGreat Massacre could share the terror and despair of that day.
A meteorite didn’t fall on Japan that day.
The thing that triggered the J-nocideGreat Massacre was a different existence.
“It was──a dragon. A rainbow-colored dragon, big enough to cover the sky.”
Iroha said with an expression that seemed to be on the verge of crying.
It was a fact that probably no one would believe, no matter how desperately they pleaded. The one to turn this city into ruins was just a single dragon. She knew that.
That’s why Yahiro continued with a smile.
“That dragon, it is my sister.”
“……Your sister?”
Iroha looked at him, puzzled. Her expression seemed to say that she didn’t understand what he had just said.
“I don’t know if she summoned the dragon or was possessed by it. But she certainly used the power of the dragon to try and grant her wish.”
“Her wish……? What do you mean?”
“The destruction of this world.”
Yahiro declared in an indifferent tone. Even after saying it again, those words didn’t feel real. However, a dragon had actually appeared and the peaceful everyday life Yahiro and the others had been living was destroyed. The dragon had fulfilled the wish.
“That’s why I attacked Sui……my sister. I tried to kill her with my own hands.”
Yahiro tightened the grip of his right hand. He could feel the blood smeared on that palm. Naturally, it was just an illusion. An illusion that had never disappeared since that day.
“No way…… You’re joking……right?”
Iroha weakly shook her head.
Yahiro shrugged and laughed in self-derision.
“My joke of a body is the proof. The person who kills a dragon and bathes in its blood becomes immortal. Don’t you know about that legend?”
Iroha was at a loss for words. She had actually witnessed that dragon and had also seen Yahiro’s regeneration ability. No matter how much she tried to deny it, she couldn’t refute Yahiro’s words.
“But, didn’t some time ago you said that you were looking for your sister?”
“You had killed her so why?”, she asked back.
“That’s because I failed.”
Yahiro’s face twisted in anguish.
“Failed?”
“I wasn’t able to kill my sister. That’s why I’ll find her, and this time kill her for sure. The reason I’m working as a retriever is to gather the funds needed to find her. After all, being a retriever makes good money.”
Iroha fixedly stared at Yahiro, who had coldly said it as if it were someone else’s problem.
Suddenly, tears started pouring out from her eyes, causing Yahiro turmoil.
“Wait……Why did you start crying……?”
“After all……After all……it’s too sad! Having to kill your own sister……living only for the sake of that, I feel sorry for you……!”
Iroha violently shook her head while sobbing.
Why does she start crying so easily, thought Yahiro while being at a loss. He was happy that she cried for him, however, his real thoughts were that it was more of a bother.
Yahiro, who had been living alone since the J-nocide, was naturally unused to dealing with girls his age. He didn’t know how to treat the opposite sex in a situation like this.
“Hey, Mamana……”
“Don’t call me Mama……I don’t remember giving birth to someone like you……!”
“No……I was just normally calling you by your family name though……”
It’s too much trouble so should I leave alone, Yahiro started having such irresponsible thoughts.
However, those carefree worries lasted only for that moment.
“Iroha, can you call the Spirit Beasts?”
While picking up his katana, Yahiro lowered his voice and asked.
“Call the Spirit Beasts, you say…… Do you mean like Nuemaru? I have never tried doing that.”
Perhaps noticing the change in him, Iroha answered while sobbing.
“I see.”
How troublesome, he said while biting his lips. That meant Spirit Beasts couldn’t be used as her guards. He also couldn’t make her ride one of them and escape.
“Why do you ask?”
Iroha stood up while wiping her cheeks.
Yahiro glared at the outside of the building and gave a short reply.
“The enemies are here.”
Inside the tactical operation center of Raimat International’s Japan Branch, a large number of staff members sitting in front of combat direction systems were reporting the current situation in a flurry.
“Rakytov squad has located Kushinada and her companion.”
“Sending Kushinada’s location to all the troops. I’ll display the map of the area.”
A large monitor in the center of the room displayed the image of an urban area taken from the sky. It was a real-time image of the 23 wards taken by an unmanned reconnaissance plane flying 18,000 meters above the ground.
“As expected, it seems like even the Spirit Beasts can’t detect the reconnaissance plane flying in the stratosphere.”
Seated on the commander’s seat, Count Hector Raimat looked at the image and muttered in amusement.
Although the skies above the 23 wards were designated as no-fly zones to avoid the attacks from Spirit Beasts, the unmanned reconnaissance plane flying at a high altitude had not been attacked so far. However, that situation could change since there was no guarantee that Spirit Beasts capable of attacks similar to surface-to-air missiles won’t appear.
“──That’s correct. We can’t increase the precision of the image anymore, but it will be enough to guide the troops.”
A voice suddenly came from behind the Count. A young man wearing clothes similar to nobles had just entered the tactical operation center. He was the commanding officer of RMS, Firman La Hire.
“So you’ve returned, Major. How is the condition of your new arm?”
The Count turned his gaze towards Firman’s right arm.
Peeking out from the cuff of his uniform, that arm had been replaced by an artificial one made up of metal.
“There are no problems. It is a piece of equipment that was developed to be used with the 『Mod-3』 in the first place, after all.”
Firman raised his artificial arm and moved it.
It was the substitute for his right arm which was severed during his fight with Narusawa Yahiro. Even with the healing ability of a Fafnir soldier, the lost arm couldn’t be regenerated.
Rather, that same healing ability had closed up the wound in an instant, making it part of the reason why his arm couldn’t be reattached. Even so, the fact that he perfectly adapted to the artificial arm in just a few hours was definitely due to the recovery ability possessed by the Fafnir soldiers.
The artificial arm, which was made keeping his dragonified state in mind, was twice as big as a normal human’s. It had a maximum grip strength of over 200 kilograms, and it’s metal fingertips were capable of piercing the armor plate of a bulletproof vehicle.
“I see. That’s a splendid thing.”
Muttering that in an indifferent tone, the Count returned his gaze to the monitor in the front.
The unmanned reconnaissance plane flying in the skies above the 23 wards had its field of view in the vicinity of the Chuo ward. To be precise, it was in the place where the Chuo ward once existed.
There was no land in the place where the former Chuo ward, and also parts of the former Chiyoda ward, former Minato ward, and former Koto ward should have been.
Existing there was empty darkness.
There was a huge, bottomless gaping void right in the middle of Tokyo.
Its diameter was around 3 kilometers. The inside of the void, which was covered in jet-black miasma, couldn’t be seen even with the latest reconnaissance satellites. Probes done using echo sounding or pulsed lasers were also ineffective.
The only thing they knew about it was that it was the source of the Spirit Beasts. They appeared in this world through that void.
“PloutonionGate to the Underworld, huh……It is dreadful no matter how many times I look at it.”
The Count muttered in a tone filled with deep emotions. 『PloutonionGate to the Underworld』──That was the alias given to the void which drilled itself right in the middle of the 23 wards.
“Is that void the vestige of the regaliaauthority 【Hollow】?”
Firman looked surprised. The existence of PloutonionGate to the Underworld was a strictly guarded classified secret. Even this was his first time actually seeing it.
“That’s right. It is the passage to the underworld brought forth by the Earth Dragon 『Superbia』.”
The Count replied with a composed smile.
The inside of PloutonionGate to the Underworld led to a world different from the reality known to mankind.
Currently, that hypothesis was the most closer to the truth. It might seem ridiculous, but the unusual powers possessed by Spirit Beasts were strong evidence for that assumption. On the contrary, it is being said that the existence of PloutonionGate to the Underworld itself was something created by the supernatural ability of the dragon.
“If you are thinking of getting hold of 【Hollow】, then don’t. It’s not a power that can be handled by mankind. You should know this by looking at the current disastrous condition of the 23 wards.”
The Count gently cautioned Firman, who was staring at the Ploutonion as if enthralled.
“I can understand that.”
I’m sorry for my ignorance, he straightened himself saying that.
The supernatural ability of the dragon that had destroyed the capital city of a country in a single night. It had an extraordinary potential as a weapon.
However, if only the scale of destruction was to be compared, then even nuclear weapons would suffice.
And the danger of the dragon’s ability could not be compared to that of nuclear weapons.
The land swallowed up by the PloutonionGate to the Underworld was never destroyed.
Crossing the boundary of the world, it had been transferred to the underworld along with the people living there.
And then, only a huge void was left behind in this world.
What kind of influence would that void have on the world was yet to be fully understood.
Would it eventually close down, stopping the Spirit Beasts from crawling out? Or would it gradually continue to expand, consuming this world?──They didn’t even know the answers to those questions.
“The important thing is not the regaliaauthority. It’s the dragon’s 『vessel』.”
The Count muttered as if persuading himself.
“Please leave that to me.”
Firman declared with a face full of confidence.
The Count nodded in a composed manner and said,
“Very well. What is the strength of the pursuit force?”
“It’s 12 Fafnir soldiers. We plan on sending in 24 more.”
“Would that be enough to defeat that Lazarusimmortal boy?”
The Count asked in a doubtful tone. His words were filled with ridicule towards Firman as if saying, Didn’t you let them slip away once?
However, Firman surprisingly accepted his doubts without hesitation.
“If that guy was really a Lazarusimmortal, then it would probably be impossible to kill him no matter how many 『Mod-2』 we send after him.”
“Then what will you do?”
“There’s no need to kill him. We just need to wear him down through constant attacks.”
Firman said with a cruel smile. That statement could be taken to mean that he planned on using his 36 subordinates as sacrifices, but currently, there was no one in that place to criticize him.
“Even for a Lazarusimmortal, it would be impossible to regenerate indefinitely in his human form. Even if he did, his spirit won’t be able to withstand it.”
“I see.”
The Count cheerfully smiled.
In a way, death was salvation that liberated a person from their sufferings. But a Lazarusimmortal, who was afflicted by the curse of immortality, was an existence forsaken by that salvation.
Narusawa Yahiro’s spirit would eventually exceed its limits and collapse due to the pain if he were to be constantly attacked. It seemed like a valid plan to defeat a Lazarusimmortal.
“However, the short operating time is a drawback shared by the Fafnir soldiers as well. It would be troublesome if the Lazarusimmortal boy intends to remain in the 23 wards.”
The Count pointed out another problematic issue.
The excessive burden on the body of operatorscombatants was the biggest drawback of the dragonification caused by F-Med. The time a person could maintain their dragonification depended on the individual, but it was 10 minutes at the maximum. Furthermore, repeated dragonification caused various side effects such as rapid deterioration of cells and strain on internal organs.
Naturally, the operatorscombatants didn’t know of that inconvenient fact. From the beginning, Fafnir soldiers were a disposable force intended for short and decisive battles.
That said, it would be impossible to traverse the 23 wards where the Spirit Beasts were dominant without the Fafnir soldiers. If they were unlucky enough to lose sight of their targets and then if it took them a long time to track them down, they might run into a troublesome situation where the strength of RMS would be depleted first.
The pursuit force managed to catch up to their targets this time, as for some reason, Narusawa Yahiro hadn’t moved for nearly four hours. However, there was no guarantee that it would turn out well the next time. Currently, with no tracking methods other than the unmanned reconnaissance plane, figuring out Narusawa Yahiro’s escape route was a pressing matter for Raimat.
“About that matter, Count, Galerie Berith actually offered to provide us with information.”
Firman announced with an expression as if he was holding back his laughter.
The Count slightly raised his eyebrows.
“Hou? That’s surprising. I had heard that you had a quarrel with them during the operation.”
“There was a formal written protest against our attempt to steal Kushinada from them.”
Firman shook his head with a wry smile.
“In addition, since the guide they hired ran away with Kushinada, they offered to leak Kushinada’s escape route to us as an apology.”
“Leak the escape route……you say?”
“That’s correct. Kushinada is supposed to be heading towards Yokohama port through either the former Shibuya ward or the former Minato ward.”
“Towards Yokohama……huh. That’s interesting.”
Hmm, the Count stroked his chin.
The unexplored region spanning across the former Shibuya ward and the former Minato ward was a danger zone full of high-grade Spirit Beasts.
There was no guarantee that even Fafnir soldiers could break through that area, but with Kushinada who possessed the power to make the Spirit Beasts obey her, they might have decided that they would be safer using that path.
“Do you think we can trust the information provided by Galerie?”
“At least, there has been no discrepancy in the information so far. I believe even they wouldn’t want to stay in a hostile relationship like this with Raimat International.”
Firman gave a confident smile. Even the Count admitted that it was a reasonable decision.
“However, even the Fafnir soldiers would be hesitant to enter the unexplored region, I presume.”
“That’s right. But if they are heading towards Kanagawa, we can narrow down their escape route. They would definitely have to cross over the river if they want to escape from the 23 wards.”
“So you plan to go on ahead and ambush them, huh.”
The Count closed his eyes and pondered.
Firman’s strategy was definitely not a reckless one. On the contrary, it was so convenient that it made him uneasy. Even if the information provided by Galerie Berith was false, it would only waste the deployed force and would not affect many people. Instead, that would become a good excuse to destroy the annoying Galerie Berith.
“──Very well. I’ll permit you to mobilize RMS’s main force which is standing by at Sendai.”
“You have my thanks, Count.”
Firman saluted, seeming satisfied.
The Count stared at him with a blank look and said,
“I’m not asking you this in return, but if possible, I would like you to capture the Lazarusimmortal boy as well, along with Kushinada. And yeah, of course, it doesn’t matter if he’s brought dead or alive.”
If you can kill him, that is. At the Count’s implication, Firman showed a ferocious smile.
“I swear on this arm, I will.”
Yahiro was just a retriever, not a soldier. He didn’t have the resolve to kill people, at least not by his own will.
That’s why the thing he feared the most was that they might be asked to surrender peacefully. Because he could not be so cold-hearted as to one-sidedly attack someone who wanted to talk.
However, the operatorscombatants from RMS started attacking as soon as they became aware of his existence. Yahiro felt rather thankful as he wouldn’t need to think of anything unnecessary.
The operatorscombatants numbered four. All of them were Fafnir soldiers who had been injected with the F-med.
Perhaps the reason why they were armed with knives instead of rifles was that they didn’t want the bullets to hit Iroha. However, the fact that they chose hand-to-hand combat was convenient for him.
Yahiro had no experience in killing a person. He wouldn’t hesitate to counterattack in self-defense, but he didn’t think that he would have a winning chance against professional operatorscombatants in a deathmatch.
But it was a different story if the opponents weren’t human.
In the past four years, he had experienced fighting Spirit Beasts to a painful degree. And the fighting style of Fafnir soldiers was overwhelmingly closer to that of Spirit Beasts than of humans.
“How unfortunate.”
Yahiro slashed one of the Fafnir soldiers who came attacking from the front with his katana.
With the life force of Fafnir soldiers, a few flashy attacks wouldn’t kill them. That put him at ease since he wouldn’t have to hold back.
“You guys wouldn’t have been able to come to the 23 wards without using those drugs──I understand that, but even so you shouldn’t have been in that form.”
The Fafnir soldier collapsed after being slashed from his shoulder to his flank.
The RMS operatorscombatants probably had a much higher ability than Yahiro in proper hand-to-hand combat. However, due to the sudden rise in physical ability, the Fafnir soldiers didn’t have good control over their movements. If their opponent was just a normal human, then perhaps they might have forced through with their speed and power, but against Yahiro who was used to fighting Spirit Beast, their movement was too monotonous to the extent he felt bored.
The remaining three Fafnir soldiers had surrounded Yahiro while he was attacking one of their companions.
They attacked him simultaneously from three sides. However, there was no sign of impatience on his face. There was no shortage of small Spirit Beasts that formed groups and surrounded their prey, so naturally, he knew the countermeasures to take against them.
“──Wha-……What happened!?”
One of the Fafnir soldiers that tried to attack Yahiro suddenly lost his stance and fell over. The tough bodies of Fafnir soldiers had deep gouges as if they were sliced by an invisible blade.
“Those are just wires I got from a hardware store nearby, you know. But since you guys were needlessly moving so fast, even such a thing did a great deal of damage.”
The wires Yahiro had set up around the room cut the Fafnir soldiers’ flesh and blocked their movements. Now that they were trapped in the wires, he defeated them one by one.
He did avoid their vitals. But other than that, there was no need to hold back.
For an ordinary person, those wounds would’ve been fatal. But considering the life force of Fafnir soldiers, they probably wouldn’t lose their lives, provided that they were brought back 『outside』 and given proper treatment.
“Lazarusimmortal──YOU BASTARD!”
Realizing that their companions were incapacitated, the next group of operatorscombatants rushed in. When Yahiro noticed that they had their guns ready, he immediately used the body of a Fafnir soldier as a shield.
They had fired rifle bullets of high penetrating power. However, the robust body of the Fafnir soldier splendidly blocked them, making the operatorscombatants feel shaken.
“Kuh……!”
The operatorscombatants discarded their guns. Instead, they too turned into Fafnir soldiers after using the F-med.
But that was exactly what Yahiro wanted.
He threw a grenade towards them, now that they had let go of their weapons. It was the equipment of one of the Fafnir soldiers from the group that entered first.
The grenade exploded almost halfway between him and Fafnir soldiers. Its fragments flew around in all four directions, and the Fafnir soldiers immediately lowered their posture to avoid them.
In the meantime, Yahiro immediately closed the distance between him and the Fafnir soldiers.
“Don’t get too preoccupied with the fragments. Such things won’t do much damage to us anyways.”
The Fafnir soldiers were astonished to see him charging at them, covered in blood.
One could only wonder how Yahiro’s figure, making use of his immortal body, appeared to them who were still bound by the common sense of humans.
“Wait……Sto──!”
“Sorry, but I’ve not been a monster these four years just for show.”
Yahiro swung his katana downwards at them, who had forgotten to even counterattack and just screamed.
From there, in less than three minutes, Yahiro neutralized a total of twelve Fafnir soldiers, putting an end to the first battle.
“Yahiro!”
Iroha let out a small scream when she saw Yahiro returning covered in blood. Most of it was from the enemies, but it wasn’t as if he was uninjured. She felt a bit shaken upon realizing that.
Although his wounds had already healed, his clothes were destroyed by the self-destructive grenade attack, and were in a rather miserable state. But that wouldn’t be a problem if he could get a change of clothes nearby.
Fortunately, the stab and bulletproof uniform of Galerie Berith remained in a relatively decent shape, and although it got really dirty, it was not in an unsightly state.
“I’ve dealt with the pursuers for the time being. Let’s move before their reinforcements catch up.”
Yahiro said in a calm tone so as not to frighten Iroha.
The sound of the engines of the armored personnel carriers they could hear up until a while ago came to a stop. But that meant that the enemy operatorscombatants had reached very close to the two of them.
He wanted to move away from this place as far as possible to avoid unnecessary fighting.
However, Iroha stopped and turned a frightened gaze towards him.
“Dealt with, you say……Did you kill them?”
Her voice trembled as she looked at his bloodstained katana.
For a moment, a slight pain ran through Yahiro’s chest.
Noticing the grimace on his face, Iroha suddenly covered her mouth.
She had realized that Yahiro was hurt by her careless words.
However, he could not even argue back, because before he could, Iroha tightly clung to him.
“Sorry. I said a really insensitive thing right now, didn’t I? Even though you were fighting for my sake……”
“No, I don’t really mind. Or rather, don’t stick too close to me. The blood hasn’t dried yet. Your precious jersey will get dirty.”
“No. I won’t get away unless you forgive me.”
She put strength in both her arms and resisted Yahiro’s attempts to pull her off him. What an unreasonable kid, he thought while sighing with a wry smile, and said,
“I’m not even angry. I mean, I didn’t kill those guys in the first place.”
“Is that……so?”
“You should know that by looking at my body. Those guys can’t be killed easily. It would’ve been troublesome if they simply kept regenerating, so I just made them experience a bit of pain that they can’t move for a while.”
The regeneration ability of Fafnir soldiers was not a match for a Lazarusimmortal like Yahiro. He was certain that they wouldn’t be able to move so soon if they were to receive damage that reached their bones.
Naturally, there was the danger of Spirit Beasts attacking them if he left them in a state where they couldn’t move properly. But the reinforcements would probably retrieve them before it could happen.
The more they divide their manpower to rescue the wounded, the less personnel they would have to pursue the both of them. Yahiro’s decision to avoid killing those soldiers was because he had taken this into consideration.
“If you understand then let’s get the hell out of here. Since the enemy reinforcements are already……here……”
Yahiro, who was keeping an eye on the situation outside through a broken wall, gasped in surprise.
The RMS operatorscombatants approached the Fafnir soldiers. That much was as he predicted.
However, the objective of those operatorscombatants wasn’t the retrieval of their allies.
They took out a cylinder-shaped container filled with a crimson drug and forcibly thrust it halfway into the body of the Fafnir soldiers. It was an additional dose of the F-med.
“That’s ridiculous……Why aren’t they taking them back!? Do they intend to make them fight in that state……!?”
Yahiro felt shaken by the unexpected action taken by the enemy.
The overdose of F-med had a drastic effect. The bodies of the wounded Fafnir soldiers swelled to more than twice their size and their wounds healed instantly.
On the other hand, the ones that couldn’t withstand the repercussions didn’t number a few. The sudden multiplication of cells caused their bodies to break down, scattering flesh and blood as they crumbled.
“Does this mean that they have no intention to retrieve those who can’t fight anymore……!”
Yahiro strongly clenched his teeth. RMS’s operatorscombatants weren’t comrades, but co-workers who just happened to be hired for the same objective. If they were useful, they would be exploited until the end and then discarded──That was their way of doing things.
“Yahiro……It’s no use. We are surrounded!”
Iroha shouted as she looked towards the entrance of the building.
While they were distracted by the wounded Fafnir soldiers, the abandoned building they were hiding in was encircled by another squad of RMS.
“Iroha. Go upstairs and hide.”
Looking at the stairs behind him, Yahiro instructed Iroha.
“What will you do?”
Iroha asked with a tense expression.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll end this soon.”
“Yahiro……!?”
Yahiro drew his katana, ignoring the voice of Iroha who was trying to stop him.
Almost at the same time, RMS operatorscombatants rushed into the building.
The first ones to come attacking were the four revitalized Fafnir soldiers who were overdosed with the F-med.
The urge to attack had taken over them and they were in no state to cooperate as a group. Without even taking out their knives, they thrust their claws at Yahiro.
Their movements were much faster than before they had been revitalized. Just as Yahiro slashed at the first one, a different Fafnir soldier attacked him, and he wasn’t able to dodge it.
“Guh……!”
He was gouged deeply in the back and was blown backward. Taking advantage of that opportunity, the remaining Fafnir soldiers also jumped in. His sudden counter inflicted a severe wound on the second one, but the rampaging revitalized Fafnir soldiers didn’t stop moving. When Yahiro realized that he wouldn’t be able to counterattack in time, he prepared himself to take the enemy down with him and gouged the Fafnir soldier’s torso deeply. His left shoulder, which he had used to defend himself, was crushed. But he was somehow able to suppress the rest of the attack.
“───!?”
Just as he broke free from the encirclement of the Fafnir soldiers while groaning in pain, a storm of rifle bullets rained down on him. It was fired by RMS’s reinforcement troops. Yahiro was shot in both his legs and fell down on the floor covered with rubble. And then a new wave of Fafnir soldiers rushed in.
He was being attacked in waves by intermediate-range gunfire and Fafnir soldiers. It seemed like RMS had switched to a plan of wearing down Yahiro over time, rather than neutralizing him all at once.
The rapid healing that sustained Lazarusimmortal‘ immortality was draining his stamina at a tremendous rate. That weak point was being exploited. If the battle dragged on, then the 『sleep of death』 might strike again.
Yahiro, who was getting impatient, covered the blade of his katana in his own fresh blood. It wasn’t as if there was a meaning behind that action. It was just his usual habit that came out whenever he fought with Spirit Beasts.
A Fafnir soldier swung his knife downwards at the collapsed Yahiro’s head. Yahiro forcibly turned his body and swung his katana while getting up.
The attack was too light to do any major damage due to his unnatural posture. It was obstructed by the tough scales of the Fafnir soldier and only managed to deliver a shallow cut on the opponent’s right arm.
However, soon after that, Yahiro witnessed an unbelievable scene.
The right arm of the Fafnir soldier he had cut made a creaking sound and instantly swelled to several times its size.
“GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!”
A scream escaped from the Fafnir soldier’s throat.
His expression, which had been transformed into that of a dragon, was twisted in pain, and his face collapsed as if rotting from the inside.
His regeneration ability was going out of control. The somatic cells continued to multiply endlessly and the body of the Fafnir soldier could no longer maintain its identity. It expanded to almost three times its original mass and exploded like a balloon bursting, scattering in all directions. Yahiro watched it in a daze, covered in the blood that scattered.
It was his blood that caused the body of the Fafnir soldier to rampage.
The blade of Kuyou Masakane, which was covered in his blood, came into contact with the Fafnir soldier and caused the abnormal cell activation.
“What the hell……Are these guys, the same as Spirit Beasts……?”
Looking down at the scattered flesh of the Fafnir soldier, Yahiro muttered in dismay.
Lazarusimmortal’ blood was a deadly poison for Spirit Beasts. He was feeling confused as to why it also worked for the Fafnir soldier.
However, there was a clear difference in the reaction caused by Yahiro’s blood between the Spirit Beasts and the Fafnir soldier.
The Spirit Beasts simply crumbled. On the other hand, the body of the Fafnir soldier showed abnormal cell activation. Rather, the cause of their death was more due to the overdosage of F-med.
Or perhaps like an anaphylactic shock[6] caused by a poisonous substance──
“Fafnir…… I see……So that’s the reason, damn it! Raimat……!”
Yahiro’s lips quivered in fury.
He walked forward unsteadily, leaving himself defenseless and exposed. For a moment, the Fafnir soldiers stopped moving as if they were frightened by the fierce and ghastly air around him.
The operatorscombatants on the rear fired at Yahiro. However, he didn’t dodge them. He calmly stopped the bullets with his body and continued to move towards the enemy troops.
The operatorscombatants who saw that should’ve realized.
From this moment onwards, Yahiro had unleashed the true power of a Lazarusimmortal.
He had stopped fighting as a human──
“Listen here, you RMS operatorscombatants! Get rid of that damn drug and get the hell out of here! If not, you’re gonna die!”
Yahiro warned them in a loud voice. However, that voice was drowned out by the incessant sound of gunshots.
With an anguished roar, one of the Fafnir soldiers that tried to attack him from behind suddenly burst. Then another one. And then another one. Just by trying to get close to Yahiro, the bodies of the Fafnir soldiers were breaking apart as their regenerative abilities went out of control.
Yahiro’s blood was being scattered by the bullets. The Fafnir soldiers were self-destructing on their own by coming into contact with it. And they still hadn’t realized that fact.
The operatorscombatants, frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the bullets, took out a cylinder filled with a crimson liquid drug. As they thrust it into their bodies, Yahiro looked at them in disdain and sighed.
All the remaining operatorscombatants had transformed into Fafnir soldiers.
There were around 30 of them in total. That’s right, just around a mere 30.
“If that’s your answer……then there’s no need to hold back between us monsters.”
Yahiro threw off Galerie’s uniform.
The upper half of his body became exposed. A metallic shine spilled out from the gaps of his torn shirt.
A dull shine like that of rusty armor. It was an armor made up of fresh blood. Yahiro’s body was transforming.
Transforming into the true form of a cursed immortal monster.
Just like the hero famed to have a body of steel, the legendary 『Dragon Slayer』──
“Disappear. This world is not a place for us.”
Yahiro’s cheeks, covered in a rusty steel skin, twisted as he smiled fiercely.
And then the trampling commenced.
“Don’t worry, there’s no need to be scared. We’re leaving now, okay.”
Iroha reached out and strongly stroked the golden fur while smiling.
A huge monster, around 7-8 meters long, was lying down in front of her. It was an Anzu, a monstrous bird with golden wings and the face of a lion.[7] It was a Grade Ⅳ Spirit Beast that often appeared in the vicinity of the unexplored region.
“There, there. You’re a good boy. Well then, bye-bye.”
She kept caressing the monster without minding the fact that it could’ve easily killed her with a single bite of its huge jaws. Perhaps satisfied with that, the Spirit Beast flapped its huge wings and returned to its nest.
“That was nerve-wracking……As expected, I get nervous whenever I talk to an unknown one.”
Wiping the sweat off her forehead, the jersey-wearing Iroha let out a deep sigh.
“Usually, an encounter with a Grade Ⅳ Spirit Beast doesn’t end with simple nervousness.”
Yahiro muttered while looking at Iroha’s profile, who was laughing.
Both of them were currently in the vicinity of the former Ohi Racecourse[8]. They had made it through the dangerous unexplored region, and would soon enter the former Ōta ward.
On their way here, they had encountered more than 15 large Spirit Beasts. All of them were monsters that could wipe out a large military unit. Iroha had tamed them all and sent them back.
That fact once again reminded Yahiro of the absurdness of her supernatural ability.
Kushinada’s power allowed her to control Spirit Beasts at will. If her ability was to be analyzed, it would be possible to not only remove the threat present in the 23 wards, but also to utilize Spirit Beasts as new weapons. It was no wonder that an arms dealer like Raimat International was obsessed with Iroha.
While thinking that, Yahiro approached a motorbike parked on the road. It was a Japanese-made off-road bike used in motocross racing competitions. It was something he had taken without permission from an abandoned bike store.
In spite of being left abandoned for more than 4 years, the motorbike was in a good condition, and the engine started easily with just a little bit of maintenance. It was an old model with a kick-starter system and no fuel injection system, but conversely, that proved to be fortunate. It was also thanks to getting hold of that motorbike that they were able to traverse through the unexplored region in one night after repelling the RMS forces.
Yahiro restarted the motorbike while struggling with the unfamiliar kick-starter. They were less than 10 kilometers away from the Tama river, which was the border between two prefectures. If everything went smoothly, they should be able to leave the 23 wards before dawn.
“Well……Somehow, this feels like something out of a teen film.”
Iroha, who was sitting on the rear seat of the motorbike, started a small talk while worrying about her bangs that were disheveled due to the wind. The seat on the racing bike was narrow, so she inevitably had to sit glued to Yahiro’s back.
Due to being neglected for long, the road surface was in a dilapidated state and full of obstacles. Even though they were riding an off-road bike, the speed it could go was not much different from that of a bicycle, so there was no problem in having a conversation.
“A teen film?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t it happen a lot in movies? A beautiful honor student and a delinquent failure eloping together on a motorbike, or something.”
“The delinquent failure is supposed to be me huh……”
Yahiro said with a frown. He no longer felt like retorting at Iroha’s mental strength, who called herself beautiful without shame.
“Are you still worrying about not being able to save those Fafnir soldiers?”
She asked, leaning her weight on him.
Caught off guard, Yahiro fell silent.
The RMS operatorscombatants they had encountered last night were eventually all annihilated. They, who had turned into Fafnir soldiers, had their bodies run amok and burst open without even being able to touch Yahiro.
Having ignored his warning and resorting to the F-med, they had brought it upon themselves. Even so, Yahiro had ended up taking the lives of over 30 people. Iroha probably thought he was feeling depressed because of that.
However, he felt just a little bit better after hearing her say that he was not able to save those Fafnir soldiers. That’s right. He wanted to save them. He didn’t want to let them die, since they were victims just like him.
“……It was Sui’s blood.”
Yahiro muttered as if talking to himself.
He could feel Iroha’s confusion from behind him.
“Sui?”
“The drug known as F-med which creates the Fafnir soldiers……Its true form is Sui’s blood.”
“By Sui, you mean your little sister? You said you were looking for her for a long time……”
“I should’ve realized it earlier. Their figure, and that absurd regeneration ability……That’s the same power as me. Raimat had been using dragon’s blood to create immortal soldiers……!”
Yahiro let out a low, stifled voice.
The true form of the crimson drug known as the F-med was a blood product derived from Narusawa Sui’s blood.
A dragon’s fresh blood is said to grant immortality to those who bathe in it. However, it also seemed to be a deadly poison for humans that were incompatible. The evidence of this was the Fafnir soldiers who got overdosed with the F-med and destroyed themselves by having their regeneration abilities run amok.
To control that side effect, a drug was made by chemically processing dragon’s blood and reducing its duration of effect. That was probably the true nature of the F-med. That’s the reason why when Yahiro’s blood got into their bodies, they received an intense anaphylactic shock and lost their lives. It was because his blood was contaminated with a higher concentration of dragon’s blood.
Raimat was utilizing the dragon’s blood as a weapon.
That information was hard to believe, but it brought forth another fact.
It was that Raimat International had access to a large amount of dragon’s blood in order to mass-produce the F-med. Dragon’s blood──In other words, the blood of Narusawa Sui.
“Does that mean the corporation called Raimat is holding Sui-san hostage?”
“I think so. If not, no matter how diluted it was, there’s no way they got their hands on that much of Sui’s blood.”
Yahiro nodded at Iroha’s question.
Firman La Hire had called his exclusive F-med as the third improved version──Mod-3. That meant that they had been researching the dragon’s blood for many months or even years.
They had obtained a stable supply of a living dragon’s blood as experimental material for developing the F-med, and also as a resource to mass-produce the drug. Such a thing wouldn’t have been possible unless they secured the dragon’s real body.
“……Wait. Raimat is the sponsor of your client, right?”
Iroha’s voice hardened as if she had realized something.
Yahiro silently affirmed. The sponsor for the Kushinada capture plan was Raimat International. Galerie Berith was one of the private military companies hired by them.
“Giulie-san and Rose-san, was it……? Did the people of Galerie Berith know that Raimat was holding Sui-san captive?”
“Probably. I don’t know if they even knew that the F-med was actually Sui’s blood……no, they probably did.”
Yahiro remembered the photo of Sui shown to him by the twins.
The dragon girl was fixed to a coffin-like bed and her entire body was connected to countless tubes. The machines in her surroundings weren’t just simple life-support systems, but also worked as blood extraction devices──Yahiro was convinced of that.
Even so, said Iroha while shaking her head, as if saying she still wasn’t convinced.
“That’s weird……because, wasn’t your reward supposed to be Sui-san’s whereabouts……Doesn’t this mean that they knew you would turn into Raimat’s enemy from the start?”
“It would mean that they tried to use me to whittle down Raimat’s forces. In the first place, Raimat International and Galerie Berith were business rivals that just happened to work together this time. There’s nothing strange about that.”
Yahiro said in an indifferent tone. Iroha’s tone became more serious.
“You’re right. There’s nothing strange. But that’s what makes it strange.”
“Huh?”
“If Galerie Berith intended to make you fight with Raimat, then why are they helping us escape? It wouldn’t make any sense if we ran away without fighting, right?”
“That’s……”
Yahiro couldn’t say anything at what Iroha had unexpectedly pointed out.
They were heading towards Yokohama under the instructions of the Galerie Berith twins. The reason for that was to escape from the pursuers from Raimat, who had their headquarters located in Saitama.
Those weren’t particularly strange instructions. In fact, the unexplored region had forced the pursuit of RMS to stop.
However, it also meant less damage on RMS’s side. That contradicted their objective of getting him to fight Raimat.
“Couldn’t it be just to make sure they obtain you?”
If the twins prioritized obtaining Iroha more than reducing Raimat’s forces, he could understand their instructions. However, Iroha immediately rejected that hypothesis.
“If that was the case, why didn’t they come to pick me up sooner? Making both of us cross the unexplored region, that roundabout way of doing things is definitely strange.”
“I knew from the start that there was something strange about those twins though.”
Yahiro said with an attitude similar to that of a sore loser.
Iroha had a good point. If they wanted to make him and Raimat fight, it was unnecessary to instruct them to escape. If Iroha’s retrieval was the priority, then there was no need to show him Sui’s photo. There was a contradiction in Galerie Berith’s instructions. Those twins had a different objective he didn’t know of.
“Even if we know that they might be deceiving us, there’s no choice but to head towards them, since your children are waiting.”
There was no point in thinking about unknown things, so Yahiro abandoned those thoughts. In any case, they were left with no other choice but to follow the twins’ instructions.
“My siblings! Like I said, they are not my children but my siblings!”
Iroha faithfully corrected his statement.
Then she suddenly fell silent. She took a few deep breaths as if hesitating to say something, which was unusual. And then as if she had made up her mind, she confessed.
“Hey, Yahiro. There’s something I need to apologize to you for.”
“Don’t tell me……You did something to me while I was asleep……?”
Yahiro asked in an uneasy tone. Wha–, Iroha’s eyes widened and she said,
“What do you mean!? Something like that, of course I didn’t do it……!”
“No, I intended it as a joke. You didn’t have to get so worked up……”
“S-Shut up!”
Shouting in a high-pitched voice, she started repeatedly hitting his back. Why is she getting flustered, thought Yahiro in confusion.
“So, what was the thing you wanted to apologize for?”
“Well……I think, I might have met Sui-san before the J-nocideGreat Massacre.”
“Huh!?”
Yahiro clutched the breaks tightly without thinking. The sudden brakes caused the bike to come to a stop, pitching forward.
“Gyaaah!? What’re you doing!? You can’t apply the brakes so suddenly, it’s dangerous!”
Iroha, who had barely managed to avoid getting thrown off, clung to Yahiro’s back in a panic.
Yahiro forcefully turned his body around and faced her.
“More importantly, what did you say just now!? When did you meet Sui!? And where!?”
“In……a dream……?”
Overwhelmed, Iroha gave a vague answer.
“Dream?”
Yahiro had an indescribably confused look on his face. It wasn’t as if he thought that Iroha was teasing him. However, he also didn’t know the meaning behind her testimony.
Yahiro, who was staring at Iroha with furrowed brows, suddenly raised his face and his expression stiffened.
“I wanted to hear more about that matter, but it seems we don’t have the time for that.”
“Yahiro?”
Following his gaze, Iroha looked behind her and gasped.
A ruined city just before dawn. The surrounding buildings had collapsed as if knocked down by a giant explosion, and the scorched earth spread wide.
On the other side of the flat terrain, they could see a group of dark gray armored vehicles. Approximately 20 armored vehicles and countless operatorscombatants were lying in wait, surrounding both Yahiro and Iroha.
All of them were wearing extravagant uniforms reminiscent of nobles from the middle ages. It was the uniform of RMS operatorscombatants.
“We were, ambushed?”
Iroha widened her eyes in surprise and muttered.
Since they had traversed through the unexplored region, there was no way RMS could have followed them. Even if they could, it was impossible to get ahead of them and gather such a large force.
There was only one thing that came to mind. They knew that Yahiro and Iroha were heading towards Yokohama. Someone had passed the information of their escape route to RMS.
There was only one possible organization that could do that──
“Galerie Berith……Those twins, they sold us out……!”
Yahiro punched the handlebars of the motorbike as his shoulders shook in anger.
Immediately after that, the RMS armored corps surrounding them began the bombardment.
A mortar shell fell in a parabolic trajectory and exploded behind Yahiro and Iroha.
The explosion destroyed the road and pieces of asphalt came raining down.
It wasn’t as if the bombardment had failed to hit the two of them. RMS was aiming for the ground right from the beginning. Their objective was to destroy the road and block off Yahiro and Iroha’s path of escape.
“Iroha, you should surrender……!”
Yahiro raised his voice as if to go against the shockwave.
The twins from Galerie that should’ve been here were nowhere to be seen. Those twins had sold the information on their escape route to Raimat.
It was far-fetched to call that betrayal. To them, Yahiro was just a guide they just happened to hire. There was no way they would hesitate to abandon him. If they thought that it would be better to make Raimat owe them than to force themselves to get their hands on Iroha, Galerie Berith would sell both of them without a doubt.
As a Japanese survivor, Yahiro should’ve been used to getting deceived and betrayed. Even so, the reason why he was feeling so vexed right now was that somehow or the other, he had unconsciously begun trusting those twins.
“By surrender……you mean to those guys?”
Iroha responded in anger. For her, RMS operators were enemies who had destroyed the home she had been living in for many years and killed the Spirit Beasts that were like family to her.
“Since they are after your ability, they shouldn’t treat you roughly. It’s also possible that you’ll get back your siblings, who were taken by Galerie, depending on how the negotiation goes.”
Yahiro earnestly tried to persuade her. It was impossible to escape from this situation all while bringing her along. That’s why he wanted at least her to surrender before she got caught up and injured due to the attacks.
The ground burst open as if to ridicule his decision.
It was due to warning shots fired by assault rifles. Hit by the gunfire, the bike got blown away, scattering sparks.
“─!?”
To protect Iroha from the rain of bullets, Yahiro pushed her down to the ground. Several bullets grazed him and the scattered blood made his shoulder wet.
He suffered lacerations on his trapezius muscle[9]. A part of his shoulder blade was damaged. It would take around 10 seconds for complete recovery. However, if he took those bullets head-on, even he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
“What the hell are you doing!? Didn’t you people come here to capture Kushinada!?”
Yahiro stood up while grimacing from the sharp pain, and yelled at the assailants.
He could see the figure of RMS operatorscombatants on top of the rubble of the destroyed buildings along the road. There were around 14-15 of them. In the center of the group was Firman La Hire with a large artificial arm.
“Of course, we will. But we haven’t received any orders to bring her back uninjured, you see.”
Firman ordered his men to fire warning shots again.
Countless bullets rained down around Iroha and pieces of the shattered asphalt hit her. Even so, she didn’t scream but instead kept angrily glaring at Firman.
“Since I’ve mobilized such a large force, I’ll lose face if you surrender so easily. Resist as much as you can and let my men have their fun.”
His words made his subordinates laugh in a vulgar manner.
The bullets that were supposed to be warning shots, had gradually started grazing both of their bodies. For the operatorscombatants, Yahiro and Iroha, the Japanese survivors possessing supernatural abilities, were the same as Spirit Beasts. Since it would also count as revenge for their co-workers, they probably weren’t feeling guilty about hurting the two of them.
Yahiro would still have a chance to win if they used the F-med. However, since they were using firearms without dragonifying themselves, he had no way of counterattacking.
“So that’s……your plan. You’re trying to restrict my actions……!”
Realizing their intention, Yahiro gritted his teeth.
The reason why they were continuing to fire those warning shots which could hit Iroha was to stop his movements. If he made a wrong move, she could get swallowed up by the bullets. By making him think that, they had pinned him to the spot.
If that was the case, their next action would be──
“───!”
Firman pulled out a handgun with his left hand and shot at Yahiro’s heart without mercy. Yahiro blocked it with his right arm.
The bullet got deflected while scattering sparks, exposing his skin which was covered in an armor made of fresh blood.
“It’s as I expected. Lazarusimmortal boy──You’ve bathed in the dragon’s blood, haven’t you? And hence, you’ve obtained a body that cannot be harmed even by swords of steel, the body of 『SigurdDragon Slayer』!”
Firman’s lips twisted in delight all the while he repeatedly kept pulling the trigger, and with each pull, Yahiro deflected the bullets that came flying.
The armor of fresh blood covering his skin was his trump card that he hadn’t even shown to Galerie Berith.
However, he didn’t have the leeway to keep it hidden any longer. If he dodged, then the bullets would hit Iroha for sure. Firman was intentionally shooting at such an angle.
“Splendid! It’s truly a splendid ability! Even 『Mod-2』 wouldn’t be a match for you! I’m sure the Count would be very pleased if I brought you back alive!”
Throwing away the handgun whose magazine had become empty, Firman picked up a huge firearm from near his feet.
It was a six-barrel coaxial machine gun with an absurd fire rate of around 6000 rounds per minute, an electric Gatling gun. It was originally intended to be equipped on a military helicopter, but Firman was holding it in one hand. In addition to the grip strength of his massive artificial arm, the supernatural strength of a Fafnir soldier made it possible to do that.
“But the itch on this right hand would not stop if I do that!”
Firman fired the machine gun. He had only pulled the trigger for an instant, however, the dozens of bullets released in that instant hit Yahiro with unbelievable accuracy.
“Guh!?”
The armor of fresh blood shattered, and Yahiro’s entire body was torn apart. Even the steel body brought about by the dragon’s blood was powerless against the large number of machine gun bullets that had hit him in that instant.
At the mercy of the power of modern weapons, Yahiro was slammed to the ground. The fact that he still maintained his human appearance was more due to Firman’s whim, who had avoided fatally injuring him, rather than the blessing of his body of a Lazarusimmortal.
“YAHIRO! YAHIROOOO!”
Iroha stood up with her arms outstretched as if to protect the collapsed Yahiro.
Two Fafnir soldiers came rushing and captured her. They pulled her away from Yahiro, paying no mind to her resistance.
After confirming that she was taken away, Firman pulled the trigger again. Yahiro, who was trying to get up, was once again blown away, and his torn left arm rolled on the ground.
“Haha, you took that many bullets and are still alive? As expected of a Lazarusimmortal!”
Firman was no longer even trying to aim. Countless bullets rained down like hailstones and turned Yahiro’s body into minced meat.
Even so, Firman didn’t stop shooting. As if to test the limits of a Lazarusimmortal, he fired the huge machine gun every time Yahiro showed any hint of regenerating.
“But how much blood did you shed on your way here? The dragon’s blood flowing in your body, how much of it is left!?”
“No! Stop! Let me go! YAHIROOOOO!”
Iroha cried out in desperation.
Yahiro was lying motionless. He had barely maintained a human appearance, but there was no sign of regeneration. That scene seemed to confirm Firman’s words that he had shed too much blood.
Firman made a faint smile as if he was finally satisfied.
However, in the next moment, he was taken by surprise and his smile froze.
“DON’T HURT YAHIROOOOOOOO!”
The Fafnir soldiers who were restraining Iroha suddenly released her. Having shaken free from their hands, Iroha covered Yahiro with her body as if to protect him.
Firman instantly removed his finger from the trigger. However, the machine gun that could fire a hundred rounds every second, had already shot countless bullets into Iroha in that instant.
Fresh blood splattered from her whole body and fell on Yahiro, who was lying down.
“Tch……Such foolishness……!”
Firman threw the machine gun and clicked his tongue. The coaxial machine gun he had prepared as a countermeasure for Lazarusimmortal was too powerful against a human. Even a simple graze would surely kill her. Mamana Iroha’s survival was now hopeless.
The brunt of his anger was now directed at the two Fafnir soldiers who had released her and let her die.
However, he gasped in shock the moment he looked at them.
The bodies of the two dragonmen, who were standing dumbfounded while staring at Iroha who was shot, were burning.
A ferocious pale flame engulfed the bodies of the Fafnir soldiers and turned them into pure white ash.
Even the regeneration ability of the Fafnir soldiers was powerless in the face of that fierce flame. Without even getting the time to scream, the flame swallowed them and they vanished without a trace.
“Huh……? What……is going on?”
Firman’s eyes wavered in agitation.
The Fafnir soldiers weren’t the only ones burning. Iroha’s corpse, lying on top of Yahiro, was enveloped in dazzling flames. The radiance of that fierce vortex of flames that was rising to the skies was reminiscent of a giant dragon ascending to the sky.
“SHOOT! SHOOT THAT GIRL’S CORPSE! STOP THOSE FLAMES!”
Firman shouted, impelled by an instinctive fear. All his subordinate operatorscombatants pulled the trigger at once, and he himself readied the machine gun again.
However, the bullets weren’t able to hurt either Iroha or Yahiro. The flames instantly melted and vaporized the bullets before they could reach the two of them.
“Impossible……!”
Firman’s handsome face twisted in impatience.
As if triggered by that, a huge explosion shook the ruined city.
The armored vehicle unit lined up behind Firman and his men exploded with a thunderous roar.
It was a bombardment by a Main Battle Tank-class high-caliber artillery. The anti-personnel lightly armored vehicles stood no chance against anti-tank high-speed armor-piercing rounds.
Not only the armored vehicles that received a direct hit but even the operatorscombatants who got caught up in the explosion at point-blank were hit by the flying debris and were immediately incapacitated.
Before they could recover from the first explosion, the next attack landed, destroying several more vehicles.
Mortar shells began raining down from the skies, and at that point, the armored vehicle unit had fallen into a state of panic. Unable to counterattack against the unexpected surprise attack, some of the operatorscombatants began to flee for their lives.
“Now what!?”
Firman asked his adjutant as if shouting.
Equipped with an infantry-use datalink visor, the adjutant squeezed out a dry voice.
“W-We are being bombarded!”
“I already know that! Tell me where it’s coming from!?”
“It’s coming from an elevated railway track. It’s an armored train belonging to Galerie Berith, the 『Yáo Guāng Xīng』!”[10]
“Galerie Berith……you say……”
Firman looked back, surprised.
The main force of RMS was stationed around the former Dai-Ichi Keihin national highway. A railway track ran parallel to that former national highway.
An ashen railway vehicle stood on that track. It was an eight-car armored train.
Each car was covered in thick armor and was armed with countless artillery.
Its especially striking features were the four huge turrets mounted on the first and the last cars. They were 55 caliber 120mm smoothbore guns. Even a single-car of the armored train had the firepower equal to that of a platoon of main battle tanks.
“Don’t tell me, they are after us……!? Did they use Lazarusimmortal and Kushinada……to lure out the main force of RMS and annihilate it!?”
Firman muttered in shock.
Japan’s domestic transport network had been devastated by the J-nocideGreat Massacre, however, but only some of the railroad lines were still partly functioning. That included a section of the 23 wards.
By using that railroad network, Galerie Berith had secretly moved an armored train with high firepower to successfully carry out a surprise attack on RMS.
The distance between the highway and the railroad was close, and there were no obstacles in the surrounding ruined city to obstruct the line of fire, so it was the optimal location for a surprise attack. By leaking the escape route of Narusawa Yahiro to Firman, Galerie Berith had lured out the main force of RMS to this place.
“Is this supposed to be the revenge for the fact that they were almost killed during the Kushinada capture mission? Those fools.”
Firman’s voice was calm despite him being unable to hide his anger.
Losing the armored vehicle unit was definitely a huge blow, but RMS still had the F-med. Including himself, the surviving Fafnir soldiers numbered eight, but they would be enough to suppress Galerie Berith’s armored train.
Firman ordered his men to administer the F-med on themselves.
The F-med they were given was the improved Mod-3. On top of improving all basic abilities, the time limit had also been greatly increased. It had the ideal capability for this situation.
The dragonified operatorscombatants roared. Galerie Berith’s armored train was armed with countless anti-personnel machine guns, but those wouldn’t pose a threat for the Fafnir soldiers.
Firman, who was about to order his men to start the counterattack, suddenly became stiff.
It was because he could see a shadow rising up from inside the vortex of the pale flames.
That shadow was a bloodied young boy carrying an unconscious girl in his arms.
It was Narusawa Yahiro, holding an unsheathed Japanese katana.
──Waoon! Good Morning!
Yahiro felt as if he heard a nostalgic voice in the middle of his hazy consciousness. It was Iroha’s voice.
I must be dreaming, he thought.
His surroundings were covered in a dazzling pale glow and he couldn’t see a thing. Even discerning his own silhouette was impossible. He couldn’t even tell if he was floating somewhere, or was continuing to fall.
The only thing he knew was that Iroha was there. He could feel the presence of her bare figure by his side.
──I’m sorry, Yahiro. I didn’t know anything, even though it was about myself……
Iroha’s feelings came pouring into him. Her sorrow. Her grief. Her anguish. Her regret. And also her affection. The torrent of warm emotions seemed to heal the soul of the wounded Yahiro.
──I finally remembered what happened that day……
Countless memory fragments came flowing into his mind.
A blue sky. A sea of clouds. Wings of flame. A huge city and the surface of an ocean spreading below. And then light.
A huge dragon with eight heads, and eight girls accompanying them.
Suddenly, he noticed that a naked Iroha was standing in front of him.
She was clutching a sword to her chest.
Iroha raised the sword which was enveloped in flames and thrust it towards Yahiro’s heart.
Along with a feeling of inexpressible sorrow, the tears of blood she was shedding trickled down into his chest and──
“There was more than just one dragon──”
†
“This is not the time to enter other people’s dreams and say ‘Waoon’, you know……”
Yahiro languidly muttered as he gently laid Iroha down on the ground.
Her body, which was supposed to have been hit by the bullets, was fine. Her favorite jersey had been torn to shreds, however, there were no injuries on her bare skin peeking through the torn jersey.
He now knew the reason why.
Hurting her with a mere human’s attack was impossible.
“You’ve given us a good beating, Firman La Hire.”
When Yahiro emerged from the flames, his body had transformed into a strange form that was neither that of a human nor a dragon.
A tough outer shell, which looked like a cracked armor or the scales of a dragon, covered not only his arms but his entire body. Its surface had a bewitching shine and was shimmering as if it were covered in flames.
The blade of his katana, which should have been shattered by the bullets, had also been restored.
Gripping the tang[11] of Kuyou Masakane, whose koshirae[12] had broken, Yahiro slowly started walking.
The Fafnir soldiers trembled as if overwhelmed by his silent gait.
“I give all of you permission to engage at your discretion. There is no need to kill him. Tear off his limbs.”
Firman gave his men the order to attack.
“Understood……!”
Hiding their fears, all Fafnir soldiers pulled out Machete-style knives.
Firman raised his artificial right arm and extended the claws equipped on the fingertips.
He wasn’t able to kill Lazarusimmortal even with all those bullets from the Gatling gun. If so, then there was no need to kill him. It would be fine if they just captured and froze him after he became immobile. That was what Firman thought. However, it was a fatal blunder.
“Come on, it’s time for revenge──!”
Yahiro muttered as if he was calling out to his katana.
And then he countered the Fafnir soldiers that came slashing at him. His movements were that of an amateur and could not compare to those of the operatorscombatants who had trained in knife combat. There was neither strategy nor defense in his beastly movements that ignored even the distance between his opponents. Just how many people realized that it was the best way to fight for a Lazarusimmortal──
“Wha……!?”
Standing behind Firman, his adjutant was at a loss for words.
Two Fafnir soldiers exploded right after getting into contact with Yahiro. They had lost control over their regeneration ability and burst open from the inside. Two more Fafnir soldiers that followed up on the attack were also defeated.
It wasn’t as if their attacks didn’t reach Yahiro. Their machetes were obstructed by the shell covering him, and conversely, a slight cut by his katana dealt a fatal injury to the Fafnir soldiers.
It was no longer a battle, but one-sided destruction that couldn’t even be called a deathmatch. The positions had completely reversed before anyone could realize. Firman and his men were now the ones being hunted.
“Do you bastards intend to run away from your duties!? That violates the contract!”
Firman’s adjutant and the other operatorscombatants that hadn’t dragonified started escaping, ignoring his orders.
They weren’t the only ones to make their escape. The armored corps that got attacked by Galerie Berith had already begun to rout.
The Fafnir soldiers attacked Yahiro, but rather than due to Firman’s orders──it was more due to an instinctive fear. However, in front of a Lazarusimmortal’s overwhelming strength, they were easily trampled down.
The only remaining Fafnir soldier was Firman himself.
“They were operatorscombatants you hired with money. Of course they’ll run away when the situation takes a turn for the worst.”
Yahiro called out to him in a carefree tone, as if it were somebody else’s problem. His tone was even a bit sympathetic, and that fact made Firman more furious.
“However, I won’t let you escape, Major La Hire. Since there are a lot of things I’d like to ask you.”
“NARUSAWA YAHIROOOOOOO──!”
Firman charged towards Yahiro with his claws ready.
Yahiro stopped that attack with his bare hands. The artificial steel arm which was thrust out with the superhuman strength of a Fafnir soldier was as powerful as a huge war hammer. It wasn’t something a flesh-and-blood body could oppose.
Even so, Yahiro’s arm didn’t shatter. Firman realized that his overwhelming regeneration ability had healed his body before it could get destroyed.
Yahiro swung the katana he held in his right hand. It was a sure-kill attack for Fafnir soldiers. Firman avoided it by rolling on the ground. His figure was unsightly, as he had no leeway to keep up appearances.
“How is this possible……Narusawa Yahiro!? You were supposed to be dead……!”
Firman groaned furiously as his face warped in humiliation.
And then he turned his attention towards Iroha, who was behind Yahiro.
“I see. So Kushinada’s…… That girl’s true identity is……the same as SuperbiaEarth Dragon……!”
Taking advantage of Yahiro’s momentary lapse, Firman sprinted.
He was heading towards Iroha who was still lying down.
Yahiro realized that his aim was to take Iroha and run away. Since a Fafnir soldier’s leg strength was greater than a Lazarus like him, if he let Firman escape from here, then he would not be able to catch up to him.
Even after knowing that, Yahiro felt strangely calm.
He knew what he had to do.
The sword inside his body would tell him.
“Stop it, Firman La Hire──!”
With one last warning, Yahiro readied his katana.
He imagined it. A flash of light that cleaved the darkness. A crimson radiance that burnt the skies.
The flame sword Iroha was holding──
The blood of his entire body turned into a scorching torrent. It was the flame that burned dragons, the power of a dragon slayer. It was the power Yahiro failed to obtain that day.
Words unconsciously left his mouth.
“【HomuraBlaze】──”
In an instance that felt like an eternity, the distance between him and the enemy was reduced to zero. In order to burn the diluted blood of Narusawa Sui──the dragon’s blood flowing inside the Fafnir soldier, he swung the blade.
After covering a distance of ten-odd meters, which should’ve been impossible, Yahiro slowly looked back.
Behind him was the figure of the last remaining Fafnir soldier with his whole body engulfed in flames.
“Im……possible…… For me……to lose to these……”
Firman, whose torso had been deeply slashed, collapsed on the spot as he tried to attack Yahiro. The flames burning his body became stronger and turned him into white ashes in an instant.
“……You……accursed……monster……”
Firman’s body disappeared leaving behind that curse.
Yahiro watched it happen in silence.
He didn’t feel a shred of sympathy for Firman as he had fired dozens of bullets at him and even tried to kill Iroha. But even so, Yahiro couldn’t help but think that if it hadn’t been for the existence of the dragon, Firman wouldn’t have had to face such an end.
The crimson scales covering Yahiro’s body came off and fell. At the same time, he felt the great power that was rampaging inside his body fade away. It was as if his body was unconsciously telling him that the dragon’s blood he needed to burn was no longer there.
“Yahiro…… You’re alive……?”
Behind him, he felt Iroha get up.
Just as he turned around, something soft hit him with a thud. Iroha had tackled him with great force and was clinging to him with tears streaming down her face.
“I’m glad…… I’m so glad that everything is okay……”
“It’s not okay. Why did you have to be so reckless?”
I’m the one who wants to cry here, he thought while sighing deeply. Recalling the despair he felt while seeing Iroha getting shot when he couldn’t move still gave him the shivers.
“Also, I’d appreciate it if you move away a little. And while you’re at it, do something about those clothes.”
“……Eh, clothes? Wait waaaaaaa!?”
Iroha looked down at her deep-red torn jersey and let out a high-pitched scream.
The streamer outfit she wore underneath her jersey covered a small area to begin with, but now it was in an even terrible condition. Yahiro couldn’t hide his agitation at the feeling of her bare skin touching him.
“D-Did you see?”
Hiding her chest, she glared at him with upturned eyes.
“No, not a thing.”
Yahiro gave a curt reply as if trying to avoid the topic.
Iroha raised her eyebrows while sulking and said,
“You’re lying! If not, then why is your face so red?”
“That’s because of the sunrise.”
Feigning ignorance, Yahiro shifted his attention towards the east.
The sun, which had just begun to rise, dyed the ruined townscape blood-red from behind.
RMS’s armored corps were annihilated, and the surviving operatorscombatants had already disappeared. Galerie Berith’s armored train had finished its bombardment and was now eerily silent. And then──
A girl with orange highlights in her hair suddenly appeared between Iroha and Yahiro, who were cuddled close together.
“Hmm, I see you two have gotten quite close in just a single night. Did something interesting happen?”
“Kyah!?”
“Giulie! You……!”
Iroha screamed while still covering her chest and Yahiro reflexively put his guard up.
The one standing there was Giulietta Berith, who had appeared without a sign. However, he couldn’t feel any hostility from her. Rather, she looked at the katana Yahiro was holding with her eyes sparkling like a child, and said,
“Hey, more importantly, what was that!? How did you do that whoosh thing!?”
“No, even if you ask that……”
Yahiro mumbled while frowning.
Giulie was probably referring to the move he had used to slash Firman. However, Yahiro himself could not remember how he defeated him. He had simply felt that he could slash him. Even if he was asked to do it again, he had no confidence that he could reproduce that move.
“So that was your RegaliaGod Corroding Ability, Yahiro? It’s quite impressive. And the Gore Clad too.”
A blue-haired girl with an unreadable expression standing next to Giulie said in a flat voice.
Regalia and Gore Clad──Yahiro frowned at those unfamiliar words.
“Rose…… What are you guys thinking? Why did you show up now?”
“What a way to greet us. Even though we came to save both of you.”
Rosetta Berith gave a nonchalant reply, not seeming particularly offended.
Yahiro’s lips twisted in irritation.
“You sure have the gall to say that after using us as bait.”
“And thanks to that we were able to cut down most of RMS’s forces.”
Rose declared in a straightforward manner, without a shred of guilt. Yahiro lost his words at her unexpected response.
“To sum it up, it means that Raimat’s defense is now short on hands.”
Giulie made a belligerent smile that was reminiscent of a ruthless cat.
“Don’t tell me…… Your’s…… Galerie Berith’s true objective was……”
Yahiro forced out a voice, feeling shocked.
Galerie Berith knew that Raimat was holding Narusawa Sui captive, and also that Yahiro wanted to kill her.
A confrontation with Raimat was inevitable if he wanted to kill her. The enemy was a major military enterprise with a large capital strength. Even for Galerie Berith, it wasn’t an opponent that could be defeated in a proper battle.
However, with the loss of RMS’s main force, Raimat’s private military division had fallen into a state of destruction. By using Yahiro and Iroha as bait, the twins had created a chance to kill Narusawa Sui.
In front of Yahiro who stood in a daze, the twins with doll-like beauty respectfully bowed.
“We would like to extend our greetings again. My name is Giulietta Berith. This is my younger sister Rosetta. On behalf of the head of the Berith house, we have come to receive you both.”
Yahiro and Iroha were puzzled by Giulie’s courtesy. However, her expression was serious and it seemed like she wasn’t teasing them.
“By both, are you talking about Yahiro and me?”
“It is as you say, 『AvaritiaFire Dragon』──Mamana Iroha-sama.”
“Ava……Avaritia?”
Being called by an unfamiliar name by Giulie, Iroha tilted her head in confusion.
“Weren’t you guys just after Iroha’s ability?”
Yahiro asked, keeping a wary eye on the twins.
He hadn’t forgotten how they used both him and Iroha as bait, even if it was to weaken Raimat’s forces. He suspected that they planned to take advantage of the two of them again by cajoling them with sweet words.
However, Rose firmly shook her head and denied it.
“You are wrong. The mission entrusted to us by Galerie Berith was to make you a king. 『Dragon Slaying Hero』 Narusawa Yahiro──Our master.”
At her serious answer, Yahiro could not help but be at a loss.
[1] The raw was ‘ボス猿’. I translated it literally but it means something like ‘The one on the top of a group’. It might be a slang but I couldn’t find anything.
[2] Ramune is a Japanese carbonated soft drink available in a Codd-neck bottle. But in this case, it’s a Ramune candy. Something like this.
[3] The raw was ‘食玩’ or Shokugan. It is an abbreviation of a Japanese expression for “Food Toys”. More here.
[4] Common name for Japan National Route 15.
[5] Iroha used the term ‘Oshi (推し)’ here which means “to back” or “to support”. The term is common in Idol and VTuber communities.
[6] Anaphylactic shock is a rare but severe allergic reaction that can be deadly if you don’t treat it right away. It’s most often caused by an allergy to food, insect bites, or certain medications. (Source: Google)
[7] Something like this.
[8] This place.
[9] The trapezius is a muscle that starts at the base of your neck, goes across your shoulders and extends to the middle of your back.
[10] The raw text was ‘揺光星ヤオクアンシン‘. The ‘揺光星’ means Alkaid Star (a prominent star in the handle of the Big Dipper) but then the furigana wouldn’t make sense. I randomly decided to check the Chinese name of Alkaid (Star), which turned out to be Yáo Guāng (Xīng), and that matches the furigana ヤオクアンシン (Yao kuan shin). [Wasted 1-2 hrs on just this word]
[11] Nakago(tang) is the part of the blade of a katana that extends to inside the handle. More here.
[12] Koshirae refers to the ornate mountings of a Japanese sword. More here.
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