Volume 5, Ending X-02: The Demon’s Contract Leads to a Starting Point
“We might just run into that irreverent group sooner than you might think.”
“Honestly, I’m looking forward to this, Shiroyama Kyousuke.”
(Ending X-02 Open 06/13 11:15 “To the Next War”)
The Demon’s Contract Leads to a Starting Point
With the thrum of a twisted cathode-ray tube, the world disappeared all around him.
“…”
Shiroyama Kyousuke looked around at the gray walls surrounding him.
The rotten green land and the ruins of the Queen’s Miniature Garden were no longer there. He could only see a manmade structure.
This had been a little different from virtual reality.
The concept was more primitive and much more difficult to fully control.
Since prehistoric times, those with souls had entrusted themselves to this fictionally-constructed alternate world.
<How was it?> asked a sleepy feminine voice.
This paranormal being was supported by a giant Box.
Unexplored-class. Sound Range: Middle. Cost: 16.
The Spirit of Fluttering ‘Yellow’ Gills that Rules the Heavens (s - a - so - voz - tix - ei - yw - za).
She herself looked like a human girl in an oriental Taoist outfit. If not for the fact that her hair was pure yellow instead of blonde. And the thing she rested on like a crescent moon bed was strange indeed. A bed shaped like half a sake cup supported giant bird wings, beast legs, a fish body that extended endlessly like a scorpion’s tail, and massive gills. After evolving in all directions to respond to any situation on land, sea, or air, that overgrown mass of flesh looked almost comical.
<My reconstructed experiences included information from an angle you would not have seen yourself. Did you find anything new in the falsehoods that overwrite reality which you call the world of dreams?>
All of the vicarious experiences he had just had were a product of the Yellow Gills’ power.
She was an Unexplored-class that slipped into her enemy’s dreams and unilaterally tormented them to death. In a different way from the Red Lady or the Wicked Green Woman, she was a force to be reckoned with in a different dimension that entirely ignored any specs or battle preparations made in reality.
“…Yes. I understand a few things now.” Kyousuke’s voice was low. “That White Queen called herself Mary. That means she was the Queen who broke her promise not to hurt anyone!!”
<Yes, but I think you should say she was the Queen who could not bring herself to give up on living with you even if it meant committing that sin.>
The Yellow Gills drowsily leaned back in her bizarre bed that wriggled with countless blood vessels and eyeballs.
<Then again, after everything that happened, I do understand why you can’t bring yourself to accept her presence.>
“Don’t pretend you weren’t involved,” spat out Kyousuke. “Freedom’s former leader was known as Perfect Equilibrium. She cast aside reality to live in dreams. …Doesn’t that sound familiar? You were there too, Yellow Gills!!”
<I just thought I could avoid being summoned by you boring summoners if I pretended to be human and stayed in your world.>
A smile split across the Yellow Gills’ face.
<But I changed my mind when the Queen’s rampage summoned an endless supply of Materials from the ocean. I couldn’t let something similar happen to me. Or rather, it’d be really annoying to have my sleep interrupted. That’s why I used the confusion of the Secret War to fake my death and retreated to the ‘other world’.>
She made it sound simple, but that would have required numerous impossible tasks to pull off.
First, she would have to allow a Material to exist in this world indefinitely. Then she would have to pretend to be human, bind a contract with a vessel, swing a Blood-Sign around, participate in the Summoning Ceremony, and otherwise act like a summoner. How could she explain the paradoxical situation of a Material summoning a Material?
It was true that the Yellow Gills could not reach the White Queen’s level, but couldn’t an argument be made that she was even more twisted in a certain way?
<I am the ruler of freedom.>
Her answer to those questions was simple.
<So I absolutely loathe phrases like “that’s impossible” or “it can’t be done”. As the ruler of freedom, I alone get to decide where its boundaries lie and no one else gets a say.>
Was that why she had once defied the White Queen?
Had she wanted to break down the assumption that the Three could not defeat the peak?
But she had failed and fallen to earth.
She had met the same end as Icarus or Lucifer. Perhaps that was one stereotypical form for a legend.
<I have high hopes for you, Kyousuke-kun.>
She giggled as she lay in her bed that was swollen with excessive possibility.
<I hope you can defeat the White Queen. To bring me freedom.>
“…”
Kyousuke did not respond.
He placed his palm on one part of the gray wall and pushed. A rectangular frame became a door that opened outwards.
The sun of early summer pierced his eyes.
It was the dry sunlight of a tropical region.
He had been in a large truck container this entire time. And that cubic space was the Box that supported the Yellow Gills. The entire thing had seemed half in a dream because the Box had contained something far too large to fit in the container. But that monster loved freedom more than anything, so she would probably leave despite the Box once she grew bored.
Kyousuke pulled his smartphone from his pocket.
“Aika, I’m done. I checked, but my information wasn’t wrong.”
“Understood, Onii-chan. The courier headed to the Colorful Museum will pass by you soon on Route 82. But are you really planning to hijack that?”
The Colorful Museum.
That name had been mentioned in his past as well. Without his gallery and funding, the Miniature Garden may have never been more than just the Miniature Garden.
No, that was wrong.
In that case, the three major powers would have begun their war to kill the Queen without delay. And they would have failed somewhere. The number of people lost would have been the same.
In other words, they would all have been wiped out.
Either way, Kyousuke would have pulled the trigger on it all.
Even in the world of hypotheticals, he could not escape his sins.
“That’s the shortest route.”
“I super don’t recommend it.”
He did not have time for cowardice.
During the Pandemonium incident, he had been thoroughly beaten to a pulp by the White Queen. Because there was no way to kill her and the laws needed to do so had been destroyed. The situation was just about hopeless, but that meant he could not worry about appearances at this point.
“Government Award 699, Delivery Heaven 2 Hell. That summoner works as a courier in the Summoning Ceremony industry, so they specialize in transporting collector’s items like ancient documents and cursed diamonds. Their Awards are below yours, Onii-chan, but that’s because they’ve intentionally avoided conflict. You can’t underestimate them, okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“U-um, how can you say that when you don’t have a vessel partner and you just finished undergoing surgery for the 5 holes in your chest???”
“Compared to that hell, anything else looks like heaven.”
He was exactly right.
Only 120 seconds later, a delivery truck for an online store was lying on its side on the road.
Kyousuke ignored the surrounding commotion and circled to the back of the toppled truck.
He pried open the cargo door which had an odd abundance of analog locks for a delivery truck and he peered inside. The inside was blocked off by thick bars, so it almost looked like a cage. And he saw a familiar face inside.
“So we meet again, Biondetta.”
“Oh, dear. My, oh, my.”
It was a named summoner, just like Kyousuke.
It was one of the people who symbolized resurrection after returning from that white hell.
The waitress demon placed a hand over her mouth and voiced her blatantly feigned surprise. She was not wearing a prisoner’s uniform and she had not been stripped of all clothing, but not because of her captor’s kindness. It had been at his request.
“What do you need with me, my nemesis? Could you not contain your desire after our battle, so you came running back to torture me? Yes, yes, that sort of revenge isn’t bad either!!”
He truly could not understand why she placed her hands on her cheeks with a spellbound look in her eyes, but that was just how twisted she had grown. As long as she could lose herself in revenge, she would smile even as her own body was destroyed, so he would have to continue this on those terms.
“Work with me, Biondetta.”
“To what end?”
“To defeat the White Queen.” Kyousuke bluntly stated the impossible. “Hell awaits you either way, but stick with me and you have at least a miniscule chance of surviving. You don’t want to be shipped off to the Colorful Museum. He wants to collect any and all rare items connected to the Summoning Ceremony, even if it’s a human being. As an important member of Government, he must have used his influence to acquire you while they waited to deal with you. Biondetta, you don’t intend to become a part of some pervert’s collection, do you?”
Biondetta looked puzzled.
And she spoke.
“Oh, I don’t mind that at all.”
“…”
“Newfound suffering and humiliation will only lead to more revenge and retribution. Yes, yes. If this leads to striking back at him, then it’s entirely fine with me. The more hopeless the situation, the more exciting it is when you strike back. Yes, a brand new world awaits me…!!”
Kyousuke sighed.
Normal negotiations and threats were useless with her.
And he could not stay here forever. He was not afraid of normal police or the mass media. Instead, it was possible the Colorful Museum would send out another team to take back this “rare item”.
“Biondetta, I’ve thrown out my pride, so could you laugh your ass off at what I’m about to say?”
“You understand who I am, don’t you? As a contract demon, why would I ever even crack a smile at anything other than revenge???”
“That’s fine,” declared Kyousuke.
The younger brother continued as the older sister looked confused.
“I’m asking you to assist me with my revenge, Biondetta.”
Silly laughter burst from Biondetta.
She had not expected this at all.
She rolled on the floor in laughter for more than 5 seconds.
“Ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Is that so? Is that so? So you are my next client. I never thought my nemesis would become my client! Heh heh. Who could have predicted this!? Ah hah hah hah hah hah!!!!!!”
“Biondetta, I know I asked for it, but that’s going too far. I can see your panties.”
“Look as much as you want!! After all, you are now my one and only beloved client! And our target is the White Queen? If it means enjoying history’s greatest revenge for a single millimeter longer or a single drop more, I am more than willing to throw this body your way a few times!!”
What would Isabelle or Murasame Kuina have thought if they could see this?
Would they have slapped him out of concern? Or would they have kept their distance out of disgust?
He had made a contract with a demon.
He had sold his soul.
He knew that. He knew it all too well.
But he had come across a goal that required that.
He broke the door of the cage as he spoke.
“With that settled, let’s get away from here. Pursuit should arrive before long.”
“True enough. But where will we be going first?”
“First, I want to make sure I have full use of Biondetta Shiroyama as a fighting force.”
“Be more specific, my beloved client.”
“Let’s go crush that Colorful Museum. I hate powerful people who do nothing but spread tragedy for their own greed.”
“Bff. Ah hah hah hah hah hah!!!!!!”
They were attacking rather than escaping.
They would run through the hidden side of the world to reach the next horrific battlefield.
Now that he had the impurity to go along with his purity, the summoner was climbing to the next stage.
A similar action was also underway.
“Oh, my.”
There was a summer resort deep in the mountains. It was a human museum that imprisoned its exhibits in what looked like a villa. A girl spoke elegantly in one of its underground rooms.
She was Azalea Magentarain.
She had once been Government Award 930, Golden Luxury. And she was currently part of the collection belonging to the vulgar old man known as Colorful Museum. That man did not defile or polish his collection. He simply enjoyed the act of collecting. And to fulfill that desire, he had imprisoned the girl with blonde ringlet curls and promptly lost interest in her.
“I don’t receive many visitors here. And you don’t seem to be another collector’s item either.”
“I am Government Award 666, The Saint.”
She was answered by a nun with a small boy by her side.
That summoner was famous for settling everything with the archangels of a certain monotheistic religion while ignoring Cost and Sound Range issues. That meant she was a high-speed summoner who would crush her opponent before they could rise to the Unexplored-class.
The Summoning Ceremony allowed the free usage of beings from all legends and beyond, so restricting oneself to a single religion was difficult. But she had done so and had lived on to this day within the harsh world of battle.
Her upper mid-level number of Awards was another restriction she placed on herself. Her actual skill had to be much higher.
Azalea did not even stand from the rocking chair in front of the heater.
And she asked a question.
“So are you here to execute me for abandoning the three major powers and kneeling before Her Majesty?”
Small sounds much like small insects clicking their mandibles together came from all over the room.
The sound surrounded the nun, but what did it mean, where was it coming from, and how many noises was it in all? Nothing was certain.
Azalea was a summoner at the 900 level by Government’s former reckoning, but she was also a skilled weapons designer that supported Quad Motors, the world’s largest defense company that primarily worked with Repliglass.
And she had learned something from her battles.
A Summoning Ceremony battle began before the Materials were summoned.
She knew you could sink into a pool of blood before even pulling out an Incense Grenade.
“No.”
But the devout nun shook her head.
In fact, she pulled off and threw away her veil of deep faith.
“Those who intend to harm Her Majesty have resumed activity below the surface. Thus, I was hoping you would help punish them for their irreverence.”
“Pff.”
Azalea burst out laughing.
The nun did not seem to understand why the girl was laughing.
“What is so funny?”
“Oh, excuse me. That was rude of me, wasn’t it? Sorry about that. So it all comes back to Her Majesty. I have underestimated her yet again.”
Even at that level, the Queen could melt them.
The Saint would not have been a traitor to begin with. She would have been a summoner with the pure and unadulterated heart that her name suggested. And yet she had been melted. Her iron will and steel resolve had meant nothing and her mind had succumbed and kneeled before the ultimate white.
It was the same as with Golden Luxury.
“What am I to do about a vessel?”
“Fractal Leskins was stored elsewhere in order to prevent you from ending your contract and thus prevent you from binding a new contract so easily, but another group led by Doctor S has gone to rescue him. From what I hear, he is your butler. They should have him as early as nightfall.”
“Colorful Museum will probably make a fuss if I just leave. It might be a minor issue, but we can’t have anything holding us back when it involves Her Majesty. It’s about time we crushed that old man.”
“And that is why we are securing your vessel,” calmly replied the nun with emotionless eyes. “And one other thing.”
“?”
“It seems another group entirely also intends to attack the Colorful Museum. We might just run into that irreverent group sooner than you might think.”
Azalea could think of only one possibility.
Only one person could face that Queen head-on without breaking. Or perhaps it was that he had the tenacity to get back up again even when he did break.
That summoner had the conflicting Awards of Loved by the White and White Slayer.
She hated him more than anyone and envied him more than anyone.
And that boy’s name was…
“Honestly, I’m looking forward to this, Shiroyama Kyousuke.”
The person who met the greatest tragedy here may have been the Colorful Museum.
That night, that palace of greed was fiercely attacked from both sides and it collapsed into rubble almost too easily.
Facts:
*The past experiences seen thus far were all vicarious experiences seen using the dream-manipulating power of the Yellow Gills of the Three.
*Kyousuke learned that the surviving White Queen was the one named Mary Ann.
*The Yellow Gills once pretended to be human and slipped into human society.
*Kyousuke rescued Biondetta while she was being transported and agreed to cooperate with her.
*A new faith group has grown around The Saint and Doctor S. Azalea Magentarain has joined them. And based on the S initial, a connection to the family name of the Miniature Garden’s children is likely.
*Kyousuke and Azalea both destroyed the Colorful Museum as an initial battle to solidify their foundation.
*The counterattack is finally beginning. The counterattack against the absolutely undefeatable White Queen.