Chapter 29 - EP.1 The Butterfly Dream 2

[DATA RECALL: VOICE_MEMO_021]

[DATA RESEARCH. . . NOW<<<]

//*

▶IFRIT: We don't need a full operation plan, but let's at least set our priorities. First, Ash. Tear apart anything that approaches Akina. Sentinel or human, doesn't matter.

▶ASH: ... Is that all?

▶IFRIT: I told you at the start. There's only one thing I want from you. We'll handle the rest, so don't worry.

▶ASH: Understood. Should you need assistance, say the word.

▶IFRIT: Okay. Next, I'll handle close to medium range. Dullahan, you take the ones farther away. Especially any fuckers firing from range. Drop them the second you see them.

▶D’s TEXT: [OK]

▶IFRIT: Jack, throw bombs if there are too many enemies. How many have you got left?

▶JACK: Hmm, thirty if you count the launcher grenades?

▶IFRIT: Don't hold back. Let them have it. Okay?

▶JACK: Yep!

▶IFRIT: Good! Then let's finish with a bang! The grand finale of the Halloween Festival!

*//

-Cease functioning. Cease functioning.

Hundreds of panels opened in the surrounding walls and ceiling, revealing a legion of Sentinels.

Perhaps it was because an immeasurable span of time had passed. The Sentinels that emerged were worn, some even broken. Some fell from the ceiling and shattered on impact; others limped along, already missing a leg.

Yet the red lights glowing in their optical sensors remained unchanged.

Moving as one, they advanced toward a single point, uttering the chilling, soulless electronic refrain, "Cease functioning."

Toward the stone altar that rose like a triangular pyramid. Toward Akina, floating above its summit like a sacrifice!

"Wipe them all out!"

But Akina was not alone.

The four Pathfinders positioned around the girl raised their weapons. Ifrit's Dragon Breath spat flames, Jack O' Lantern's grenade launcher unleashed a chain of explosions, and Dullahan's Vortex-made Gauss rifle sent a streak of light piercing through distant enemies.

Together, they became a roar that reverberated through the plaza, shaking the very space around them.

Occasionally, something broke through the barrage Ifrit and ROA poured out and crawled onto the altar.

-Cease func...

SHING!

Ash's steel blade appeared out of nowhere, tracing a straight line. The Sentinel Walker caught in its path split in two and tumbled off the altar.

"Ash! Big bro!"

Jack O' Lantern called out to him.

Without a moment to think, Ash moved and cleaved in half a Sentinel Walker that had drawn close to Jack.

There was no time for thanks or asking if he was all right. Even in that brief instant, countless Sentinel Walkers were climbing the altar.

Once again, Ash raced back and forth across it, the hem of his Gore-Tex cloak streaming behind him.

Broadcast drones flitted about, diligently filming it all. Each time an explosion or a moment of peril filled the frame, the viewer count skyrocketed.

"Ahahahaha! Yes! This is perfect!"

It was a desperate, bloody struggle between life and death, but it was also a sensational show. Even the setting was ideal.

An endless legion of Sentinels swarming toward a towering altar, with four Pathfinders holding them back.

At some point, Ifrit had started pulling the trigger to the sound of her own crazed laughter.

"Come on! Come on, you fucking bastards!"

"Hahaha! This is nothing! We could hold out till tomorrow at this rate!"

It happened just as Jack answered Ifrit's crazed shouting.

'...!'

Ash's electromagnetic energy sense picked up a sharp surge of killing intent.

It was nothing like the Sentinels' emotionless hostility. This killing intent was sticky, carrying a raw, bloody tang.

Without even time to warn them, Ash used the principles of Flying Dragon Chases Lightning to dart in front of Dullahan.

[Hey wait don't block my vie—]

CLAAANG!

As the message appeared on the visor, sparks flew from Ash's diagonally raised steel blade. A bullet from somewhere had struck it.

The tremendous kinetic energy made Ash stagger for an instant.

[What the fuck]

As the profanity appeared on the visor, Ash shouted.

"There is a sniper!"

The unidentified attack did not end there.

Ash hurriedly recovered his balance and raised his blade again.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

More sniper shots followed.

The attacker targeted Dullahan with dogged persistence. Was it because he handled the team's long-range attacks?

Realizing what was happening, everyone ducked behind the makeshift barricade.

"Damn it!"

Bullets struck their cover without pause.

"Dullahan!"

[OK]

Dullahan activated his sonic resonance device. An unpleasant noise spread for a few moments before he shook his head.

[Fuck too much noise]

The Sentinels' electronic voices, explosions, and gunfire had rendered his sonic resonance device useless.

"Fuck! Attacking us during a Deep Dive? This has to be another Society's doing. Those goddamn bastards!"

Ifrit slammed the floor.

"What do we do, boss?"

"What do you think we do? Dullahan! Try again..."

Just then, Ash spoke.

"I shall go."

"I have a rough idea of the enemy's position. If I can get close somehow, I can deal with them."

"... Are you serious? You're going after a sniper with a sword?"

"There is no time, my lady."

Ifrit met the teal optical sensors staring at her, then nodded, apparently having made up her mind.

"I know it's insane, but somehow I feel like you could actually pull it off. We'll cover you. Hurry back."

Ash answered with a brief nod.

That was enough.

Ifrit roared.

"Jack! Give them everything you've got!"

"Hahaha! As! You wish!"

Imitating Ash's manner of speech, Jack sprang to his feet. Then he began blasting his grenade launcher on full auto toward the incoming bullets.

"Eat this, you little shits!"

With a series of thumps, explosives flew in every direction. The small cylindrical charges detonated one after another.

Ifrit and Dullahan sprang up as well and opened fire in the same direction.

"Ash! Now!"

It was a full concentrated barrage.

Ash hurled himself straight into it.

BOOM! BA-BOOM! BOOM!

Jack O' Lantern's grenades and the incendiary rounds from Ifrit's Dragon Breath exploded all around.

The flames and smoke concealed Ash's headlong charge.

Leaping down from the altar in a single bound, he swept his blade in a wide arc and cut down every Sentinel around him at once.

-Cease functioning. Cease functioning.

But those were only a fraction of them.

Even now, the Sentinels crowded in so thickly that there was nowhere to set foot.

His optical sensors flashed.

If there was nowhere to set foot, he simply had to avoid the ground.

Driving his Neuro Internal Art to its limit, Ash launched himself forward.

He advanced over the surging tide of Sentinels, using their heads and shoulders as stepping stones.

Toward the sniper.

Once again, that killing intent flared.

This time, the attack targeted him rather than Dullahan.

Instead of raising his sword to deflect it, Ash chose to evade, unleashing his Dragon-Form Steps to their fullest extent.

He stepped on the Sentinel Walkers' heads while dodging the sniper's attacks, weaving across the battlefield along a winding path like a living dragon.

Flying over grass was called Grass-Skimming Flight, and running over water was called Water-Skimming Flight. What, then, should this be called?

Since he was advancing over a legion of machines as stepping stones, Iron-Skimming Flight seemed appropriate.

At one point, Ash leaped high into the air.

Then he plummeted straight toward a single spot.

It was one of the many passages connected to the altar.

CRASH!

Having deliberately slammed into the ground on landing, Ash slowly rose amid the fine cloud of dust.

His optical sensors flashed at the figures glaring at him.

"I shall warn you in advance."

He raised his sword.

"The situation is urgent, so I cannot show mercy. I suggest you bear that in mind."

It was a declaration of sorts.

A declaration that he would kill every last one of them gathered here.

But the leader of the Pathfinders snorted.

"What's this tin-can fucker babbling about?"

Actually, "snorted" was the wrong word.

He had no nose.

Every Pathfinder before Ash had a grotesque appearance, deviating drastically from the human form.

One had four enormous, spiderlike metal legs instead of ordinary ones. Another twitched the multiple mechanical arms sprouting from his spine.

There was a man whose face had been ripped away and replaced with a large optical sensor, and another who had converted one arm into an enormous gun.

They were certainly from another Society. They were utterly unlike Halloween, which generally prioritized attractive appearances.

Meanwhile, the apparent leader gave an order.

"Deal with him."

At that curt command, the grotesque Pathfinders raised their weapons in unison. All of those weapons were, of course, firearms.

They did not charge.

Instead, they blanketed the relatively narrow passage with an enormous web of gunfire.

It was enough firepower to turn any opponent into a lump of meat in an instant.

But their opponent was Ash.

He raised his sword with an unhurried motion.

BZZZ-CRACK!

At the same moment, blue sparks burst from the ground beneath his feet.

The humanoid swordsman ran.

But he was not pushing off the ground.

He used the walls. The ceiling.

As though freed from gravity, he used every surface of the narrow passage as a foothold, closing on them in an instant.

With each movement, his billowing black Gore-Tex cloak left dark afterimages that confused the eye.

"Wha...!"

Ash's sword danced.

No, it raged like a storm.

The man with the spider legs was first.

He became the first victim without getting a chance to demonstrate what his cyberware could do.

"Aaargh!"

Severing two legs with one stroke, Ash swung his sword in a broad circle and drove the blade into the region of his heart.

That brief death cry became his final words.

Next was the man whose right arm had been converted into a gun.

He was probably the Pathfinder who had been sniping at Dullahan.

He tried to raise the enormous barrel and aim at Ash. But that was impossible.

SHING!

The moment he formed the intention, his modified arm had already been cleanly severed just below the shoulder. The heavy gun fell to the floor with a dull thud.

He did not even manage a death cry.

While he stared at his shoulder in horror, Ash's sword had already swept through and neatly severed his neck.

"You fucker!"

The man with countless arms, like a centipede, charged. Since his bullets could not hit, he evidently intended to try close combat.

It was a terribly poor decision.

Unless those arms could move faster than bullets, catching Ash was a distant prospect.

Ash swung his sword at the charging man. A left arm fell away. He swung again. This time, a right arm was severed.

Ash swung, and swung again.

Under the merciless chain of sword strikes, the centipede-like man lost everything he had.

What remained, indistinguishable as machinery or flesh, broke into dozens of pieces and hit the floor with a wet splat.

It had all happened in an instant.

The one-eyed man, who now found himself alone, kept adjusting the aperture of his optical sensor as though unable to believe the situation. It looked almost like a trembling eye.

"What the fuck...?"

Without a word in response to that mutter, Ash stepped closer. He intended to end the last survivor's life as well.

"W-wait! Just wait a second!"

Ash did not wait.

He merely raised the sword in his hand.

"Did I not tell you?"

The sword dropped, splitting the man in half. Blood, oil, and thick coolant gushed from the opening.

"That I would show no mercy."

Having cut down all four in an instant, Ash lightly flicked the blood and oil from his sword. Then he launched himself toward the altar without a moment's hesitation.

It happened at that very moment.

"Aaaaaaah!"

A scream assaulted his ears.

The one who had let it out was none other than Akina.

Ash adjusted his optical sensors and zoomed in on the altar.

Akina's body, which should have been floating quietly amid a blue haze, was wracked by continuous, horrific convulsions.

The pain must have been immense. The girl clutched and tore at her head with both hands, screaming without pause.

Her eyes now shone gold, unlike before.

"Miss Akina!"

Letting out a cry that sounded almost like a dying roar, Ash hurled himself toward the altar.

Something had clearly gone terribly wrong.