Part 13
(November 10 – Kauai – Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #300)
Kamijou Touma charged across the rough ground and straight for Saronia A. Irivika. His greatest weapon was his right fist. Preparing circumstances in which it was effective was the starting point of any of his strategies.
But…
"(…What? I'm so unsteady…!)"
"Yes, yes. You can't control your own weight, can you?" Saronia grinned. "Your arms are balancers used to control your weight and your left arm is currently unusable. Someone who has been without an arm for years may be fine, but with it suddenly switched off like that, you can't control yourself properly."
"!!"
"And your weight is the true force behind your fist."
A dull noise exploded out.
Saronia had jabbed her leg out toward Kamijou's chest. He had just barely managed to block it with his right arm, but it still sent him backwards. After reeling two or three steps back, he finally managed to regain control.
She was indeed well trained, but Saronia was still a small girl.
It was likely only due to Kamijou's lack of control over his own weight that she had been able to send him so far back.
"Gh…" groaned Kamijou
While humming, Saronia continued with her kicks. The next one circled around toward Kamijou's left side.
He could not move his left arm.
Her sharp strike stabbed straight into that gap in his defenses.
"Gaaaaaaahhhhh!?"
"Gremlin is desperate for any countermeasures we can get against Imagine Breaker. Why do you think we tampered with the leylines to send that fortress to see if you were alive, nyaaahn!?" Saronia thinly smiled as she estimated the damage she must be doing from what she felt with her foot. "Thanks to that, even an indoor type like me has been going to the gym and working up a sweat! I've gotten some lovely muscles for my legs☆"
"Tch!"
"Yes, and now you will try to put some distance between us."
Kamijou forced his right arm around to hold his left side and tried to fall back, but Saronia's slender arm grabbed at his collar.
She pulled him forward while swinging her head down as a blunt weapon.
With a dull noise, Kamijou's body bent backwards.
"(This isn't how someone who merely controls people would fight!!)"
Saronia continued to throw kicks, focusing on the left half of his body while words leaked from the bottom of Kamijou's throat.
"(But she isn't using her magic either. Is this another sign of their unease over Imagine Breaker just like Radiosonde Castle!?)"
"More or less." By aiming for the left side of his body, Saronia was making sure he could not grab at her feet. "But everything has its use. Even if I cannot directly bind Imagine Breaker, I can lower its strength by sealing off your left arm."
Unable to support his own weight, Kamijou rolled across the ground while undergoing a rush of kicks from Saronia. Saronia then moved her right thumb as if flicking something straight up.
"(…Here it comes!!)"
Still on the ground, Kamijou held out his right arm, but much to his surprise, nothing happened.
Silence hung over the area for a few seconds.
Still not sure what that meant, Kamijou rolled to the side to put some distance between them. The sole of Saronia's shoe seemed to chase after him.
She had no real reason to pull a feint in that situation, so…
"A misfire!?"
"Looks that way, nyahn."
She caught up to Kamijou with a motion like she was trying to kick a soccer ball as hard as she could.
With the breath knocked out of him and while suppressing the urge to vomit, Kamijou muttered, "…What are…you doing…?"
"Ahn?"
"That war is finally over and everyone was beginning to walk down a new path…"
"Oh, you're asking why I am interfering?" Saronia's expression loosened, but a piercing light remained in her eyes. He had touched on something he should not have. "Yes, the war ended. You played an important role in ensuring that. The chaos ended and the countries of the world took action to rebuild." Saronia paused for a second. "But my country was used as a stepping stone to do so."
"…"
"It isn't funny. It truly isn't funny. Children starve needlessly and the elderly shiver in the cold needlessly. The major countries have control of the flow of resources and money. They dole out only what they absolutely have to and call themselves heroes for doing so. It feels like justice is up for sale in a whorehouse."
Kamijou had no idea what the truth of the matter was or if Saronia was even telling the truth from her point of view.
But whether she was being truthful or not, he should have guessed it.
Even then, something was advancing.
He could see glimpses of the shadows of the greedy ones.
He was no prophet, so it was impossible for him to know the ripple-like effects his actions would bring about. But this time at least, his actions had clearly been involved in how things had turned out.
"Saronia…"
"I suppose the one piece of luck for you is that you do not have piles of money at your disposal."
The green magician smiled.
It was the smile of a fairy.
It was the smile of the ruler of the forest.
It was the strange smile of the one who brought death to those who lost their way and who would distribute her riches in gambles she held at a whim.
"But even so, I still have enough reason to kill you."
"…"
No matter what he would do from then on and no matter how he would face the ripple-like effects brought about by that war, he had to survive his current situation first.
He had to find the truth behind Saronia's attacks and the spell she used.
What were the rules behind it and what process did the attacks use?
What could he negate and what could he not?
He needed concrete information.
"(What do I have to destroy to regain use of my left arm? I need to find out!!)"
"Let us begin again," said Saronia as she loosely clenched her hands and charged forward. "Let us begin the gamble of the Leshy, the ruler of the forest!!"
She moved both her thumbs as if flicking something straight up.
Part 14
(November 10 – Kauai – Nohili Port – From a tide level monitoring camera)
In a civilian port on the western side of Kauai, Cinesic Evers, commander of the Trident PMC, raised his hands into the air. He was wearing an old-fashioned but popular French military uniform for high officials. Even after leaving the military and joining a company, old men seemed not to lose their desire for power.
The reason he was raising his hands was quite simple. American marines were spread out around the dock, their rifles were aimed at him, and his command armored vehicle covered in antennae had been blown up.
Amid all that, Roberto Katze pushed passed the marines protecting him and approached with a clear smile on his face.
"Hey there. If I had to take a guess, I'd say you are a former French naval officer who lost his standing after having the failures of British Halloween shoved on you. You couldn't have worked your way up the ranks this quickly using normal means, so did you manage to take control during the confusion of the war?"
"…Why do you want to know?"
"I was just asking. So what, are you being backed by the EU? They're having economic troubles of their own and they were left ruined by that war without being able to profit."
"Ridiculous. There is nothing that proves the EU is in any way connected with us."
"As I said, I'm only asking. But I get the feeling I know the truth by the fact that you spoke to defend the EU rather than Trident. And when I think about it, I can see political intent in the fact that Trident's primary area of activity was in Eastern Europe that is not a part of the EU. There must have been a connection even before you took over. …Well, that doesn't really matter," the president said before changing the subject. "To be honest, we have a difficult problem here."
"Are there really any easy problems?"
"True enough, but this one is different. The crime of declaring war on the United States is so unprecedented that I'm not even sure there is any legislation dealing with it. That means that if we arrest you, the odds of you getting thrown in prison are a complete unknown."
"…"
"And that's a problem." Roberto Katze shrugged. "If we can't judge you under existing laws, we might have no choice but to deal with you simply as foreign invaders. And remember, if you cannot be judged by the law, you cannot be protected by the law either. We cover it up with the word war, but in reality it is no different from slaughtering people without a trial."
"…It's too late. Once Olay Blueshake and Saronia A. Irivika take control of the government at its core, everything will be turned around."
"Sorry, but that isn't going to happen." Roberto shrugged. "Mister, I'm sure you've realized that Saronia is not a normal soldier and that she does not use normal firepower. She uses those techniques that a certain sadistic British princess (who would make a good tsundere) showed us during British Halloween and that we saw all too much of during World War III. I may not look it, but I am a high school dropout, so I leave difficult things like magic to the specialists."
"The specialists…? You don't mean…!!"
"Mister, they may be the greatest target of your hatred, but it is still best to leave it to the specialists. I have taken the proper measures and so Saronia will soon be defeated. Once that happens, both you and Olay have no means of victory. …You don't seem to understand, so let me be very clear." Roberto spoke slowly as he stared straight into Cinesic's eyes to emphasize his absolute advantage. "This is not a negotiation to see who wins and who yields. Your and Trident's defeat is a sure thing. What is on the table is how much your crimes can be reduced. So get serious about this. As things stand now, you and the rest of Trident will pay your debt by being slaughtered as a wartime enemy. Currently, Kilauea's eruption has sealed off our various advantages, but if this issue is prolonged and our forces clash once more, do you really think Trident's fifty thousand troops can defeat five million troops from the four branches of our military as well as troops from our various allies? It would pain me to simply slaughter you all without a trial…but there just isn't any legislation for this kind of situation. You need to seriously think about how you can survive this."
"So you're telling us to break our contract with Olay and quickly withdraw all our troops?"
"If that is your choice, then you should do so. I will let you assess the situation here and make your decision, but just remember that time is of the essence."
"…"
Roberto Katze took a military radio from a nearby marine and pressed it against Cinesic's chest.
Holding the radio, Cinesic thought for a bit and then sighed.
He set the frequency and brought the radio up to his mouth.
With a tone like he had given up on something he said, "To all troops deployed among the Hawaiian Islands. All other areas do not matter. It does not matter how much ground the Americans recover. All forces are to assist Saronia A. Irivika in Napali Coast of Kauai."
Roseline Krackhart's face paled when she heard his words.
Roberto Katze's face stiffened and he asked, "Are you serious, you bastard?"
"I am quite serious."
"That decision does not merely affect your own future. It affects the futures of all fifty thousand of your subordinates including the ones who are not in America."
"If you want to shoot me, do it," Cinesic muttered as he tossed aside the radio. "As long as Saronia is safe, we can turn this situation around. My target is right here and Lindy Blueshake, the tool I can use to deal with our client, has shown herself. Saronia with her occult powers and your anti-occult personnel will face off. The victor there will show us who truly needs to withdraw."
Part 15
(November 10 – Kauai – Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #300)
Saronia A. Irivika's magic took its name from the Leshy, a Russian fairy that was said to rule the forest.
The identity of the attack was unknown, but something had paralyzed half of Kamijou's body centered on his left arm.
Saronia loosely clenched her fists and moved her thumbs up as if flicking something straight up and Kamijou rolled to the side to gain some distance.
But…
"Nothing…again? Another misfire!?"
"Chehh. They just won't hit!!"
Seeming not to care that nothing had occurred, Saronia tried to continue attacking Kamijou with her kicks. However, she was just a little too slow. Kamijou managed to effectively gain some distance and stand up.
He used his right arm to stop the foot that flew toward him like a hammer and gave voice to his speculation.
"Is it something like a mine or a trap? Is it an attack that waits for me to step into it rather than firing a bullet!?"
"I guess it was only a matter of time before you figured it out. But a mine can be used as a grenade if you get close enough to throw it."
Kamijou could see that Saronia was holding some things in her hand.
Each one was only about a millimeter across.
The identity of the sand-like objects she held was…
"Plant seeds!?"
Kamijou immediately twisted his body to the side and managed to avoid the rain of seeds that were thrown at him like a scattershot.
However…
"Too bad," said Saronia with a sneer. "Pollen is good enough to bring about the effects."
Kamijou's body fell straight down.
Unable to support his own weight, he collapsed to the ground.
It was a simple matter of prestidigitation. Saronia had openly held the seeds to draw his attention while using her other hand to undo the cord holding a small bag shut.
"Gh…gh…"
"Looks like I got your entire left side this time. I gotta say, you did put up a fight. Normally, you would have undergone multiple organ failure by just breathing it in."
The first attack when Kamijou and Kuroyoru had hidden behind the log house must have been due to pollen on the wind.
"It's a bit like a chemical weapon, so it can be pretty nasty, but it can get a little difficult to use once the trick is revealed. Then the enemy just has to maintain a position upwind of you or even produce wind themselves. That's why there are really only two ways to use it. You can either get a first attack in before the enemy has had time to analyze it or find the perfect time like I just did. …It's pretty rare for someone to get hit by both types like this."
Plant seeds.
Or pollen.
The Leshy fairy that Saronia's magic was based on was supposedly the ruler of the forest. The Leshy controlled all living things in that zone and gave or took away things in gambles. That was what Birdway had told Kamijou.
Which meant…
"So this is a penalty against someone who injures the property…of the zone…?"
"I have no intention of giving you the answers," said Saronia as she brought the seeds into her palm once more.
However, she may as well have given him the answer. It was most likely a punishment for those who obstructed the development of the plants. That was the base of Saronia's spell. That obstruction could be stepping on a seed or getting in the way of the pollen as it flowed through the air.
But…
"(I still don't know where the attack comes from once I step on the seed. What rules are behind it? Where does the damage come from?)"
A few images flew by in the back of Kamijou's mind.
He spoke while unable to get up.
"The ruler of the forest, hm?"
"Yes, but I'm not a forest girl."
"If you could have the animals attack me, you would have already done so."
"…Well, I'm not all powerful."
Saronia seemed to try to respond without faltering, but Kamijou noticed a slight hesitation.
Kamijou's suspicions were confirmed.
For someone who claimed to be the ruler of the forest, only having a connection to the plants was too weak. She could likely interfere with the insects and other animals in the area. As Birdway had mentioned, even if she could not directly control humans, animals with simpler brain structures like insects and reptiles were a different story.
So had Kamijou been attacked by some kind of poisonous insect?
No, he would have felt some pain if that were the case.
His only hint was…
"(In her first attack with the pollen, I was hit but Kuroyoru was not.)"
Was it because she was a cyborg? Did it have no effect on a mechanical arm?
No.
It had only been Kamijou who had taken the pollen to his left arm. Kuroyoru had been standing next to him, so she would likely been hit by the windblown pollen elsewhere. And yet no effects had shown themselves. Other than her arms and part of her upper body, Kuroyoru was no different from a normal human.
The fact that she was a cyborg should not have mattered.
Something other than that had to have made Kuroyoru Umidori a special case.
She had a portion of the #1's thought patterns artificially implanted within her.
She had inconsistencies at the instinctual level. She could not get used to standard group psychology.
As Kamijou lay on the ground, he looked back over at his unmoving left arm.
He had thought there had been a problem with the "hardware" that was his arm, but he had been wrong.
The "hardware" was being sent commands by the "software" that was his mind. That "software" was where the interference was occurring.
However, Kamijou's mind had not directly fallen under Saronia's control. If that had happened, he would have taken much more damage. It was the punishment for treading on the development of a plant. That punishment was being accomplished solely by controlling a group of insects or small animals.
Kamijou thought for a bit.
"!!"
He suddenly grabbed his cell phone with his still moving right arm and quickly pressed a few buttons.
"I thought I told you I have no intention of giving you the answers!"
Saronia let fly a kick.
The kick struck his right wrist and another one stabbed into his side after he had let go of the phone.
"Gh…gah…!!"
"Calling Birdway of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight again? Quit thinking you can just ask her anything and get an answer! Search engines really have emptied the minds of this generation."
Kamijou glanced over toward his phone which had flown a fair bit away and then looked back toward Saronia.
"This is an exclusion from the 'forest' you have created in this zone. By gathering the small, simple creatures like insects and reptiles, you can control the minds of a majority of the creatures in this area. That way, you always win in issues of majority rule. The 'forest residents' are forcibly linked by something like group psychology and this allows you to focus their malice and hostility on one point. That results in what is happening here. You can externally interfere with and distort the mind that is normally inside a person."
The penalty was the exclusion of an irregular element to maintain the stability of the society.
It was the suppression of a minority by the majority.
Saronia was the one reproducing it as an attack, but she looked surprised.
"I can see why you need to rely on that phone of yours. Group psychology only exists among humans. You were heading in the right direction with the idea of being rejected by the forest residents, though." Saronia sneered. "With my spell, I first evenly maintain the minds of all living things within the specified zone. There is no distinction between human and beetle, but there is a division between those within the zone or outside of it. Only then can something like group psychology be used."
The identity of her spell was made clear.
Kamijou had the information he needed to find a way past it.
But…
"So have you figured out its weakness?" Still sneering, Saronia approached him. "Even if you have, can you pull it off with the left half of your body completely paralyzed? As I said before, control of your weight is directly linked to the force behind your fist. Now that you can't brace your legs, you would need muscles on the level of a grizzly to knock someone unconscious."
"…Not necessarily."
"?"
Saronia did not even have time to raise her voice in confusion.
Kamijou Touma's body suddenly stood up from its collapsed state on the ground. It was an impossible action for a human. As if his heel was acting as a hinge, he stood up like a basement door on the floor opening.
"Wha—!?"
Saronia was utterly shocked, but then she realized what had happened.
Two slender feminine arms were wrapped around Kamijou's waist. The palms had produced something like lances made of air which had launched Kamijou's body up and forward.
As Saronia watched, the two arms smoothly wrapped around Kamijou's left leg and reinforced it like a cast.
No, it was more like a powered suit that mechanically augmented his strength.
"Mechanical…arms? So you were using the phone to—!?"
"I never said I was calling Birdway. In fact, I never said I was making a call!!"
It may have been improvised, but he now had control of his left leg.
Saronia had carelessly drawn close enough for him to plow his right fist straight into her at full strength.
That was the strike that she—that Gremlin—was so worried about.
Imagine Breaker slammed into her and a dull noise burst out.
Saronia A. Irivika's small body bent backwards.
But that was it.
She held her ground. Her lip split and a trail of blood dripped down, but she did not go down.
"I already told you!" she spat out while grabbing a large number of seeds in her right hand. "Even if you can use your leg, your left arm is paralyzed, so you can't control your goddamn weight!!"
She threw the seeds at Kamijou as if scattering salt.
Taking the shower of seeds straight on, Kamijou collapsed to the ground once more. His entire body convulsed. He had no idea what expression was on his face and he could feel his blood vessels pulsating unnaturally. He could not move anything except for the part of his right arm that was past the elbow.
"…Chehh. So your organs are still functioning. I guess it really is best to get the pollen directly in the target's mouth."
"…Gh…Khah…"
Kamijou could not even breathe without focusing on it.
He moved his right arm and slowly crawled, scraping himself across the hard ground.
"You are the one who ended the war. There was one thing I wanted to ask you if I ever met you."
Kamijou now knew the details of Saronia A. Irivika's Leshy spell.
But he still had a question.
She could only use her magic after creating numerous "enclaves" linked back to her small forest in Russia. Birdway had suspected the preparation time for one of those enclaves was a few days long.
However, Saronia had only learned that Lindy Blueshake was there a half hour or so before.
Saronia would not have had time to prepare an enclave.
"Why did you end the war the way you did? The areas like Russia that were brought to ruin by the war are undergoing reconstruction, but do you know what is actually going on there?"
"Academy City and America are…"
"They are messing with other people's countries as they see fit just for fun." Saronia smiled, but it was completely devoid of joy. "In exchange for all the money they are throwing around, they are interfering with the structure of the government, seizing control of infrastructure like electricity and water, and deciding who will be saved and who will not. And yet they are part of the group that pulled the trigger that started that war. They are dividing people up like oranges being packed into boxes and then throwing away the boxes they don't like the taste of."
"…"
"Even my small forest was cleared away and covered in asphalt. If I had not joined Gremlin, I would have been unable to transfer over the power that makes me a magician."
Had she started by making all of Hawaii or at least Kauai into an enclave? That was not it. If she had done that, she would have put Lindy into a trance before trying to forcibly abduct her. Even if she was up against amateurs, it would have been better to eliminate all possibility of escape or resistance.
"I know that world has ended and cannot be brought back, but we can live on even after it has ended. I want to make the preparations for that. And this life will not be something forced on us by Academy City or America."
That meant there had to be a reason.
There had to be some kind of trick that allowed her to create an enclave there without waiting for days.
"It seems Gremlin as a whole and Olay are trying to destroy the balance between science and magic by recreating the United States into a theocracy, but that is nothing more than a trivial task to me. I don't care what it is as long as it rids Russian and Europe of those who use the name of justice to profit."
"We…" Kamijou forced out his words even as it felt like his breathing would stop. "We did not…end that war…for that to happen. We…"
"But that was the result."
"Then…it is my duty…to fight those who…are making you suffer in the…name of justice. There is no…need for you to…do these things… that will make the world...blame you."
"How naïve. You were only able to end that war because of all the preparations made by others. What can a mere pawn do when faced with the people who made those preparations?"
Saronia needed two things for her Leshy spell.
Plants and animals.
When Saronia possessed plants and animals that created a cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide, she transformed that area into a "forest". In that twisted zone, she ruled over the twisted community and had assaulted Kamijou with a twisted penalty based on twisted rules.
"And you are weak. Gremlin has joined together to fight the world's victors. How is a loser who cannot even defeat a single one of us supposed to accomplish something as grand as you are proposing?"
In that case, couldn't she use a type of supplement?
Instead of using the cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide to make an enclave out of the local plants over the course of a few days, she could bring in one of the original plants and plant it directly into the soil. That would get rid of the few days of lag. If she also opened cages holding insects and small animals already under the control of that plant, Saronia would indeed have control of the majority of the forest residents.
And as an extra hint, Kamijou Touma had seen someone bring a plant into that area.
"And so I think it is about time I sent the finishing blow to your heart."
"Saronia…!!"
"If you're going to make some idealized argument, I wish you would give some strength along with it. After all, that's what led to us getting trampled on during that war."
Harzak Lolas.
That large man who was Lindy Blueshake's guardian. Just before the attack, he had been planting a seedling. Kamijou doubted Harzak was working for Saronia, but all the flower shops or vending machines he might have stopped by to buy the seedling could have been attacked and had the seedlings switched out. That way he would have unwittingly carried out his role.
It was also true that Trident had waited until after he had finished planting the seedling to attack.
In that case, it had to be the origin of Saronia's magic.
The seedling had been planted in the small garden to the side of the log house!!
"…Ah?" said Saronia A. Irivika questioningly.
She was surprised because Kamijou was still breathing even after she had scattered countless seeds atop him.
And then she realized something.
At some point as Kamijou used only his right hand to drag himself along the ground, he had made it to the garden. And he had used that single usable part of his body to pull out the seedling that had been planted in the soft soil.
That seedling was the origin of the spell that took its name from a fairy that ruled the forest.
Normally, countless such origins would exist within the zone, but that one plant was the core due to that zone's rushed construction.
And he had pulled it out using that right hand that had an absolute effect on magic.
"Im…possible…"
"…"
Kamijou Touma slowly stood up.
His body was no longer bound by anything. All his limbs moved as he wished them to. He once more had everything necessary to put all his weight behind his fist.
Kamijou spun his right shoulder around to check on his arm and Saronia merely stood watching without attacking due to having lost her absolute trump card. She had developed her special foot techniques based on the assumption that Kamijou would be unable to control his weight due to an unusable left arm.
One had regained his trump card.
The other had lost hers.
"…Sorry, Saronia."
"Ohh…"
"I've caught up to where you stand and I can now see what you see. But if what you say is true, then you are not the one that should be risking your life in this fight."
"Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
After that, primitive sounds of violence continued for a time.
Part 16
(November 10 – Kauai – Nohili Port – From a tide level monitoring camera)
Having received the report, President Roberto Katze pointed to the military radio that Cinesic Evers, the commander of Trident, had tossed aside.
"Pick it up, you bastard," said the president.
"So Saronia A. Irivika was defeated."
"Your dream has been shattered. It's time to look at the cold, hard truth, mister."
Cinesic could have all his troops fight to take Saronia back, but it would be all over if they held her hostage. If it seemed likely Trident would actually succeed in taking her back, they would just kill her. At that point, Saronia and Olay's plan to conquer the United States would fail.
Now that Trident's crimes could no longer be cleared away, continuing the fight would be nothing more than tying a noose around his own neck. The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands due to Kilauea's eruption would not last forever.
"…What are your terms?"
"How about we start with three hundred years in clandestine detention facilities in the Arctic and Alaska, with no chance of trial. If you quickly withdraw all your troops, end this chaos, and reveal all information you have on the organization you dealt with named Gremlin, I might consider reducing your penalty. …So basically, get your troops the hell out of here and tell us everything."