New Chapter 13.2: "0.01% Analysis and Mirror Image Observation"
A white fingertip thrust upward toward the sky.
The lingering reverberation of that declaration of war faintly shook the cold air of the arena.
Solan’s 『Absolute Zero Silence』 poured down from above‚ crushing everything in its path. In opposition was the violent steam of fivefold miso that Rinne had scattered. The cold air that stole all heat and the steam pregnant with excessive heat collided fiercely‚ causing the atmosphere to let out a scream-like creak as it swirled into a vortex.
「……Now then. That’s enough of the noisy greetings——I’ll take a little peek inside the ‘trash can’ of the oh-so-smart elite.」
Kotone pushed up the bridge of her silver-rimmed glasses and deployed countless hologram monitors in the air. She reconstructed the 『bright red warning logs』 that Elze had rejected into golden waveforms. Her five fingers began striking the invisible keyboard at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
The heavy sounds of Mark and Cross standing guard and Liam readying his shield echoed from beyond the cloud of dust.
While listening to those operating sounds behind her——suddenly‚ her vision blurred white.
「……っ」
Intense pain.
The magic circuits that continued to operate beyond their limits froze without even being able to scream. The deathly whiteness that had crawled up to the middle of her forearm blended with the surrounding cold air‚ quietly baring its fangs to scrape away the nerves from the inside.
The clamor of the arena rapidly lost its volume.
Amidst the voices of her comrades muffled like reverb at the bottom of water——on the stone floor where sand danced‚ the scenery of the classroom where they once spent time began to overlap as a faint‚ noisy phantom (overlay).
「……Aria‚ your hand is really cold. I’ll warm it up for you……」
Right beside her.
On the 『phantom desk』 overlapping in the empty space where nothing should be——Iris‚ wrapped in golden light‚ was sitting neatly and peering at her.
Above the desolate‚ cracked landscape of the arena‚ only her singing voice and the memories of those days overlapped with painful beauty.
Her translucent hand slowly reached out——and gently touched the boundary between cheek and lips.
In that instant‚ all pain vanished as if it had been a lie.
The intense pain of absolute zero. The terror of approaching mechanization.
What instead dominated her brain was——an overwhelming and sweet pleasure that melted even the depths of her soul.
「……Iris」
The soft body heat and sweet breath that should have been a phantom (illusion).
It directly invaded the abyss of the frozen magic circuits‚ sweetly numbing the chilled nerves.
The boundary between self and other melted‚ and her very existence seemed to sink into her light——an intense ecstasy.
Even though she understood it was just an illusion‚ she could not resist it. It was a narcotic temptation of the abyss.
While her soul melted in the painless warmth‚ she slowly reached her hand out toward the empty space.
Forgetting even that she was in a harsh battlefield——a melting smile filled with nothing but a longing for her warmth floated on her lips.
「Aria! What the hell are you looking at right now!!」
An angry voice that felt like a direct punch to the eardrums. At the same time‚ her collar was grabbed with brute force.
She was violently shaken back and forth‚ her brain bouncing inside her skull.
「……ッ！？」
Vision forcibly dragged back. Before her eyes was Rinne’s tearful face glaring at her.
「Get a grip! Why are you smiling with such a creepy face toward empty space!」
Her angry shout thrown from point-blank range. And the merciless assault on her nostrils from the intense lingering scent of 『fivefold miso』 and the raw‚ slightly sweaty breath.
Dirty‚ noisy‚ and far too heavy——the 『mass of reality』.
It roughly tore away the sweet veil that had covered her retinas.
「Ah……」
The phantom of Iris who had been about to touch her blinked in surprise——and then vanished like mist.
At the same time‚ the narcotic pleasure that made souls melt together was abruptly cut off.
——Immediately after.
「Gah……！ Geho‚ goho……！」
The absolute-zero pain mercilessly surged up through the nerves awakened from paralysis. The magic circuits operating beyond their limits screamed‚ and the pain of her whitened right arm being scraped from the inside made her involuntarily drop to her knees on the stone floor.
It hurt.
But what froze her spine even more was——the fundamental terror toward 「the self who had forgotten pain」.
If she had touched her hand like that‚ she would have undoubtedly stopped being 「human」. She would have become nothing more than a magic computation device (system) without even pain sensation.
The true identity of that sweet warmth was——the quiet abyss of 「death」.
「H-hey! What happened all of a sudden!?」
「……Sorry. I was……a little……somewhere else……」
「Somewhere else!? You looked completely melted‚ like you were about to cut ties with this world! I was seriously scared!」
Rinne kept gripping her collar and squeezed the fabric even tighter with trembling hands.
The clumsy warmth transmitted by her small hands made the frozen pain sensation even clearer.
——It hurt. But this pain was the greatest proof that she was still not reduced to a 「machine」.
「Hey hey‚ conductor. Your soul was about to be called up to heaven‚ wasn’t it? Maybe the salt in the fivefold miso wasn’t enough?」
Cross shrugged his shoulders in exasperation while lightly readjusting the greatsword on his shoulder.
「……The salt is already more than enough. Rinne’s smell woke me up whether I wanted it or not.」
「What do you mean by my smell! Don’t make it sound like I stink of sweat!」
「Aria-sama‚ I’m truly glad you’re safe…… However‚ that vacant expression earlier…… I feared you might walk alone into an abyss beyond even my shield’s reach……」
Liam’s voice‚ mixed with relief and faint terror‚ leaked out from behind the 『Bell Shield』.
He was right. If Rinne’s pull-back had been even a few seconds later——she would have been unable to resist that painless warmth and would have willingly fallen into becoming a magic computation device.
「……Sorry for worrying you. I’m fine now.」
While exhaling roughly‚ she tightly clenched her ice-cold white right hand.
She completely overwrote the memory of the sweet breath left by the phantom with the strong pain and terror of reality.
「……Has the rendezvous with the imaginary her ended? Honestly‚ it was such a dangerous state that even my computer almost short-circuited.」
From behind‚ Kotone’s cool voice descended.
「……You saw it‚ Kotone?」
「There’s no way I could see it. But it’s a fact that your waveform was emitting error codes of 『death』—a fatal system-down sign.」
She smiled thinly and sank her gaze into the depths of the monitor. Turning away from her‚ she faced the invisible keyboard again.
「Now‚ we don’t have time to flirt. The undefined frames that Elze rejected with her unpleasant cold smile as 『statistical trash』…… I’ve finally managed to pinpoint the coordinates of that bug.」
Kotone’s five fingers danced at blinding speed. Inside the countless pale blue hologram monitors‚ mathematical formulas forming Elze’s perfect serial circuit flowed down like a waterfall.
However——within that sea of precise formulas‚ the 「bright red warning logs」 Kotone had extracted were gradually being reconstructed into powerful amber-colored waveforms.
「……Found it. A fatal flaw born precisely because it was too perfect. Our shabby dissonance is the signpost to bite into the throat of God.」
The corners of Kotone’s mouth slowly curved into a ferocious smile befitting an analyst.
「……Kotone‚ while you pinpoint those coordinates‚ I’ll try to slow the collapse of my circuits even a little.」
While exhaling roughly‚ she pressed her trembling right hand against the left breast pocket——the clumsy fabric bulge that Rinne had sewn on.
The dull amber heat transmitted through the fabric. The 『Ancient Heart Fragment (Artifact)』.
If she deeply synchronized this with her magic circuits‚ she should be able to stop the progression of whitening at the edge of the limit.
「Don’t push yourself‚ conductor! The creaking sound of your soul is echoing all the way to my pectoral muscles!」
「Leaving Cross’s muscles aside‚ Aria-sama‚ your complexion…… is beyond the limit!」
Liam’s pained voice was thrown from behind.
However‚ she had to do it.
Clenching her back teeth‚ she poured the frozen magic power all at once into the catalyst on her chest.
ZUN——……！
「Ga……aッ！」
An impact as if her heart had been directly struck by an ice hammer. The synchronization load far exceeded imagination. The deathly whiteness on her right hand temporarily ran wild‚ and the fangs of extreme cold rushed up toward her shoulder all at once.
Unable to endure the pain that broke through the limit‚ her consciousness was about to cut off——at that moment‚ all sound around her was completely muted again.
The sand dust of the arena‚ her comrades’ voices‚ even the cold air disappeared.
What appeared instead was a silent space where golden particles danced. On the desolate stone floor‚ the traces of past days gently overlapped as phantoms (overlays).
There‚ she was standing.
「……Iris」
She reached out toward the phantom as if clinging to her.
She wanted to escape this extreme pain. She wanted to be enveloped once more in that soul-melting sweet warmth she had felt earlier.
……It was fine to fall into a machine. If this hand would pull her along.
However——the expression of Iris who approached was not the melting smile from before.
Large tears floated in her amber eyes.
「No……っ！」
She shook her head violently and strongly pressed both hands against her chest——right where the heart fragment was.
「If you come any closer‚ Aria will become a machine…… Please‚ go back……！」
A strong rejection as if pushing her away.
No‚ that wasn’t it. From her hands that should have no physical body——the heavy weight of a desperate prayer trying to keep life in the present world was transmitted.
「But……I want to touch you. It doesn’t hurt here……because only your temperature exists.」
Iris’s phantom rejected her while sobbing.
She wanted to touch her. But what she had believed in was not this frozen machine (system). It was the awkward her who‚ even covered in wounds‚ struggled to play the sound of the future.
「……Aria! You’ve stopped breathing! Breathe!」
「Hey! Move that soul pump! Want me to give you mouth-to-mouth!?」
「Cross-dono‚ that will crush her ribs! I’ll compress her chest with my shield!」
「That’ll kill her too so stop it!!」
From the real world‚ proposals for arguably the worst life-saving measures were flying around‚ audible as if through water.
Rinne’s angry voice‚ Cross’s absolute trust in muscles‚ Liam’s overly heavy shield.
——Ah‚ how noisy and how precious.
That noisy resonance was exactly where she belonged.
「……Sorry‚ Iris. A conductor who makes you cry is a failure.」
Smiling at the phantom‚ she clenched her back teeth tightly.
She severed the sweet temptation of death by her own will and forcibly completed the synchronization process with the heart fragment.
GIIIIN——ッ！
The magic circuits fully accepted the amber heat‚ and the whitening on her right hand stopped sharply at the middle of her forearm.
「Haa……！ Geho‚ goho……！」
Consciousness rapidly resurfaced into reality‚ and she inhaled the cold air of the arena into her lungs to the limit.
At the edge of her vision‚ Iris’s phantom mouthed 「Thank you」 and then scattered into golden particles and vanished.
「……っ‚ she’s breathing again……！ I really thought my lifespan was going to shorten……！」
Rinne collapsed on the spot and slapped her back repeatedly while shedding tears of relief.
——It hurt. But this was proof she was alive.
「……Synchronization complete. With this‚ my 『white』 will stabilize at the edge of the limit.」
With her right hand‚ cold as ice yet possessing definite existence‚ she strongly struck the stone floor and stood up.
The hardness of the floor remaining in her palm and the tingling pain vividly anchored her outline to this world.
Her blurred vision became clearer and sharper than ever before.
「……So? How does the ‘catalyst’ you synchronized with at the cost of your life feel‚ Aria?」
Kotone called out while clacking away at the invisible keyboard. Her gaze remained fixed on the pale blue hologram monitor‚ rapidly scanning the countless mathematical formulas displayed.
「……The worst. It feels like my heart was frozen solid and then forcibly thrown into boiling water.」
「That’s overlapping nicely. It’s proof the system is screaming normally.」
She stopped her fingers and slowly turned around‚ reflecting the pale blue light of the monitor on her glasses lenses.
「The full picture of the undefined frames that Elze rejected with her unpleasant cold smile…… I’ve finally unraveled it.」
「Full picture…… meaning there was a blind spot in their 『100% correct answer』?」
Mark leaned forward with interest. A dry crackle of mint-colored sparks scattered from his magic shoes.
「Yes. Their system is indeed a perfect serial circuit with no deviation in a single place. It processes each phenomenon in order‚ reliably‚ with 100% accuracy. ……But‚ conversely‚ that means 『it can only do that』.」
「It can only process in order……?」
While clenching her whitened right hand‚ she quietly ruminated on the continuation of her words.
「That’s right. So——what do you think will happen if you strike an overwhelmingly huge 『load』 that cannot be processed simultaneously into separate coordinates?」
At that moment‚ the declaration she had instinctively uttered earlier and the vivid real experience sharply connected in her mind.
Absolute zero that stole all heat‚ and steam pregnant with excessive heat. The sensation of her own system (brain) nearly short-circuiting after being bathed in two opposing extreme loads at the same time.
「……Parallel processing. I see‚ so that’s what it means. When a load exceeding capacity is received simultaneously‚ the system panics. Having experienced it with my own body‚ the theory and the feeling finally connected.」
「Aria‚ you…… you didn’t seriously use your own body for a dangerous experiment‚ did you?」
Rinne glared with half-lidded eyes‚ pointing the tip of her ladle at her.
「……It was just force majeure that made me experience it.」
「Yes. And what completely backed up that intuitive tactic of yours as analytical theory is this.」
Kotone took over their exchange and flipped the aerial monitor around.
There‚ a diagram was drawn showing the waveforms of the five of them baring their fangs all at once against the blind spot of Solan’s giant serial circuit.
「Parallel bugs that simultaneously smash serial. ……This is our revenge against the unpleasant elites. Like before‚ Aria doesn’t need to forcibly bundle our sounds into one.」
「Not bundling them? Then how the hell are we supposed to clash our 『souls』?」
Cross readjusted the greatsword on his shoulder and tilted his head.
「Strike them all at one point while remaining scattered. Liam’s shield reverberation‚ Cross’s physical impact‚ Mark’s speed‚ my analysis‚ and Rinne’s extra-logical heat. All of it…… simultaneously driven into the 『first absolute coordinate』 where Solan swings down his baton‚ under Aria’s command.」
「Parallel-attacking five dissonances into a perfect system with no deviation in a single place——and hacking the very laws of the world‚ huh.」
Kotone nodded deeply in satisfaction at her words filled with conviction.
The ultimate crude and overwhelming coordinates of rebellion that struck at the fragility of perfect theory.
It had finally been shown——before them.
A quiet terror crawled up her spine at the self who had understood it mechanically.
Thanks to synchronization with the heart fragment‚ the whitening eroding her body had stopped completely. Her vision was clearer than ever.
However——at the edge of that sharpened scenery‚ the phantom of Iris that should have scattered earlier was anxiously watching her from beyond the sand dust.
She had stopped the collapse of her body. But her thinking (system) had already crossed the line——and she had become able to constantly observe (overlay) the abyssal domain where Iris existed.
However‚ she could no longer stop.
「……Kotone‚ what’s the allowable margin of error for arrival timing at each input coordinate?」
She asked while channeling magic power into her whitened right hand and holding the frozen baton in the air.
「0.01 seconds. Any more deviation and we’ll be individually processed in order by the elite’s serial circuit and it’ll be over.」
Kotone answered instantly without once taking her eyes off the monitor‚ stopping only her fingers.
「Good enough. ……Then let’s do an impromptu 『sound check』.」
At her words as the signal‚ the mass of her previously still comrades exploded into motion.
「Hyahaha! A 0.01-second chicken race! Don’t get shaken off by my super acceleration‚ you muscle idiot!」
Mark scattered neon-mint sparks from his magic shoes 『Gale』‚ gouged the stone floor‚ and raced across the arena.
「You got it! My soul tuning is perfect! It’s your side that needs to match up‚ Mark!」
Cross spun his greatsword‚ striking a roaring sound of centrifugal force and straining muscles.
「I’ll perfectly cushion the collision coordinates of you two with my shield!」
Liam readied his heavy 『Bell Shield』 and cut into the intersection of their trajectories with a ground-shaking rumble.
「Hey! That’s why I keep saying a steel shield won’t act as a cushion! What happened to the laws of physics!」
Rinne shouted while swinging her ladle.
However——even that angry voice became a huge noise adding a raw 「heat」 to their movements.
The 「cross-section」 high in the sky.
Solan looking down at them from the absolute-zero airspace held his baton still with a cold smile‚ as if observing the meaningless flapping of insect wings.
……Keep laughing.
Because this crude‚ scattered noise will become the parallel fangs that destroy your perfect laws.
She gently placed her right hand on the left breast pocket that Rinne had clumsily sewn.
The dull heat of the 『Ancient Heart Fragment』 transmitted through the fabric. And the merciless lingering scent of fivefold miso faintly drifting.
The phantom of Iris standing at the edge of her vision——this time seemed to smile softly with relief and nod.
She slowly exhaled from the bottom of her ice-cold lungs.
When she firmly stepped on the stone floor‚ the hardness transmitted to her soles strongly bound her to this reality.
「……Now‚ let’s make it resound.」
To release her comrades’ dissonance simultaneously at the same moment and the same coordinate——she raised the white-dyed baton high.
The world’s crudest 『first note』 to bite into the throat of God was now——
being released.
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Chapter 13.2 『0.01% Analysis and Observation of the Mirror Image』 End
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