Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

“Equip…«The Destiny».”

The voice command emitted from Haruyuki’s mouth quietly vibrated the parched air of the «Scorched Earth» stage.

The distant howling wind, the warning sound emitted by the restlessly blinking HP gauge a few pixels remaining in width, and the cras.h.i.+ng sound of the approaching opponent «Cyan Pile» breaking through the heavy walls disappeared as if a switch had been cut off.

In the center of the wide room surrounded by scorched concrete, Haruyuki, who was enveloped in a dense silence, suddenly felt an unbelievably strong sensory signal explode at a point inside his body.

Intense pain.

It was completely as if a searing hot spear had deeply penetrated the area between his shoulder blades. A white halo of light occurred within his field of vision; innumerable sparks ran inside his head. His virtual breathing stopped; even his thoughts became a countless number of fragments and dispersed.

“…Nn…gh…aah..!!”

Haruyuki, who had contorted his entire body back like a bow and was on the verge of letting out a hoa.r.s.e shout, suddenly became aware of somebody’s voice resounding either very far away or closer than anywhere else.

—It’s useless.

—It’s already too late to separate my medium and me.

—The «Destiny» that guides the «Armor» was able to be set to be unchangeable by much anger, lament, and despair. I only seek blood. Only an ending, only ma.s.sacre. Only endlessly repeating disaster.

In his white-filled vision, like a movie folder played in continuous preview mode, a number of fragmented images flashed by one after another.

In all of them, knight-cla.s.s duel avatars whose entire bodies were covered in blackened silver-colored heavy armor were projected in the center. However, some detailed designs differed.

One had countless teeth growing from the edges of its hood-shaped helmet.

One had a face whose entirety extended forward as if it were some kind of tentacle.

One had long silver hair draping from the bottom of its helmet to its feet.

One spewed crimson flames from its head, which could only be thought of as having the shape of a dragon’s head.

And then, there was one who wore its sharply pointed visor low over its eyes and brandished an ominous, large sword.

Haruyuki intuitively realized that they were the successive generations of the «Chrome Disaster». Their forms were different, but their armor colors and the auras of darkness in which they were clad as well as their insane fighting styles were commonly shared. Inside the images, as if aroused by something the knights wielded their swords, using their claws to tear away and their teeth to pierce. In the midst of the duel avatars being slaughtered as if they were not worthy of being opponents, the Chrome Disasters howled and became agitated – and then, they seemed as if they were lamenting something.

At the same time the images disappeared, that voice resounded once again.

—Destroy. Then devour. That is your true desire.

—Devour, steal, become infinitely strong. Until the time you remain all alone on the wastelands of the Accelerated World.

—Until the time of demise.

In the center of his spine, from the precise location where in the past the fifth-generation Disaster’s «Wire Hook» had deeply penetrated, a pain resembling pale blue lightning was periodically produced, and it pierced as far as the extremities of his four limbs. But Haruyuki ground his teeth and refused to let out his voice.

If he lost here to the impulse to destroy, everything would have been for naught.

The sorrow of Niko, who had executed her «parent» and closest friend «Cherry Rook» in order to make a sacrifice due to her obligations as a King.

The thoughts of Chiyuri, who had brought back the running amok Haruyuki and had restored the Armor once again to its seed.

The wish of Kuroyukihime, who had extended her hand to Haruyuki, who was cowering at the bottom of the Local Net, and had given him wings by the name of hope.

And the prayer of one girl dwelling in a corner of the Armor, who had been waiting a long, long time—

The pain augmented without limit, and before Haruyuki knew it, it had even transcended his material senses, becoming an overwhelming storm of energy and trying to tear up his consciousness.

If he just called the name «Disaster», it would be easy. Although he understood that, he mustered his remaining mental strength, resisting with all his might.

And, at that moment. From the other side of the incandescent world, far, far away, he had the feeling that another voice had faintly reached him.

…Believe.

…It’s okay; if it’s you, you’ll definitely be able to do it…if it’s you, whom I’ve been waiting for a long, long time…

That voice was unmistakably that of the bright golden yellow girl who had appeared a moment earlier like an illusion. Haruyuki replied with his meager remaining ability to think.

—I’m sorry.

—I’m not the kind of special person who you’ve been waiting for. I have a mountain of worries and hesitations; I’m always making mistakes; I’m unable to trust others and always run away from them; despite that, if I were by myself I wouldn’t be able to walk straight; I’m a miserable guy.

—But, in the current me, there’s only one thing I can be proud of.

—I was able to become able to love others again. Not only that, but quite a number of people and anyone too. I still don’t like myself, and I still don’t trust myself, but I’m probably able to try hard for everyone’s sake. Though it’s not much, in order to protect the warm place where I belong, I’ll do anything I can, I’m sure.

In response to Haruyuki’s thought, which resembled a light on the verge of burning out, somebody’s voice responded gently.

…That alone is enough.

…Because, that alone is the proof of strength.

Snap; a faint, yet certain something that resembled a cracking sound was produced inside of Haruyuki.

It was not the reverberation of something collapsing. It was a sound of a hard, hard seed bursting from the inside. A sound of birth.

A clear silver color like that of cold, thawing snow overflowed, gushed out, and washed away the pain of the searing heat. Haruyuki opened his eyes wide.

At the fingertips of his one remaining right arm, smooth, s.h.i.+ning supplemental armor was being generated. An «Armor» sporting a far purer, truer silver color than Silver Crow’s armor color.

The design was rea.s.suring, but there was no ill omen in it. From the back of his hand to his wrist, his upper arm, his elbow, the armor was equipped while resounding with metallic sounds one after another. Each time some reliable weight was added, Haruyuki was filled with an energy double the size of the weight, and his body conversely became lighter.

Haruyuki intuitively understood that this silver Enhanced Armament was the original form of «The Disaster».

The inscription «The Destiny». Zeta, the sixth star of the «Seven Arcs». Surely it was this armor, the Divine Weapon enshrined in the deepest reaches of the Imperial Palace side by side with the fifth star Epsilon, the straight sword «The Infinity».

Once, «someone» in the distant, distant past who succeeded in penetrating the Imperial Palace had procured this Destiny. However, after that, «something»—the «many sad things» mentioned by the bright golden yellow colored girl had occurred; the shape of the Armor had been distorted and had become the «Disaster». The term «verified four Divine Weapons» mentioned by Kurasaki Fuuko and s.h.i.+nomiya Utai referred to the Blue King’s large sword «The Impulse», the Green King’s large s.h.i.+eld «The Strife», the Purple King’s bishop’s staff «The Tempest», and one more, «The Disaster» possessed by Haruyuki himself.

If one tried to comprehend the unbelievable abilities concealed in «The Disaster Armor», one could understand. Being one of the «Seven Arcs», while the seventh star Eta still remained untouched, if one considered the fact that Epsilon was also essentially in a sealed state, without exaggeration the Disaster Armor was the strongest Enhanced Armament in the Accelerated World.

Haruyuki was currently trying to summon its original form, the one before its alteration, by calling the Armor’s original name.

If he succeeded in doing so, even if he equipped it, it would not interfere with his mind. At the same time, the «Future Prediction Function» used to slaughter easily the formidable enemy «Rust Jigsaw» would not exist, but that ability was not necessary for this fight.

He did not want to triumph over Cyan Pile, who had equipped the «ISS Kit».

He merely wanted to convey something to Tak.u.mu, who had continued to blame himself and had finally been ensnared by the abyss of deep despair. How much Arita Haruyuki believed in the person Mayuzumi Tak.u.mu, how much he relied on him, and how much he needed him.

In order to deliver the last blow with his fist in which he had put in that emotion. With his remaining scant HP gauge, he wanted to borrow the power to break through that aura of darkness.

As if answering to Haruyuki’s wish, the pure silver-colored armor continued its formation. A large-cla.s.s piece of elbow plate armor was generated, and light extended toward his chest.

—However.

When the armor tried to reach his shoulder, suddenly an intense feeling of resistance was produced. In the interior of his ears, a ferocious howl faintly roared.

Haruyuki realized that that was the will dwelling inside the armor; namely, the voice of the beast by the name of the «Disaster Armor». The beast had not disappeared. It had become enraged by the summoning of only «The Destiny», which was the Enhanced Armament that had become the medium.

Letting out a creaking sound, the silver armor stopped its development at the point where it had covered Haruyuki’s right shoulder halfway.

In the left side of his field of vision, a line of system font blinked irregularly. He was able to read as far as YOU EQUIPPED AN ENHANCED ARMAMENT THE…, but all that followed were the letters D, S, and T floating indistinctly.

All the voices and pain went far away and eventually disappeared.

A moment of silence filled the black, sooty s.p.a.ce characteristic of the «Scorched Earth» stage corresponding to a portion of the first floor of the B building of his apartment house in the real world. In the center of the dark room, Haruyuki raised his right arm equipped with the new armor and clenched his fist tightly.

Immediately after, while breaking into pieces the wall opposite him crumbled, and a large silhouette appeared from within.

The aura of darkness in which Cyan Pile—Tak.u.mu was clad augmented in density. The original light blue armor color was covered and hidden; only the crimson glint of the eye of the «ISS Kit» residing in the Enhanced Armament «Pile Driver» of his right arm glittered vividly.

His thin-slit eye lenses also had changed from their previous light blue color to a dull purple. With those eyes, Tak.u.mu stared hard at Haruyuki. Finally, a quiet voice.

“Is that the original form of the «Disaster Armor»?”

Even when spurred on by the urges of destruction and ruin, it seemed he had not lost his discernment. Haruyuki looked down at his right arm covered in the new armor and nodded.

“Uh huh. Though I could only summon one arm’s worth…”

“That alone’s still an extraordinary feat. You’re probably the first to struggle against the power of the «Armor», which has swallowed so many Burst Linkers up until now.”

Although Tak.u.mu’s voice was placid, his intonation was weak, and his echo reverberated somewhat hollowly.

“…You’re strong, Haru. Even while you knew you could gain several times or tens of times more power if you gave in to the allurement of the Armor, you were able to fight it. If the Armor had parasitically infested me instead, I would have been immediately completely controlled and would have bared my fangs at you, Chii-chan, and Master…”

“No way, Taku. You would have been able to summon not just one arm, but the entire body of «The Destiny». I believe that.”

While staring at Cyan Pile’s face mask, Haruyuki immediately a.s.serted that. However, as if trying to escape from that gaze and those words, Tak.u.mu hanged his head down deeply and whispered in a slightly trembling voice.

“…You still don’t understand, Haru. That I’m…not a human that deserves to been talked about in that way. I only smooth things over on the surface…in the seed, inside my heart, I’m always envying and hating someone else. I don’t wish for other’s happiness; I wish for their misfortune. If my rivals’ grades dropped, I’d laugh from the shadows; if the guys who I’m competing with for a regular spot on the team got injured, I’d think it serves them right. When my dear two childhood friends who had always been together since they were small became distant from one another…while pretending to be worried, I secretly felt relieved. That is me. The true figure of the human Mayuzumi Tak.u.mu!”

Together with that blood-spitting shout, from his eye slits devoid of light, a number of white drops spilled out and fell.

At the same time, from his entire body an even greater black aura burst forth and reached almost to the ceiling.

Thump. Beneath his right foot that had taken one step forward, the burnt, hardened ground of the «Scorched Earth» stage cracked into pieces. A pressure so strong that it would blow Haruyuki away if he lost his focus pressed in on him, but Haruyuki resisted it and opened his mouth another time.

“Taku, about that; I’m just the same as you.”

Earnestly suppressing his voice that was nearly about to tremble, he talked quietly, quietly.

“If we compared the number of people we’ve cursed inside our hearts, I’m sure mine is ten times more than yours. Do you think I’ve never been jealous of you or envied you up until now? Why I’m somehow able to resist the allure of the «Armor» now is simply because I’m as black as the Armor on the inside.”

“…”

Temporarily silent, Tak.u.mu, who had just slightly reduced the violently blowing jet black storm, swayed his shoulders slightly.

“…Fu, fufu. Your way of saying things hasn’t changed at all since you were small. That’s right…you were doing that from the past, properly controlling the black part inside your heart. Different from me, who tried to shut it away and gloss over it…”

“We’re not different! I’m the same as you! Wavering, worrying, b.u.mping into the next wall when I thought I had progressed a step…in spite of that, the reason I’ve been able to come to where I am now is because you were at my side! Surely you can resist that black power too! Break through it, and advance forward again! Isn’t that right, Taku!!”

In response to Haruyuki’s earnest call—

He had the feeling that Tak.u.mu faintly smiled behind the mask.

“…Thank you. Thank you, Haru. If you put it like that…maybe it wasn’t worthless for me to have become a Burst Linker and to have fought until now. However…for that reason, until the end, for your sake…for the legion’s sake, I wanted to use my own power. This…«ISS Kit’s» ability to dominate is overwhelming…I don’t know anymore how much of this impulse to destroy that’s about to overflow any moment is mine and how much is the lure of the Kit…”

His murmuring voice was quiet. But that quietness was full of some sort of immense foreboding inside.

Brandis.h.i.+ng the throbbing blood-colored eyeball stuck to the «Pile Driver» of his right arm, Tak.u.mu continued in a strained voice.

“…This parasite was probably created by a skilled someone of the «King» cla.s.s from a composite of his abilities and special techniques as well as the Incarnate system. The more you fight…the more you devour enemies, the stronger the power produced. And then one day it splits and makes a «Child»…no, a «Clone».”

“…A clone…”

Haruyuki shuddered at the nature of the Kit, which seemed to intentionally contaminate the «Parent» system that was at the root of Brain Burst. Tak.u.mu let down his arms, and while seeming even more as if he were withstanding something, he opened his mouth again.

“What’s terrifying is…the Kit’s fellow «clones» are linked through the medium of negative imagination. When Burst Linkers who possess clones belonging to the same cl.u.s.ter breed black feelings like hatred, malice, and anger inside the Kit, the Parent and Child Kits also display even stronger power. In short, the more the clones are disseminated, the stronger one becomes…”

“If…if that’s true…are you saying that Burst Linkers who obtain the Kit will compete to spread their clones..?

In response to the question that Haruyuki asked with a hoa.r.s.e voice, Tak.u.mu nodded deeply.

“Uh…even now…I feel the black feelings flowing from the Burst Linker who gave me this Kit in the Setagaya area, «Magenta Scissor», and «Bush Utan», «Olive Grab», and others who possess her first-order clones like myself. And simultaneously, the darkness I’ve fostered strengthens them…”

—Basically.

The network of «ISS Kit» clones was a malicious imitation of the legitimate «Parent» as well as «Legion» systems. As a rule, if parents and children and legions were bound by the positive ties of love and camaraderie, then the «ISS Clones» were linked by the negative chains of the search for only for power and victory.

Tak.u.mu’s voice, which resembled the creaking of cracked gla.s.s on the verge of cracking, reached the speechless Haruyuki.

“Now…if we don’t do something soon, then like a terrifying contagious disease, the «Kit» will completely cover the Accelerated World in the blink of an eye. We don’t have the leeway to wait for the Seven Kings’ meeting four days later and their decision. I will get the name of the ringleader from «Magenta Scissor», who is probably exceedingly close to the source of the spread of the Kit. Even if I cross swords with him, I intend to procure information about the Kit. His motivation and objective may be unclear, but the guy who would go so far as to scheme this must have prepared a method to control the situation…”

Thump. Tak.u.mu took another step forward, looked down at Haruyuki from a mere two meters away, and whispered.

“Afterwards, I’m leaving it to you, Haru. Even if I lose all my points in the fight with the ringleader, before I lose my memory, I will transmit to you what I’ve learned by any means. Because you’ll save this world. You can do it…and only you. That is what I believe.”

“…Taku.”

Haruyuki somehow called the name of his friend in a barely audible voice.

He was not able to express any more words than that.

—Resolution.

Right now, the reason why Tak.u.mu was barely able to keep resisting the ISS Kit’s frightening ability to dominate was earnestly due to his resolution as solid as a rock. He had already made up his mind. His own place of death. His final battle.

—However.

The source of that resolution was self-despair. The fact that he had lost to the temptation of the ISS Kit. The fact that he had slaughtered the PK group «Supernova Remnant» due to his anger. The fact that he had set up the «Back Door Program» in Chiyuri and had attacked Kuroyukihime. And finally—the fact that in the faraway past, he had destroyed their circle of three childhood friends.

Tak.u.mu had made up his mind that those were sins unforgivable by any means. He had changed that despair into resolution and was trying to face his final battle.

“…I can’t let you go.”

In a quivering voice resembling that of a child restraining his sobbing, Haruyuki spoke.

“It’s impossible for me to say «I understand, leave it to me afterwards». I can’t sacrifice just you and continue to be a Burst Linker afterward.”

“…Fufu…Forever stubborn, aren’t you…”

Smiling as if he were genuinely happy, Tak.u.mu spoke.

“I forced you into a direct connection duel, wanting to hear you say that…but it’s enough. Thank you, Haru. With your feelings as my energy, it seems I’ll be able to be myself for a little longer. —Now, it’s about time we ended this.”

He lifted his burly left hand and clenched his fingers in order starting from his pinky. The condensed aura of darkness slighted vibrated the entire stage.

As if to answer him, Haruyuki confronted him and tightly clenched his right fist clad in the silver Enhanced Armament. He raised his face and slowly nodded.

“…Yeah. We’ve both already said to each other everything that could be said in words.”

That’s right.

In short, nothing would happen or end unless they exchanged blows with their fists. That was the reason that they had dived into this duel stage, and that was also the sole reason for which Brain Burst existed.

From his entire duel avatar, which had lost its left arm and left wing, Haruyuki gathered all his strength of will and focused it in his right fist. His silver Over-Ray split the raging waves of darkness and pushed them back.

The sixth star Zeta «The Destiny» of the Seven Arcs had somehow succeeded in summoning only one arm, but in terms of absolute ability it did not reach «The Disaster». It possessed neither the vast battle data acc.u.mulated over years nor the Mind Power of wrath and hatred carved by successive generations of users.

However, the Destiny had one thing within it that the Disaster did not.

That was «hope». A ray of hope glittering like the stars, protected over a long, long number of years by a bright golden yellow female-cla.s.s avatar residing in a nook of the Armor. It was unknown who she was, why her consciousness was carried in the Armor, and what she wished for, but that faint warmth rallied Haruyuki. Unlike the way the Disaster urged one on to conflict, it supported his back and encouraged him.

…Now that I think about it, I was always being supported by someone else.

The time of the very first «duel in the hospital», the following battle with the fifth generation Chrome Disaster, the decisive battle with Dusk Taker, the occasion of the Hermes Code Race, even at the door protected by Suzaku, one of the Four Sacred Beasts…Kuroyukihime-senpai, Chiyu, Master Raker, Ash-san, Niko, Pard-san, Mei-san, and of course Taku always protected and encouraged me. There probably hasn’t even been once where I won a fight with only my own strength.

But that’s fine.

Because those ties…those bonds are the true strength of a Burst Linker.

I want to convey that to you as well, Taku. I want you to understand that there are many people who think about you and need you.

—In order to do that, please lend me your power.

He did not hear a voice respond to the appeal he had made inside his heart. However, a definite heat was produced in the center of his fist, became a much more dazzling white light, and gushed forth.

Tak.u.mu slowly pulled his left fist back.

Haruyuki also drew back his right fist and sharply extended his five fingers.

The simultaneous p.r.o.nunciation of the techniques’ names reverberated quietly and far, almost as if Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu were sympathizing with each other.

“«Dark Blow».”

“«Laser Sword».”

The instant when the jet black and silver paths blended—following the already collapsed A building, the B building where the two confronted each other became innumerable heaps of objects and scattered radially.

When he had been hit by the same Incarnate technique—«Dark Blow» some number of minutes ago, Haruyuki was unable to stand its immense impact for even a second and had been sent flying several dozen meters straight backward. Rather, the fact that he had not been torn into pieces was wondrous.

However, this time, although he was pushed back at first he held his ground and repelled Tak.u.mu’s fists just the slightest bit. At a central point in the few dozen centimeters’ distance separating the hands of the struggling two, two colors of auras scattered sparks and clashed violently.

The supreme protection of the Divine Weapon «The Destiny» was frightening. In terms of only defensive functions, it might have been stronger than the «Disaster», which had transferred most of its potential to offensive aspects. However, it was useless continuing only to struggle at this rate. He must break the raging storm of darkness with his light and convey his message to Tak.u.mu. That he did not have a single unpardonable sin. That all the members of the legion needed him. And finally—that no matter at what bottom of a pit of darkness he was, if he looked up at the sky, the light of the stars would always be there illuminating the way.

—Reach.

—Reach!!

To Haruyuki’s earnest prayer, namely his Mind Power.

Ring, a reverberation like the ringing of a bell responded.

A pure Over-Ray spread across the entirety of the supplemental silver armor covering his right arm. Simultaneously, from the tip of his right hand, which had all five fingers extended out, a sword of light began to stretch little by little, little by little.

Haruyuki’s «Laser Sword» was an Incarnate technique cla.s.sified as «Range Expansion». The source of his power was the wish to extend his hand to a place that wasn’t here—

For a long time, Haruyuki had believed that that was basically the act of running away. He wanted to run away from himself, unsightly and always cowering. He wanted to run away from the guys who bullied him. He wanted to run away from the annoyed gaze cast by his mother. He wanted to run away from the memory of his father who said he didn’t need him. Running away, running away, reaching his hand out to place where he was not…

However, there was no such thing as «a place where he was not».

No matter where he went, he would be there himself. The hand he extended would always be linked to himself.

Reaching out his hand was basically an active movement joining himself and his target.

—Therefore, this silver colored light is surely joining together Tak.u.mu and me. It will convey my heart to him. It will overwrite the defensive and offensive calculations carried out digitally by the Brain Burst system and create a small miracle.