Volume 2 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Music played while a bell rang eleven times
London's night was reaching its high point
The times when humans slept were the best times for monsters
At that tiroup of carts left the back of Scotland Yard They were all drawn by Nightmares
Why were they leaving the Yard? And ere they loaded ooden boxes of bottles which were clearly not needed for criations?
The carts seemed odd when they first left the Yard, but as they h the city, they soon blended into their surroundings
Once they turned left in front of the Houses of Parliaer visible behind them At that point, they only looked like a wholesale seller transporting alcohol London consuht, so one could easily iine these were meant to provide those drinks
However, that was not the case
After all, Amon was in control of the lead card
He kept the horsesa bit faster than normal and looked around
Whitehall was lined with political buildings and it had a certain dignity to it even at night
Everyone walking along the road wasquickly because they had homes to return to
Amon silently faced forward
He had the horses race by so quickly no one could read his Open Words He heard the Inspector speak fronored the man
He thought about a great s all on his own
They were quickly approaching the Savoy Hotel
”The preparations really took some time,” said the Inspector as he stopped his cart behind the Savoy ”We're pretty late”
Fir glanced over at him from where she sat next to him in casual clothes
”You're too obsessed with looking good You said we needed to disguise ourselves so they wouldn't catch on, but then you ended up wearing your usual coat and suit”
”I realized a brewery disguise does not suit me”
”Quiet,” cut in Amon
He had already stepped down froe back entrance Unlike the main entrance, it was a plain metal door and it was currently closed
”Did you have this closed to keep the? These are normally open at delivery time”
”The Inspector brought a hand to his chin and tilted his head
”Hht in”
Just as the , Amon placed a hand on the knob
It opened surprisingly smoothly
The white light of the hotel slowly cut into the darkness It was brighter than they expected
They all cautiously looked into the bright hallway
”No one's here,” ht
”Hey! The first one in needs the warrant!”
He ignored the Inspector but stopped as soon as he set foot inside
He saw a large ht
The doorplate was polished enough to see his reflection and it said ”Furniture Storage” in gold The room likely stored their extra chairs, cupboards, and the like
”That's not it”
He turned to a siold word on its doorplate said ”Kitchen”
A grim look filled his face when he read that word
”So this is it”
”Hey! Don't do anything without pere of this-…!”
”Shut up! Just stay put!”
Amon cut off the Inspector and turned toward hiuised police officers who had entered the hallway
”Can't you smell this!? This is the stench of Ash!+”
He opened the door in front of hi him inside
The scene before his eyes went beyond anything he had expected
This was the result of mass-produced death
Dark scorchThese were undoubtedly the stains and scorch
As they burned into Ash, they had seared their silhouettes into the surfaces they lay one So tables, some had their upper bodies in the sink, and some had fallen on top of each other on the floor
A lot of ”cooking” had occurred in this kitchen
No corpses res and hunks of beef leftover fro blood
”We messed up”
Amon did not sound all that bothered by it as he turned his back on the kitchen That seeedy before his eyes and that this was only the beginning
He walked further down the hallway
”Hey, wait!”
He did not turn toward the voice behind him
”Come with me and you'll die I am Death Wish Amon after all”
With those parting words, he reached for the large door at the end of the hallway
And he pushed open the double doors all at once
The opening doors created convection in the air The perfume-like aroma of the hotel flowed in, but it was accoer than before
What Amon found beyond the door was exactly what he expected
The Savoy Hotel's lobby was spacious It was large enough to hold an entire brigade and it felt like a temple with its many marble columns
But at the moment, that lobby felt small
It was littered with traces ofon
It was ie the details of what had happened here, but the general idea was clear A great slaughter had occurred here as an Override of death The scorchcould be seen on the floor, on the walls, on the columns, on the front entrance's s, and even on the curtains
No one had survived
They had been thoroughly annihilated
”They just killed as much as they could, didn't they?”
Amon walked to the center of the lobby and turned toward the Inspector and the others
”So they were all still alive when you called about-…”
He stopped speaking midsentence
As the others cautiously entered the lobby, they followed his gaze
”What is it, Amon?” asked Fir
”Up above!” he shouted
Those who reacted appropriately to his words survived
Those who did not took a bullet to the head, fell to the floor, and Ashed
Eight gunshots sounded The same number of flames burst out and scattered ash
The only survivors were Amon, the Inspector, and Fir
”Wh-as that!?”
Fir twisted in midair, landed, and looked back up
A in that same direction
He Overrode the terrace sticking out above the front desk
”You”
A
He was the gunht arm
He gently lifted the subreeted them
”Hh to wipe all of you out”
”Wipe us out? Do you really think you can do that when I am here?”
”Inspector, that doesn't sound very convincing when you're hiding behind a column”
Fir glanced over at her boss who had moved to a safe position at some point
”H-hey,” she said ”You're the Hound named Ralf Gurt, aren't you?”
Ralf turned toward her on the railing
”Just to be polite, I'll give you a warning,” she announced without fear ”We got our information on you from the continent Even if you kill us, you have nowhere to run We have plenty of friends back on the continent So…”
”So we should turn ourselves in and atone for our crimes?”
”Even the Griht, you can avoid going to hell”
Ralf gave a deep nod
”You're telling me to seek salvation?”
He swung his arm as he asked that
The arht arm he had supposedly lost
Everyone's eyes gathered on the arm just as the man Overrode it
A false arht
It expelled some steam from the shoulder, but it was not a combat arm like Hard Wolves used It was simply a prosthetic meant to replace a lost body part, but…
”I didn't really think one made in London would attach to a human like me”
He gently swung the ers, and clacked the ether
”I'm supposed to be a ers who relied on le woman So…”
So?
”I thought it would all be easier if I wasn't human If I wasn't bound by the constraints and emotions of humanity, I wouldn't have to seek salvation!”
Once he said that, the sound of neighing and wheels on stone paveroup had entered through
These were not the Nightmare-drawn carts prepared at Scotland Yard A different cart had left
…Who was that!?
To reach the answer, the Inspector spoke from behind the column
”Co voices, weren't you? What for?”
”That's si heaven down on London”
The others exchanged a glance at his casual answer
The first to react was Fir
”D-don't be ridiculous! You can't do that just by gathering voices”
”England is a world of words, isn't it? If I say we can do it, we can do it …When the nine chapter title pages opened only slightly during the Great War, a e leaked froy flourished and even our nation of blood and ironspace”
”Are you trying to bring that about again!? How!?”
Ralf smiled bitterly at Amon's question
”Are you really people of England? The chapter title pages sealing the way to heaven are nothing more than the words 'Aerial City'! And can't words and sounds be drowned out by even greater ones!?”
”Don't be stupid Not even the voices of h the chapter title pages”
”Are you sure?”
With that question, Ralf Overrode a shotgun into his right hand Its muzzle was pointed toward the column the Inspector hid behind
A gunshot rang out and the surface of the colued into the marble like air bubbles
”Let's say each of those holes is a single voice Looking at it that way, it's true you can't shoot through a colu monster voices”
He Overlossed the subun in his left hand to make it disappear
”But what about like this?”
When he raised his left hand again, it held a rifle
He showed no sign of aiunshot was far louder than the shotgun's
The Inspector reat roar because he juround
At the sa exploded
The destruction was over in an instant
The column broke
It was h for the Inspector to hide behind, but it cru its back
Its pieces fell to the lobby carpet Some stabbed into it, some collapsed onto their sides, some bounced, and some crumbled to dust It was all covered by a dull yet intense sound
The Inspector got up just as the final stone fell fro directly behind him It split and broke with a sound that reverberated deep in their heads
He glanced over at it
”Ahh! My coat!”
The bottom of his coat had torn
”I only bought that teeks ago!”
”You're going to die along with it, so what does it matter?”
Ralf lowered his rifle
”Do you understand!?”
He looked down on the three in the lobby
”Tonight at ether the voices we have collected and fire the more than just those voices The voices of everywith them”
”Is that why you only collected the voices of Arche race monsters!?”
”Yes That allows every monster's voice to resonate with the the chapter title pages will be easy We have created this cannon to gain the knowledge of heaven, so we have named it the Babel Cannon”
The three in the lobby exchanged a glance
…Can they actuallylike that?
Fir spoke to the Inspector with her Open Words
”That previous cartto wherever this Babel Cannon is”
Where was that?
For all the others voices to resonate, it had to allow the sound to travel a long distance
It had to take the shape of a tower-like cannon firing straight up into the sky
And Ralf had specified it would be fired at ht
Amon was the one to come up with a location that met those conditions
”Westminster Cathedral”
He looked to Ralf with strength in his golden eyes
Ralf looked down at hiaze for a while, but suddenly…
”Go on ahead Valeath is there”
A him He cut across the lobby and into the previous hallway to take one of the carts after Valeath
”Amon!”
Fir tried to chase after him, but a bullet burst at her feet
”I only said he could go”
Ralf Overlossed the guns in his hands and crossed his arms
The sound of shattering glass briefly filled the lobby
It shot out from Ralf in every direction and wind followed
The heavy gust of wind bleay the scent ofin the lobby and continued down the hallways
”A barrier!?” shouted the Inspector
Ralf nodded
”It isn't as strong as Moyla's, but this is the co a monster There is no escape for you”
He ju spread out behind his
”Now, I need to kill you quickly! I plan to kill Valeath next!”
A barrier closed behind Amon as he ran out of the hotel's back entrance
”What!?”
He turned around and reached out a hand, but it was knocked back as if struck His fingers and nails went numb It was a powerful barrier
He grimaced a bit and stared past the invisible wall The door at the other end of the hall had closed, so there was no way to knoas happening
He just about gave a shout, but closed his mouth and stopped
He turned his back on the hotel
”I need to get to Westminster Cathedral”
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself and he walked over to the cart he had arrived on
It belonged to Jonathan's brewery and he had to pursue Valeath with it
As he approached the cart he needed to ride, he noticed so
He sensed an odd presence and Overrode his surroundings He saw soirl standing in the darkness
It was of course Klausl
A open for an instant, a number of expressions appeared in his mind, and he finally settled on a reaction
”Y-you idiot! Why are you here!?”
He snapped at her, but she did not flinch back
Despite his blatant rejection, she took a step toward him
”The Inspector told me to check on the situation after you went inside and to provide support if anything happened”
”Hiain”
He frowned and pointed at the hotel behind him
”You can tell a barrier was put up, right? They're trapped inside”
”Yes, so I sent out a clairvoyant letter a o Reinforcements will arrive soon”
”You sure are calm”
Ahed and seemed to remember what he needed to do He walked past Klausl in order to board the cart
”Please wait!”
She stopped him
”Where are you going, Amon!?”
”If I tell you, you'll come with me”
She fell silent at that
He placed a hand on her head and rubbed her soft blonde hair
”I've sworn to take revenge …Andfor me”
At that very
He heard so
”Eh?”
He thought he heard Klausl speak He had definitely heard so so quiet it barely qualified as a voice
What had she said?
He looked down at her and saw her biting her lower lip, frowning, and hanging her head There was no way she could have spoken like that
He could definitely hear a voice, but he was not hearing it with his ears These words seemed to Task him more directly They were a cry of someone's will
They were Open Words
…You don't understand!
That hat her will said to him She then shook her head to push aside his hand
”You don't understand anything!”
The look on her face must have surprised him because he took a step back
He put up his guard a little and stared at her
”What don't I understand?”
It was a quiet question and she did not answer it
Instead, she placed a hand on her chest and took a deep breath She see Verbal Self Control She firaze and asked him a question
”Why do you refer to yourself as Death Wish Amon?”
It was a simple question and A to ask
”You read the Yard's data on ht? Someone aroundthey wouldn't have died if it hadn't been for me”
He took a breath and hesitated, but ultimately continued
”And I agree with them! If I weren't here, if I hadn't been born a des would be so much better!”
He looked to Klausl's face as he shouted at her
She did not give a look of pity or sadness, but she did give him a look he could not quite put to words
His expression briefly twisted when he saw that look, but…
”I understand I really do! That's why I'm Death Wish Amon! That's what everyone wants! It's what Jonathan wants, what my mother wants, what Eilen wants-…!”
He stopped shouting there
He was stopped by a strike to the cheek
A sharp tone filled the night air Like a wedge, it tore a hole in thethat place
And that hole took the form of silence
Aht a hand to his cheek and Klausl Tasked him
…You don't understand!
”Why do you see it that way!? At the very least, I…I…”
She took a breath
”I don't want you to die!”