Vol 5 Chapter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 2: Fail
Part 1
At the same time – within the capital of Elkia, inside the late
king’s library
“…Kou…Steph-kou, I’ry, des”
Steph slowly regained consciousness as she was being
violently shook by someone
She as originally slu
suddenly stood up and frantically surveyed her surroundings
“- Eh!? Huh? Strange, when did I fall asleep!?”
“You fell face-first onto the table immediately after you
finished eating, des I thought you were dead, des”
- So she apparently had eaten her meal and filled her stomach
then – 「Fainted」
“W-what time is it now…?”
Steph folded up the coat – that was apparently placed there by
Izuna – on her back, and asked sleepily
After which she heard a cute ru sound
Izuna placed a hand on her stomach, then looked up at Steph
and said sincerely:
“About six hours after you ate, des”
“…What a cute clock”
The last tiht – which
now?
There were no s in the library so the sun couldn’t get
in, but by then the streets were probably beginning to fill up
with activity
“Steph-kou, Steph-kou, let’s eat, des”
Izuna dragged one of Steph’s sleeves and requested for food,
while Steph replied:
“Ah…you’re right…so I’ll make breakfast then…huh?”
Suddenly Steph spotted a huge pile of books next to where
Izuna was sitting
“Izuna, what is that?”
“…? Aren’t they books, des”
“No, that’s not what I meant – why are they there?”
“…Obviously because I read them, des”
“- Huh? I thought Izuna can’t read the Ie…!?”
“I said that I would learn it, des So I learnt it, des”
It can’t be – Steph’s eyes widened
Steph had passed her a book containing ga the
Werebeast and Ies – a textbook for the
Werebeast language
Relying on that book alone, she learnt the Ie
while she herself was sleeping, and even read such a large
amount of books -?
- She was terrible at anything other than games, so conversely,
as long as it’s a game –
Upon realizing that she not only had learnt the language in
such a short span of time, but also that she had read even more
books than she did, Steph’s hairs couldn’t help but stiffen in
shock
“…No wonder she’s always so close to Sora and shi+ro”
Sora and shi+ro had et this fact, and now Steph
recalled it
Hatsuse Izuna, this child, this Werebeast girl that was even
younger than shi+ro
- She coainst Kuuhaku「」, and even lost only by a
tiny bit, so her skills were definitely the real thing
However…
“…Izuna, as the last time you slept?”
“…Huh? …I-I ate five meals, so… hmm~… des?”
Izuna started counting with her fingers, then suddenly appeared
confused
Black heavy eyebags were gathering underneath her eyes,
which meant that she hadn’t slept for quite a period of time
- Upon closer thought, that was reasonable
Even if it was the「Real thing」, it couldn’t just come
naturally
Izuna had struggled without sleeping to – learn the Imanity
language, and she had read this many books as well
“…Sorry, Izuna, I’m the only one who slept”
“Steph-kou, it’s fine, des A piece of trash is a piece of trash
after all, if it wants to sleep it sleeps, des”
Steph s manner
She had found a sliver of hope a
assignment and Steph patted her own cheeks to wake herself
up
Anyway, she had to prepare a meal, and then – just as she was
exiting the library –
“…? Izuna, in what order are you reading these books?”
She realized the books on the floor were probably selected for
some reason or other
“I selected the ones that have a nice smell, des”
- Izuna said this incomprehensible statement with a matter-offact
expression on her face
Suddenly, Steph became interested in the titles of the books on
the floor, so she held one up for a look
Because they were – books related to where Sora and shi+ro
currently were
“-「The Flügel, the weapons of a dead Master」… why are
you reading this?”
Steph recited the words written in the writing of her
grandfather – the late king
Izuna sniffed it and replied:
“There’s the smell of Sora and shi+ro on it, des They read it
about a o, des”
“Those two read this…?”
- On the beach after their return from Oceande
Sora announced that he would proceed to Avant Heim and
acquire three races
As for the methods he would use – as usual – Steph never
heard him mention them She flipped open the book
A o – which means, they read it before they attacked
the Eastern Federation –
Steph read the contents of the book that were, as for all the
other in the books in this roorandfather
「The Flügel – in the ancient great war, they were a Godkilling
species created by the 【God of War Artosh】 -」
「The Flügel – they don’t gather knowledge due to their own
interests」
Those were records gathered by her grandfather – the late king
froel
Which means, they were observations of Jibril, at least they
should be… but…
「Those are actions for them to survive – no, for them to not
die」
In Steph’s mind’s eye, that hard to understand person appeared
「Living weapons of a deceased Master… They are just empty
walking slabs of meat」
She recalled that person with the smile that seemed to hide her
e for her curiosity
and her Masters, the person that could be gung-ho at times
「The reason why they’re living, no, what is the evidence to
deduce as to why they’re still alive?」
- Why?
The Jibril in her grandfather’s observations was completely
different from the Jibril she knew
This apprehension caused Steph to stop unconsciously merely
after reading a few pages, and she slipped into deep thought
…Sora and shi+ro had proceeded to Avant Hei
this book
What were those two thinking –
“Steph-kou, now’s probably not the ti that,
des”
“Huh? Ah, right, yes”
What was iel, but information
regarding the Seirenes – Steph rallied herself
At this tiain
“We should eat now, des”
Izuna spoke with a fire burning in her eyes
Steph smiled bitterly, and as she placed the book back on the
shelf – possibly due to overwork, she felt dizzy
“Ah…”
The books began to fall off from the shelf she had placed them
on
The books they had read and the ones they haven’t would be
–
- A gust of wind blew past her
That was the limit of what she could detect, as it was a speed
that Steph couldn’t react to
Izuna sped from the door in an instant to the corner of the
roole book
“…? What is this, des?”
“…I-Isn’t that my question? What’s up with you”
Ignoring Steph idening her eyes in surprise, Izuna
curiously sniffed the book in her mouth
“This is the smell of fish, des…? No, des…ah!”
She uninterestedly threay the book and said:
“This book smells of Seiren, des I can’t eat this, des”
- In an instant, a lamp turned on within Steph’s muddled brain
Regarding the order of the books she read earlier, Izuna said
she read the to how nice they smelled
Why did she select the books Sora and shi+ro had read – no, the
real question was –
“W-why does my Grandpa’s books smell of Seiren?”
“Who knows, des Maybe a Seiren touched it, or maybe
someone who touched a Seiren touched this book as well, des”
Izuna spoke with her head tilted slightly
“Is it Sora or shi+ro… or us!?”
“…? No, des All the books here smell like an old man, des”
It wasn’t Steph’s smell, nor was it Sora and shi+ro’s smell
Speaking of which, since Sora and the others went to Oceande,
they shouldn’t have been here – so -!?
“D-do you knohen this person touched the books?”
Steph asked while leaning forward, while Izuna began counting
on her fingers once more with difficulty and replied:
“Not enough fingers, des”
- However that was enough to conclude that that smell was
froo
“…W-wait a moment, how can you tell?”
“Doesn’t Steph-kou know, des? There’s a smell left behind,
des”
Who would know that sort of weird thing, although she yelled
this to herself, but – the riddle was solved
The reason why Sora wanted Izuna to help, and the reason why
she chose the books Sora and shi+ro had read, and – all this
proved that ten years ago her grandfather came into contact
with the Seirenes!
Now all that was left was –!
“Can you find the books written after that?”
Izuna sniffed about then tilted her head and said:
“…The smell is weak, des But if I try extra hard… I can
probably do it, des”
- The world was filled with light
If so, their search range would be narrowed significantly!
“Really now~ if you had that sort of convenient ability you
should have used it earlier-aaaah but thank you-aaaaaahhhh
finally found the exit from hell –“
Steph hugged Izuna in a sudden burst of ean
petting her non-stop, however Izuna jumped back all of a
sudden
“- Uuuuuugghhhhhhhh!!”
Her hair stood up as if she was going to bite at any time, and
she hissed at Steph
“Eh? U-u?”
“…Steph-kou, your petting skills are horrible, des!”
Steph surveyed her surroundings in panic as she noticed that
Izuna was still on full alert
What she saas –
“Ah, r-right, t-this is for you, can you please forgive me?”
“- What is that, des?”
“I-it’s a biscuit I made for myself, h-here”
Steph ate one to prove to her that they were safe to eat – and
then she nervously passed some to her
Izuna sniffed the biscuits she passed her
“…Not bad, des But I want to eat rice, des And fish, des”
- She took a biscuit in her mouth, and her mood instantly
turned better
Izuna shook her bushy tail like a ha
on the biscuit
“Ah, s-so I’ll go make food! Grilled fish, steamed fish,
sashi+mi… which would you –“
“All, des”
“Huh?”
“All, des”
Izuna began drooling with a longing expression on her face,
and Steph –
“~Fine then! I have a reliable companion noay, so I’ll
do my best to prepare all the fish dishes I kno to!! In the
meantime, could you please search for all the books my
grandfather wrote around that period!?”
“OK, des!”
Izuna stood up after answering energetically
Finally, she saw the exit! As Steph was about to exit the
library, behind her –
She heard an explosion
“What?”
- The reason why Steph kneas the sound of Izuna
breaking the sound barrier was because –
It was because her heart uttered a low roar, and began beating
so fast that it seemed it would burst from her body She held
almost ten books in her hands, and her shoulders rose and fell
along with her breathing – Izuna as dyed completely
blood-red fro「Blood Devastation」, reported her
status
“- Hah, hah – I found all of them, des -! Is the fish not
prepared yet? Des!”
…If she tried really hard…she could probably do it
Izuna did try really hard as she had announced earlier
- She had tried hard enough to challenge the laws of physics,
and she had used her physical abilities to overcome those very
laws…
She saw Izuna with her blood vessels bulging, with her mouth
drooling and her eyes having the gaze of a predator looking at
its prey –
“…C-could you please help roceries?”
Steph chose「Delaying tactics」…
Part 2
- On top of Avant Heiht sky
Only the faint glows eht
itself lit up the scenery of countless cubes scattered about
Sora and others flew about shakily and clumsily in that scenery
itself – no, they floated
“U-um…can we really win…?”
“Please don’t talk to ht now, you’ll mess up my
concentration!”
“…Nii…like this…a bit more…”
They looked as if they would fall and crash at a single mistake,
appearing extreerous
Plus mumbled to
herself upon seeing their antics:
“T-the opponent are the Flügel! Even if you borrow my
power, um, both of you have never flew before…it’s
iel in speed…”
Sora’s tone re to control
his wings
“Relax, it’s definitely an advantage to be able to run away fast
in a gauarantee you
victory”
“That’s true…but even if so…”
Plu at them
- The Flügel, even disregarding their ability to teleport, their
existence itself was already defying all laws of physics
Although Plu at full speed,
she could easily iine it from their physical ability
If they used their full strength – don’t even mention the speed
of sound, they ht even be able to travel faster than that
Even though red light, green light wasn’t a contest of speed, it
would be iainst a horse anyway
Noskills –
To achieve victory – wouldn’t be -?
“…Huh? S-strange?”
As Pluht to herself, she felt a sudden sense of
apprehension
Sora and shi+ro’s posture as they flapped their wings had
stabilized and she hadn’t noticed
Their speed began increasing slowly, and the scarf – the winds
attacking Pluer
“…Um, why did you want me to allow each one of you to
control one wing?”
Plum asked them this as she suddenly remembered
The siblings had in an instant slowly changed the wings she
had woven for thes
They looked at each other and smiled
“Of course – because if we didn’t do so, our victory wouldn’t
be guaranteed”
Conversely, if they were to do it they would definitely win, and
they both said this while holding each other’s hands
- As long as our hands are holding onto each other
- We won’t lose to anyone
Part 3
Empty-shelled weapons – merely objects – merely puppets –
the Flügel
They were originally tools created by their master to
exterminate Gods
But it has been over six thousand years since they lost their
el race continue to exist?
In order to search for that 「Answer」, they had roamed about
with Avant Hei period of time until
today
And – Jibril who had left alone herself but had returned just as
suddenly – seeed visibly
It was just as if…yes – it was as if she had found the
「Answer」
…
Azrael used her hands to cup her cheeks and looked up at the
night sky
In concurrence with Sora’s conditions, on the balcony earlier –
the hundred Flügel that had been waiting there for five minutes
were looking in the same direction as well
The iht sky – Sora and shi+ro’s
figures
“…Jii-chan, the final order that Artosh-saave me –
if there’s anyone who can find the 「Answer」, I believe it
can only be the「Final Unit」 Jii-chan, nyan”
“…”
- She had a reason for that
However that wasn’t the real question, and Azrael continued
with that very question in mind
“If Jii-chan’s 「Ansas implanted in your head
through the Pledges by the Imanity –“
- They had discussed the e
so as to not allow Sora and shi+ro to knoas going on
As though atteain, Azrael smiled a smile
so fake that ita mask, and
she said to Jibril:
“I will use ht」- you do knohat this
ht?”
“Yes, but -! Only stupid people ask questions to which they
already know the answers! Senpai”
Upon hearing these words, the Flügel that were looking up into
the night sky suddenly tensed up,the atmosphere much
heavier in an instant
- The 「Representative of the Winged」- the head of the
「Council of Eighteen Wings」, Azrael –
The only special right Azrael possessed for not being the full
representative of the Flügel was…
It was soo
with an unanimous decision from everyone
“-「The right to order all the Flügel to commit suicide」is
there so?”
Azrael’s gaze sharpened instantly at Jibril’s dismissive tone
“It was a right originally created by Azrael-senpai while we
were still discovering our purpose to continue living after our
suicide, so if you think that we have no reason to continue to
exist – please feel free”
At this point the eh the croas not
fear – the Flügel did not fear death in the first place
They were a race created as weapons, so to them death would
even be considered an honour
Despite this, the reasons why the participants felt tense was
because they were 「Anticipating」
- For so to end
That was the only difference, but –
Everyone only felt anticipation at that sort of prediction
“…It’s good that you know-nyan…”
While the only one present that didn’t seem to understand what
had happened was Azrael
Jibril looked at her so so
- Her gaze slowly corroded Azrael
“Azrael-senpai, you of all people should knoe – the
Flügel have a very basic ”
- Sora and the others didn’t know
But it was because Jibril had met them – after which she had
changed significantly
Before losing to Sora and the others, Jibril – even if she was
the type to act i went amiss, she
was pretty much the same as Azrael
Turning the unknown into known – that was the only thing that
was ful to her
She had to reverse the unknown, and there was no ulterior
motive behind it, all she meant was – it was an 「Enemy」 she
had to exterminate
Jibril was probably hungrier for combat than any other unit
against that 「Enemy」
- However, her views changed on the very day she lost to Sora
and shi+ro
“The knowledge that we spent thousands, tens of thousands of
years gathering was completely obliterated by the Masters who
have barely walked ten years upon this earth, and the
behind this, the very significance of it – Senpai, you just don’t
understand”
“…”
Her face was filled with a passion that Azrael had never seen
before
According to her memory, she had never seen Jibril do that, not
even to Artosh
“It’s a perplexing feeling, even more intense than the passion
of eli the unknown It’s a way of life, continuously
reversing into unknowns that led me to follow my Masters by
es”
Azrael remained speechless at Jibril’s words
Because to be honest, she had no idea what they meant
Turning the known to unknown? – Wouldn’t that sort of thing
cause a person to feel horrified?
- But
Maybe because they were moved by Jibril’s words…
Upon hearing her brief speech, the hundred Flügel that couldn’t
wait to gethad a tint of excitement in their eyes – and
their wings trembled
- Azrael couldn’t understand why that was, and she once again
cupped her cheeks with her hands
At least that wasn’t the 「Answer」
She looked up into the empty skies just like that – at the
clu pair
“I know Azrael-senpai cares more than anyone about the
future of the Flügel, but –“
“…”
She glanced to the side, only to see Jibril with an expression of
utmost determination on her face, and she spoke in an almost
begging fashi+on:
“The answer you’re seeking for isn’t where you think it is”
Part 4
“Hnnnnnnnnggg~……hnnnnnnnnnnnnngggg~~… I-I’m at
ive up…”
“Hey, it’s not even been three minutes! Even Ultrman[1] is
tougher than you, you know!?”
Plu since almost the very
beginning, while Sora provided her ords of
encouragement
“I’ the
force of gravity and your weights combined is harder than both
of you can is as well
– please spare me –“
“If you’re gonna talk about sweat, I’ve sweated a lot already,
so you can lick it off for all I care!”
“For you two, how could I possible give up! – Right, let’s
continue on!!”
“You’ve completely ruined the atmosphere!!”
The sensation of his neck being licked sent an unpleasant tingle
down his spine
The scarf that Plu as …
It was a disguise on her 「Physical appearance」, in order to
give others the i Sora and
shi+ro in the form of a scarf
The two ends of the scarfwith Sora and shi+ro’s
wills, and they served the sas
“Hey, to us this looks like a scarf ings, but what does it
actually look like?”
“Lick…ah, how blissful ♥ - huh, what? Um~ I’m currently
hugging Sora-dono’s neck and licking it…and using my foot to
hook onto shi+ro -dono’s neck”
“Heh, isn’t this a perverted way to fly!”
“…Nii, that joke was bad, you’re noisy…and it’s lame…”
“I was just saying, did you really have a need to go that
overboard!?”
A streak of tears flashed past Avant Heiht sky
However Plum rebutted impatiently:
“Let ht of the Elves to
castmyself
into a flying scarf while allowing you both to fly at your own
will is extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely worthy of praise, OK!!”
Plu sentence
“Also, this isthan I expected…if my supply of
energy gets cut, I’ll probably die within a few seconds”
“…I’ this
dangerous”
“Huh? Because if I do this I can lick Sora-dono’s neck to my
heart’s content…slurp~ delicious, delicious”
“AHHHH! I’M TAKING THIS SCARF OFF RIGHT
NOW!!”
As Sora was considering ignoring the consequences and
stripping off the scarf altogether –
“…Nii, the time”
Five
shi+ro’s warning
Which el that had a late start would
begin atte to catch them
“- Right, Plum, our lives are in your hands now, so don’t you
go running out of energy halfway!”
“No probley
halfe’ll just die together at most”
“We don’t need to think about that!! Let’s go already!”
As he said this, Sora and shi+ro i
their wingstheir
altitude at once
“Kyaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!”
They accelerated in that instant so quickly that even Plum had
to cry out
The speed of their descent and the power of the wings caused
the winds rushed to meet
them –
As they were about to hit the ground – the back of Avant Heim,
they began flying laterally
(They’re atte to shake off our pursuers with the
momentum from our descent…probably)
Pluht to herself, after
which she grumbled: But –
A presence cael that had just
left were already catching up to them
Sora and shi+ro really had completely mastered control over
their wings with an astounding speed
But – no s
woven by Plum, they would still be unable to overcome the
laws of physics
It was already a blessing that they could reach two hundred
kiloel on the other hand were
an existence that simply threw the laws of physics out of the
(A-at this rate they’ll catch up to us in no time aaaahhhh what
do we do now!?)
Plu to herself, however Sora and shi+ro merely
turned around to look calmly –
“Four of them, no formation”
“…Letters, one, three…”
“Direction, recover?”
“…One botto 「ナ (na) 」…three left side of
stomach 「ア (a) 」”
“- shi+ro three, let’s move!”
- They had a brief conversation which Plum completely
couldn’t understand, as they had completed their discussion
within a minute –
Huh? As Plum let out this curious expression, Sora and shi+ro
had already veered their courses slightly
- In an instant
“Hehe~ I’ll be the first~!”
“I’ll take that!”
As they expected, the fivetime had meant
nothing to the
Their hands closed in on Sora and shi+ro – but missed
“”- Huh!?””
The two that were unable to catch Sora and shi+ro couldn’t
seeed to vanish from their
eyes in an instant, causing them to utter a confused
exclamation At that time –
“”Ah!!””
- Behind them
On the botto and the left side of the stomach
respectively – the characters inscribed there were touched, and
both of theentle moan
The other two behind thehtly late and ended up
losing their quarry, and they began surveying their
surroundings frantically
That was no surprise, as by then Sora and shi+ro were already
flying towards the connected cubes in a spiral pattern
They darted and wove through the cracks – through the streets
of Avant Heim – towards the connected cubes
The two 「Characters」 were already on their respective
hands
“…Huh? Just noas that!?”
It happened in such a short instance that even Plum as
wrapped around their necks couldn’t comprehend what had
happened
On the other side of the disguising ic, Plum widened her
eyes in surprise, and Sora said to her:
“Barrel roll – isn’t this one of the basic techniques to avoid a
flying unit that is faster than you and is flying in a straight
direction?”
- As Sora and shi+ro noticed that they had company, they drew
thehtly veered their course, in
order that a the four of them – the two inscribed with
characters would take the lead, and they merely had to turn
slightly
And in the instant as they were about to be caught, they spread