Volume 3 Chapter 6 (2/2)

Does this have nothing to do with the Calamity or Absolute Noah?

After all this, is it a personal problem!?

”Whenever Magatsu Taori made her appearance, I knew she would target my daughters to lure me out. In fact, as she is now, she could probably singlehandedly destroy Absolute Noah which is designed to withstand the Calamity. …So I thought I would settle this myself before I had to be on guard 24/7. Although I didn't expect her to break through the sealed wall with brute force. I apparently didn't arrive quite in time.”

A threat to the world and salvation from it.

It was all on a ridiculous scale and I still didn't want to board the Absolute Noah that would smile while letting everyone else die.

But my mom, Magatsu Taori, took things too far in the opposite direction. If something was even slightly connected to the woman she hated, she would destroy it. The fate of 7 billion people was of no consequence. In a way, you could say she was very thorough.

The roaring of the rotating blades on the murderous triple chainsaw pa.s.sed by quite nearby. It slowly moved just on the other side of the thick tree. She might not have noticed us.

I crouched down and held my breath, but Amatsu Yurina smiled.

”However, Magatsu Taori has no reason to kill you, Satori. That alone I can say with certainty. You can't scream and run away when you see her. I imagine that has been confusing her pretty badly.”

”Why…? I didn't matter to her. I still remember being left all alone in the entranceway. She didn't look back even once, the door coldly slammed shut, and that was that. I waited and waited, but it never opened. So why would she suddenly care now?”

”Hey, Satori.”

My stepmom held my head to her chest and stroked my heir like she was soothing an unreasonable child.

”What you're saying might be true. Including the fact that I never would have become your mom without that decision. …But, Satori, was waiting all you did? Did you not open the door yourself, run out of the house, and embrace Magatsu Taori from behind?”

”Ah.”

”She might have been waiting on the other side of the door. Maybe you weren't the only one that felt abandoned. Maybe she felt exactly the same. Asking an elementary schooler to abandon his family and come with her is certainly a harsh demand. But that was why she hoped for a miracle. Since she couldn't put it to words, she tried to show you through her actions, but when no one came with her, she couldn't go back. Couldn't that be what happened?”

…I couldn't believe it.

Of course, there was no proof that what my stepmom was saying was right. It was nothing more than a possibility given from Amatsu Yurina's point of view. But she was the one currently being targeted by that triple chainsaw. Being Magatsu Taori's enemy had to have made her judgment harsher. Was this really a situation that would lead to that point of view? Back then…no, until today, I had only ever thought I was the abandoned victim and that I had been saved when my new mom and sisters had arrived.

But had that been an act?

And when I hadn't budged, when I hadn't moved from the entranceway, and when I hadn't taken a step out of the house, had she been unable to turn back???

Yes.

That's right.

Even before the actual divorce, I hadn't been able to join in and stop my parent's from fighting because I was a kid and they were adults, so I had fled to the Cla.s.s Rep's safe house next door whenever there was an especially devastating clash. But had that been the right thing to do?

It was easy to say what you should have done after the fact. But that had definitely been a small war wreaking havoc on that home back then. If I had made a different decision, it might have ended even worse for a powerless child like me. But could I proudly hold my head high at what I had done?

”Satori. Make no mistake: This isn't about anyone or anything being wrong. So there is nothing forcing you to feel guilty about how it turned out. There are countless forms of happiness. Maybe Magatsu Taori could have remained Amatsu Taori and lived a happy life with you and your father. But Archenemy Lilith arriving with two daughters and become Amatsu Yurina was another option. You chose one of those and you have lived that life ever since. So make no mistake: there is no solution to this problem that brings everyone together in a single friendly group. To choose one means to abandon the other. The answer you chose was like a nightmare for Magatsu Taori, but I'm glad you chose it. The happiness you found while smiling with Erika and Ayumi is a priceless treasure to me. Enough so that I'm willing to turn my back on the world's 7 billion people and bring you aboard Absolute Noah.”

I…

”And no matter how justified her reasons might be, I cannot allow Magatsu Taori to slice it apart with that murderous triple chainsaw. This is a clash between two futures that were split apart by a single decision. Both have their justifications and both have their happiness. So don't think about fighting on that level. I simply want to protect the choice we have now.”

This was too confusing for a high school boy like me.

I couldn't even hazard a guess at how many loves I would have to experience before I could arrive at the answer to this question.

Time pa.s.sed and I still didn't say anything, so my stepmom slowly narrowed her eyes. She was saying that was good enough. Her eyes told me this was a family issue, but it was not an issue that the child had to try to carry and get crushed by.

However.

Wasn't this the same? Hadn't nothing at all changed since back then? Back when I had fled all alone to the neighbors whenever I heard the sounds of something being destroyed in that closed house?

It was true I was a child.

But could I remain a child forever?

Was that really okay?

”Now then.”

My stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, gently pressed my upper body against the tree trunk. She lightly clapped her freed hands together to brush off the humus and she slowly stood up.

”It's about time I got going.”

”What are you-…?”

”You saw what things were like below that abandoned hospital, didn't you? All the entrances were sealed with reinforced concrete, layer after layer of mystical barriers were erected, and she was enclosed in there for more than three years without any water, food, or oxygen. …And yet she still has that much strength.”

When she laid out all the conditions like that, I felt a chill down my spine. Not even a vampire or zombie would be fine in an environment like that. What had happened to my mom's body? How much had she hated the Archenemies that joined the Amatsu family if she was willing to mess with her body to that extent?

”She has become such a perfect hunter that not even Erika or Ayumi would be up to the task. I can see why the convalescent hospital couldn't dispose of her and simply sealed up the entire area. That secret facility was filled with technology and data for fighting Archenemies, but not even they could think up a way to kill her. So it seems to me that this demon lord needs to put her life on the line as everyone's representative.”

”Mo-…”

I didn't have time to stop her.

Amatsu Yurina left me behind and charged out from behind the supposed safety of the tree.

”Hey, hey, heyyy! What's the matter, you withered first wife? I think what you're looking for is over here.”

”…Found her. My enemy…”

Once again, I could only watch her go. I could only follow my mother's back with my eyes.

And the frightening roar of the triple chainsaw reverberated endlessly through the forest.

The roar of the engine and the high-pitched sounds of clas.h.i.+ng metal continued on and on.

All the while, I crawled along as if half-buried in the humus.

But I wasn't trying to escape.

I was moving into the vortex.

I was getting as close to the center as possible.

Not even I knew what was right. If I had a time machine and could redo it, which would I choose? Was it right to run after my mom and desperately cling to her back now that I knew that was a love-starved show? But if I did that, my stepmom, Erika, and Ayumi would disappear. However, did that really mean it was right to abandon her again? Now that I understood my mom's pain and knew it was a twisted misunderstanding, would I feel no guilt for repeating that decision? …There was no way I could come up with an answer. It wasn't a question that had a single answer.

”Warning: Approaching any further would be dangerous.”

”…It's fine.”

But it was those decisions that had led to my current life. I might have just gone with the flow without realizing the weight of my choices. But even that had led to the smiles we had now. So I couldn't let someone trample on that. At the very least, my mom's murderous triple chainsaw was not a time machine. No amount of swinging it around and destroying things would overturn that decision.

I had to do this.

I had to stop my two mothers.

I could no longer just wait for her to call out to me and to turn back toward me. I was still a troublesome child to them both and that may have been why they felt the need to do something about it themselves, but that wasn't enough. I couldn't rely on them forever.

I had to grow up.

I had become someone who could protect his family.

I crawled and crawled and crawled until I finally approached the source of the noises. I could not look directly at my mom who had become the perfect hunter. She was like a wicked sun. To make sure the overwhelming fear did not mess with my memories, I lay on my back behind cover, held up my smartphone screen like a hand mirror or periscope, and observed indirectly. I could tell what was happening in the dark, dark forest.

It was chaos.

First, there was my mom, Magatsu Taori.

As far as I could tell, she really was human. I could sense that some time had pa.s.sed since my memories of her. She wore a dress long enough to reach her ankles and she wore a cardigan over that, giving her a relaxed impression. Her hair was a glossy black and it fell to her shoulder blades. She had likely chosen against longer hair to retain the part that was still beautiful and supplied with nutrients. And because she was an adult woman with a graceful air about her, the murderous custom triple chainsaw held at her hip like a weed eater seemed all the more out of place and violent.

She held that combination of a large-engine triple chainsaw and crossbow in both hands and she swung it in every direction imaginable by spinning her entire body around with it. It reminded me of someone waving a large flag around in a parade. Whether the blades were rotating or her dress was spreading out around her, she seemed to be switching the clutch between the two weapons for long-range and close-range use. The large crossbow looked like a siege engine and its powerful bowstring could never be drawn by human hands, but she used the power of the engine to draw it quite quickly. The bolts being set were probably made of silver. But it wasn't just one at a time. Several dozen long and skinny bolts were held together by a band of paper, making them look like a bunch of precooked somen. She then held the weapon at her hip and fired. The flurry of bolts spread out in a fan shape, so she didn't need to aim carefully. They seemed to fill the entire s.p.a.ce.

Lilith had parted ways with Adam before he and Eve were inflicted with original sin, so a normal human could not defeat her. But my mom pushed through even that with brute force.

My stepmom who wore a blouse so thin her black bra showed through and jeans so tight the shape of her b.u.t.t showed through would hide behind the thick trees to escape harm, but it didn't seem like Magatsu Taori was actually trying to kill her with those. She was buying time. While my stepmom was pinned in place by the flurry of bolts, my mom would quickly approach and operate the clutch. The large triple chainsaw would give a roar and she would swing it horizontally to slice right through the thick tree trunk my stepmom was using as a s.h.i.+eld.

Then there was my stepmom, Amatsu Yurina.

She had no set weapon, but she was the master of adaptability. Or so it seemed to me. She flipped around and all of a sudden she was on a branch located at twice my height. By the time the tree was felled by my mom, she held a broken branch with a sharp point in each hand and she was down the falling tree trunk while jabbing the branches like shooting stars. When the weapons proved ineffective, she readily threw them aside, kicked up a stone at her feet, grabbed a vine from the tree trunk and swung it like a whip, or made a weapon of a rusted was.h.i.+ng machine or bicycle that had been dumped in the forest.

Neither side had an advantage.

The demon lord and the human both wielded dreadful power.

They were evenly matched.

It was like watching a CIWS Gatling gun shoot down anti-s.h.i.+p missiles approaching at supersonic speeds just above the ocean's surface. This was not a s.h.i.+eld or armor. It was a nightmarish quant.i.ty of attacks that had both the accuracy and speed needed to shoot down a projectile with a projectile.

Until now, my two moms had been going unbelievably easy on us.

Now I saw a true fight to the death.

It was enough of a shock to feel a tingling pain on my skin and it held the same mysterious power to draw the eye as a battle performance by experts. Or maybe this was the allure of a beautiful but dangerous katana or magic sword.

Orange sparks scattered between them. Those were lives. It was the glow of lives being scattered in death and agony. I could more or less tell that I would fail to shoot down even one of those and it would crush my head. They were on an entirely different level. If they had teamed up, couldn't they have destroyed the Bright Cross in a direct attack, no trickery required? That thought occurred to me even though I knew that ”choice” simply wasn't possible.

”…If only…”

They used not just the ground but the tree trunks and branches in their high-speed and high-density three-dimensional battle where blinking could cost them their life, but it was that maledictory voice that wore down at my lifespan the most.

It was my mom.

A colorless darkness surged from Magatsu Taori's mouth.

”If only you hadn't been there, I…!”

”You might have been able to rejoin them after leaving?”

She swung the triple chainsaw vertically, horizontally, and every which way, so not even Lilith could defend against it all. My stepmom made a quick backflip to skillfully avoid the many paths of steel and I saw a smile on that demon wearing a blouse so thin her black bra showed through and jeans so tight the shape of her b.u.t.t showed through.

”Don't be childish. It was the kid's fault for not stopping you? You left because he didn't stop you? It was the kid's fault for not realizing the true meaning of your act? To h.e.l.l with that! That small child was worn down day and night by your arguing and you still have the nerve to force responsibility for your selfish expectations onto him!! What happened to you was a tragedy. But if you're going to keep my son tangled up in all this, then I'm cutting him free of the rusted chains named Magatsu Taori!!”

The murderous chainsaw with three rotating blades gave a ferocious roar.

”He is my child!! I poured my heart's blood into protecting my family and my child. I built it all from the ground up. And then you come along, dig up that large tree, and plant your own garden there!!”

”You knew all the effort you had put into it, but who was it that couldn't speak her mind and tried to get by with a silly act instead!? Satori said he kept watching that door after it slammed shut but it never opened! As his mother, I can't leave Satori's future to someone like that!!”

”…!! You inhuman monster! Don't act like you understand, Archenemy!”

”Then what are you now that you have the power to kill Archenemies like me without hesitation!? Did you swallow a saint's blood? Did supposedly nonexistent wounds appear on your hands, feet, and side? I'll admit it's impressive and quite a miracle. But is that the kind of mother that child wanted to rely on but wasn't allowed to!?”

”Kh.”

”There isn't just one kind of human strength that can fight against Archenemies. I really am proud of Satori for fighting all on his own to protect the Archenemies close to him from the international Bright Cross that had its roots in more than a hundred countries! But that strength wasn't combat strength that rejects his humanity!! It was the kindness to never abandon someone, human or Archenemy, crying in front of him and it was powerful enough to not even hesitate to throw out his priority ticket for Absolute Noah!! The strength s.h.i.+ning in that child isn't something I taught him. I can't pa.s.s something onto my child if I don't have it myself. So it's too bad. Since he already had it, I had a.s.sumed it was something you taught him!!”

The exchange of words may have been meaningless. But I felt like things were s.h.i.+fting in one direction. That was how it looked. One side was leaning on the other and the other side was breaking. I could sense that invisible trend in my skin.

My stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, had said there was no solution to this problem that brought everyone together in a single friendly group.

She had said I had to choose one and abandon the other.

So if I just left this to Archenemy Lilith, I would regain one choice and the peaceful days that came with it. But in exchange, the other one would be forever…

Could I really do that?

Could I repeat it all again?

Were you really okay with that, Amatsu Satori?

The conclusion was nigh.

If I was going to intervene, it had to be here at this very moment.

So choose.

What was it I really wanted to do!?

”I will save Amatsu Yurina.”

”I will save Magatsu Taori.”

No!!

”I will save them both.”

A dull sound came from my side.

”Satori!?”

”Satori-chan…!!”

It happened just as the thoroughly-modified murderous triple chainsaw moved in more of a jab than a slash. I couldn't hesitate any longer. I moved in between the two of them. My mom, Magatsu Taori, immediately noticed the oddity and disengaged the chainsaw's clutch, but what had happened? My clothes were shredded on my side and tangled in with the shark tooth blades. And the sticky stain on them was more than just machine oil. Some of it was clearly a dark red liquid with a rusty smell.

But this wasn't enough to end it.

It was lucky my stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, only held a broken branch with a sharp tip. If she had been swinging around a rusted scooter, I couldn't have stopped it. At any rate, I swung up my arm and blocked the tip aimed for Magatsu Taori's head. Unlike with a sharp knife, I felt a dull and ominous pain reach the arm bone.

…Oh, no. I'm not sure I have it in me to even stay standing…

But I had to say it.

If I didn't sever her bonds here, she would always be like this. Magatsu Taori wouldn't have the strength to find a new path forward in this world that seemed formed from decisions that worked against her.

I had already chosen.

There was no changing that. But I couldn't let it end there. I couldn't just ignore what happened to her after I abandoned her. I had to take responsibility for my choice. It was my job to provide the proper care for what I had done.

”Mom…”

”I'm sorry…I couldn't call out to you back then…”

And I couldn't let the responsibility fall on my stepmom, Amatsu Yurina. If she killed Magatsu Taori here, we would gain a kind of peace. I would resent the stepmother who only unilaterally loved me, I would criticize that compromise, and she would become the wicked woman who ensnared my father and killed my mother to hijack the Amatsu family. She would protect our peace, but she would carry that sin while I enjoyed that happiness as a pure victim.

However…

Was that really okay?

Of course not!

…So I would protect my family. I was only a child, but I was still a part of the family. No matter what form it took and even if it was already over, I had made that decision and I had to take responsibility for it…

Maxwell: This is the anti-Archenemy weapon personally built by my user's blood-related mother, Magatsu Taori. The main three blades rotate in alternating directions to bite into the flesh and tear it from the top and bottom instead of just cutting. And the large crossbow (which is closer to being a ballista siege engine) fires several dozen silver bolts in a fan shape with enough speed to prevent the Archenemy from escaping. The entire weapon weighs more than 70kg, so the ability to freely swing it around like a weed eater is enough to prove how extraordinary Magatsu Taori is.

Yes, yes.

That was why you had me prepare that distributed format, wasn't it? So please tell me what to do next, miss.

The socket is open.

If you remove the contents of the recovered sh.e.l.l and hook it up, you should be given full rights to the system.

But now it's Maxwell, Laplace, and that Ghost Cat. Using a cat contained in a box to observe the outside world is certainly an ironic setup.

Do you think the AIs will fight with each other? I'm a little worried about that since we'll be placing them on Absolute Noah.

Oh? So that's the point of that boy?

Well, I agree some personality manipulation is necessary before making the final decision. After all, this isn't just about a single nuclear missile. This ark is meant to protect the future of the entire human race. Simply relying on a machine would be too dangerous.

Oh, whoops. I should have said the human race and Archenemies. Or is it more discriminatory to make that distinction? I apologize, but I'm still not used that boy.

In that way, that boy is the only real problem left. Honestly, how did you raise him? Why not read a book on raising kids, Miss Yurina?

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