Vol 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Chapter 6: On the polluted earth
”It” had been living inside the earth for a long ti pollutants fro ti beneath the surface without ever feeling disco to eat soil Time asted away in slu Since ”It” was already a Mature For pollutants But it's offspring were different Since the larvae were intolerant to pollution, they couldn't digest it
That's why they needed unpolluted nutrition
In order to thrive, it could no longer sleep
With the cracking of the earth, the signal to awaken rang
◇
The sound of grinding pipes echoed all over the place The violent shaking of the floor caused Nina to lose her balance, but Layfon caught her by the arm
For athat he just did soo of her ar it instantly, he slowly stopped
”Whatis this?”
To overco all over the place, Nina raised her voice Otherwise, her voice wouldn't be heard by Layfon, as standing next to her
”It's a city-quake”
Layfon also raised his voice
”This is a city-quake?”
Looks like this is the first tiht, as she looked at her surroundings with a confused face
”At first it was shaking up and down; maybe the city took a misstep into a ravine”
Layfon carefully checked the pattern of the shaking At first it was shaking vertically, and then it was shaking diagonally The bucket and brushes that were near their feet were now sliding freely along the floor
If it took a bad step,into some kind of hole? If so, then this was the worst possible situation A city which cannot move is perfect prey for filth monsters
Nina, as , quickly recovered herself and shouted, ”There should be an eency call! We have to return, quickly!”
”But the floor is unstable! We can't o back!”
Nina shook off Layfon's hand and stood up, Kei running through her body Using Internal-type Kei to enhance body aps of the pipes, as if weaving theether like a needle
”Ah, to hell with it!”
Also using Internal-type Kei, Layfon chased after Nina Even faster then Nina, Layfon quickly
In front of hieway suspended in h that was the shortest route to go to the surface, it was a risky action At that ht, as if it could collapse at any e if Nina, as running with all her strength, suddenly got thrown out froe
There wasn't ti the pipes around him as footholds Beneath the corridor was the heart of theafter Nina, he caught Zuellni at the edge of his vision, an existence pulsating with di at the deep earth with a terrified expression She was curled up, as if she was too scared and was trying to hide so at so it wouldn't surfaceAnd Layfon got his confir, he jumped off the last pipe to land on the corridor
”Wait up!”
Just as Nina was about to run past hio! There's no tier ht by his aura She stared at hiency We don't have time to laze around If we don't escape”
”What did you say?”
”Hurry up and head for a shelter We need every single second we have”
”Just what are you talking about?” she questioned Irritation and annoyance filled him at her reaction
(How could she be used to such peace!?)
He just wanted to shout out in la If this was Grendan, anyone would have knohat Layfon's expression was about But this wasn't the case in Zuellni Perhaps the other students here were the same Just how ht of it, the ry voice called him back to reality
He slowly let out his breath and tried to speak in a way that would affect every corner of Nina's body
A sie
”The filthInforh the phone in his dormitory, Karian i
His destination wasn't the Student President's office He entered a conference room in the middle floor of a tower that was surrounded by the Military Arts buildings The few students in the roo Vance
”Situation?”
A thin, tall male student replied to Karian's short question ”One-third of Zuellni's legs are trapped in the ground, unable to escape” His pale skin looked green
”Escape?”
”YeahIt should be able to move on its own under nors are stuck”
Karian addressed Vance ”How's the evacuation going?”
”The City Police are evacuating the students, but it's too chaotic; they don't have the situation under control yet”
Vance shook his head with a scowl Karian nodded to coh people here with real fighting experience But I hope you can speed up the evacuation as much as possible”
Next he turned to the representative of the Alche of all the Dites of Military Arts students, and please hurry and activate the city's defense system”
”We're already on it”
”Gather all the platoons We ain looked at Vance, who nodded but voiced a question with a stiff face ”Do you think we can do this?”
Everyone looked at Karian
The problehters Everyone in it was a student There were no adults in any of the grades, froreatest pressure and doubt in its citizens
Could they pass this crisis safely?
”Only a dead end awaits us if we don't do this Not only will the Military Arts students die, but everyone in Zuellni,” Karian concluded
Everyone in the rooain, they understood the situation they were in Under the shadow of death, no one wanted to say ”Let's run away”
Even if they ran out of the city, they still couldn't survive on the polluted earth
”We have to live no matter what This is for everyone's - no, also for our own future Please understand this fact and act accordingly”
Everyone nodded at Karian's icy resolution
◇
”The filthfor half a second She had taken so This told Layfon how serious her lack of experience was in regards to the danger around the and avoiding the filth ”
”A city can only avoid the filth monsters on the earth, and even then there are limits What Zuellni encountered this tiround” He told her his hypothesis
The fes inside their bodies The e The young ones that just hatched could not absorb the pollutants, so the mother would provide the her hibernation If this still wasn't enough food, the babies would devour each other The mother would choose a few of the leftover ones and care for them till they fully h, the
The instinct of filth eneration was this strong
”The mother won't become food if there isn't a need for it”
If there was a close enough food source
”What”
Now Nina understood what Layfon was saying
The people of Zuellni would become food Nina's hand trembled
Was it fear? But, if so
Without understanding, Layfon continued to speak
”So please head for the shelter”
”Stop it!”
Her reaction hit hime to run away!? Do you think I could do that!?”
He looked at her, lost The light of Kei enveloped her, a sy spirit He held his breath at the Kei that was more intense and beautiful than the Kei she had exhibited during the platoon match
She was too naive
”What is our power for? What is the purpose of this poithin us!? Isn't it for tihts between people, but for our survival! Do you think we are allowed to run away at a ti!”
He knehy she was tre away that fear Her honest and deter eliht
Layfon squinted at that brightness
He never thought a person's Kei could be this bright He knew of soht was more intense than Nina's, and someone whose Kei was fiercer But he knew of no one whose Kei was the saht
”You really are despicable,” she said in a low voice, suppressing her violent ereat power Why don't you use it for so useful?”
Her eyelids lowered
”I don't know the terror of having nothing to eat I don't get it, so I can't fully understand your standpoint withelse that's worth pursuing, right? You don't need to use dirty th and station Fro to purely chase afterlike you, shouldn't you be able to do soreater than what I can do? Won't you be able to save s? If the comrades you want to save are proud of you, then aren't you also saving their hearts?”
Her words stabbed him like a knife
The eyes of his coe when he became a Heaven's Blade successor
Their eyes when he lost his right to the title of ”Heaven's Blade”
Their sudden change in attitude convinced Layfon that no one understood him
He had been betrayed
But could they have been the ones who felt they had been betrayed?
”I'o, you)
He sed the other half of his words
(You can't possibly win)
He was dizzied by Nina's Kei, but this Kei was just a sy heart was no indication of increasing strength
So ould happen if he said that?
”If we don't fight nohen do we fight?”
The words she left behind indicated her deterht Besides, what if he stopped her? It was natural for Military Artists to fight against filth iven to theiven Kei and Psychokinesis All of theht, ould?
If it was er a Military Artist Even though he possessed Kei, he was no longer duty-bound as he had given up the standpoint of a Military Artist
He didn't want to fight for the sake of others
Hedecisions in Grendan The attitude of the people around hi for others”
Having chased after Nina, he was now back on the surface He strolled towards the dor to the sirens and the cooal any a spell
The dormitory was empty Of course, everyone had evacuated The silence made him uneasy He knew he had come to a place that he shouldn't have, but he had no idea where else he could go He headed straight for his rooed into his Military Arts unifor from his harness calo to a shelter, he let himself keep it for self-defense Even if it wasn't for others, he had to fight for his own life
The weight of the Dite had wiped clean his uneasy feeling, but this onlyThe dor
The strange feeling that he wasn't on the field fighting filththe his oound Back in Grendan, he couldfilthalone upon the battlefield For some reason, there were always lots of filth hts that Grendan had had, could not be compared to other cities
And that could be why Grendan was called the birthplace of Military Arts
But this didn't ht for others any behind the door
He picked it up, not knohat it was
”A letter”
It was an envelope that was bigger than the size of his pal journey On its back was an address of Grendan and a nostalgic name
”Leerin”
The dorh the crack of the door It must have arrived while Layfon was at the school
He let go of the unimportant speculation and cautiously opened the letter
His eyes widened at the first line, which completely shattered his lie
Don't lie!
I'? Oh, and this is my reply to your second letter Your first letter was soether with the second letter Don't bla But please, at least rery It's iood friends with people so quickly, and live a normal academy life like ordinary people Please don't underestimate me
”So mean” He sat back on the floor Her evaluation of his terrible social skillSo that was how he appeared in her eyes
He continued reading in spite of that setback Leerin had been the closest to hie and she was one of the feho still talked to hinore her words
As he read, a feeling stirred inside hi him hard from the inside He couldn't sit still anye inside hi, he shoved the door aside and rushed through the corridor
He ran He ran heedlessly and recklessly
As he ran, he stuffed the letter into his pocket, reflecting on its contents
I understand your desire to forget your past in Grendan If it was azes
But you don't really want to forget everything, do you? You're still sending letters to Grendan, to stay in contact with me If you truly wanted to seal off your past in the depths of your otten
I alatched you train, watched you grow strong Back then, I never thought 'that person doesn't want to train in the Military Arts' That stance of yours when you aving your longsith the whole of your heart, training in the dojo, was dazzling tothat can propel th
Layfon, you're the hero of the orphans in Grendan Everyone finds you dazzling, and that isn't a lie You, who knelt before the Queen, felt so distant, even for ave us hope, that we could also rew up under the saive off such heat, then we could also be successful
It was all because of you that I chose to study instead of work
I want to study ed his thinking because of you He regrets that you became like that because of hi money
Our father is so useless But whether it's the past or the present, he's caring for us in his oay If it wasn't for hied hieued by e, just like father
It'd be good if Layfon could protect the orphanage, e live together in Grendan once again Do I sound stupid? Like returning to the past but with soo back to what it was like before?
I pray for the day when you once again step on the soil of Grendan
To my dear Layfon Wolfstein Alseif
Leerin Marfes
◇
The sound of heavy movement pierced the at into another forround Theto move filled the air
And the other noise was
Gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha, gacha
The sound, like water oozing forth, ca the world more intensely than the metallic la cliround that Zuellni stood, they caht lit up the deep night
One, two, three, fourOne after another, red lights cli in a sea of red light
The warning light underneath Zuellni lit up, proof that the Military Arts Students had equipped theh the darkness to illuround
It had a shell that was as scarlet as the earth Encircled by the polished shell, a single coht The Gacha sound ca body and its shell
This was the larva of a filth monster
Driven by their instinct to eat, all the larvae turned their eyes to the light shooting down from above
Where the food was
The earth cried out It was their mother's voice
Hurry and eat What can keep you alive is over there
Eat
Slaughter
Drink
And beco
The larvae stirred They didn't even yet kno to move their bodies, but they obeyed their rew from their unfamiliarity with their bodies, but, driven by their appetite, they bore it and learned,as their mother's voice directed them to
The shell above the body split in two
And beneath it was so that looked like crumpled paper As the larvae shook, the crumpled paper that ith s
And, a new noise dominated the scene
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The sound of fast-beating wings floated into the air, and the larvae lifted off froround
Hundreds of larvae floated in the air and headed straight for their food – Zuellni
Nina watched this scene fro the northwest
The disturbing sound echoed through every fiber of her being Then groups of larvae appeared, as if a floodgate had been opened
The shocking numbers of larvae ly exceeded the number of Military Arts students she led Each of the seventeen platoons assigned to different sectorsthe same scene
(Are there more filth monster's than people in Zuellni?)
She sed the despair flashi+ng through her This wasn't the ti, how could the platoons under her continue fighting?
The sea of red and black swept towards Nina's position, the noise of beating wings loud enough to shatter her eardru!” she shouted into her transmitter
The artillerymen, led by Sharnid, fed their Kei into the cannons on the outskirts of the city
They fired
The condensed Kei hit the larvae's front-lines and detonated Red sparks exploded everywhere Shells shattered and sround
The surviving larvae landed, folded their wings and stored them underneath their shells
”They can't fly for extended periods Sharnid, target those that fly Don't let any reach the city”
”Roger I can't die here I still have a date tomorrow”
Usually, she would have been irritated by his joke, but this tihter made her smile She relaxed, and Restored the two Dites she took out froh the iron whips with their safety locks released looked more vivid and clearer than usual
Out of the 17th platoon, only Nina and Sharnid were here Layfon was useless, and Felli had not heeded the call of the Student President Nina heard that the Psychokinesist had not been spotted at the shelter
Then where was she?
There wasn't time to ponder this question
Before Nina were numerous larvae
The larva's head, which looked tiny co red compound eye, a small orifice opened to extend a jaw, in which four sharp teeth were stirring
”How could we be eaten by these things! Attack!”
Nina bellowed and rushed towards the larvae
◇
Harley's eyes widened
”Why are you here?”
Not far froe was a temporary tent Students from Medicine and Alchemy waited inside it
The sound of the larvae could be heard here
The medical students checked their medicine with stiff faces The alchemy students also had the same expression as they prepared the Dites
Theto release the safety locks on the Dites was now cooling down, and standing before hi
”Great, you're here” Layfon relaxed his breathing and removed the Dite from his harness
”Huh? Is the safety lock still on?”
”Yes, but I have to ask another favor”
Harley quickly set to unlocking it ”A favor?”
”Can you s?”
”Two?”
He widened his eyes
”Yes, two”
Harley looked back and forth between the Dite and the machine The Dites with the safety locks were the sa, so he could adjust the settings here too Because if that couldn't be done, students whose Dites were daht Many spare Dites had been prepared here, andin
”Can you do it?”
”Yes It's not difficult to adjust the settings, butCan you use it?”
It was natural to have doubts He had never heard of a Dite having two settings It wasn't impossible on a technical level, but it was harder for the wielder
One had to use a keyword and his Kei to Restore a Dite The Dite would Restore into its adjusted for to the wielder's voice and his Kei The quality of a Dite could be adjusted to suit anyone's Kei As long as a setting reinal owner could use it
The probles meant there had to be two keywords
But a person couldn't make two types of Kei The attributes of Kei differed from person to person It wasn't impossible, but it was rare for a person to have two types of Kei flow
”Can you use two different Kei?”
”No, but that won't be a problem All you need to do is enter the exact value of the Kei output”
”And that's the hard part”
”I can do it Please ”
”But there's no time to make adjustments And if you really want to, you can use two Dites”
That was reasonable enough a suggestion, but Layfon shook his head ”I want to experience it the way I did in the past Please”
Harley sighed He inserted the terminal into the Dite A nu I have to enter?”
Layfon told him the nuers stopped
”Uh?”
The detailed number caused him to widen his eyes for the third time
”Can you really do this?”
”Yes,” Layfon answered without hesitation
Harley cautiously entered the detailed nuain, so accurate that it made him dizzy
”And do you knohere Loss-senpai is?”
”What? The Student President?”
”No, our senpai”
”AahIsn't she with Nina?”
”No Well, I'm not sure, but I don't think she's there”
Felli wouldn't be there She hates being used
(Where is she? This won't ithout her help)
Perhaps she was somewhere nearby He looked around but couldn't see her
While he was doing that, Harley finished the adjustments
”Will we survive?” Harley said as he handed over the Dite He looked at the floor, patting his gear
”We easily forget that we live in a harsh world I was very scared when I ca bus We were extremely uneasy without any equipment I was relieved e safely arrived at the school I once saw a city destroyed by the filth monsters A city called Blitzen I didn't knohat that city was like I was scared, thinking that the fate of Blitzen retful I think at that time, she realized how useless she was”
”But after arriving at this city, I forgot about it ForgettingIt's reatness of a mobile cityBut it isn't perfect And that imperfection is now before us”
The filthZuellni
”Will we survive? Nina, everyone, me, and you”
”Of course,” Layfon nodded Harley lifted his face Layfon nodded again to wipe away the doubt on the other's face
”I'll definitely protect this place”
Layfon began to run again just after saying that