This will be our last chapter, since a another translation suddenly came to light, which is already halfway through volume 2. Check it out if you’re interested.
And thus, the world interchanges
1
Reddish brown-colored ground.
On this wasteland, dotted with heavy rocks and pebbles, there was no presence of any living being. Barely any bushes or grass were springing forth from this harsh ground—
A single guntruck was parked there, heavily armored and equipped withautocannons.
"2pm. Perfectly on time."
Jumping down from the load-carryingtray, the patrolling soldier—Kai Sakura Vento took out hisbinoculars.
The boy's agewas about 17, and he had dark ultramarine hair, with similarlycolored eyes. His body was protected by the Humanity ProtectionAgency uniform and said body, undergoing rigorous training every day,packed sensible strength and determination.
"Beginning the observation of the'graveyard'. Saki, Ashlan, you too."
Past the leveled ground, Kai waspeeking through the binoculars, gazing at a bizarre structure.
A jet black pyramid.
A triangularpyramid, its corners cut perfectly. With the surface being black ontop of black, this structure naturally stood out in this reddishbrown wasteland.
"Status—"
"I told you, noirregularity."
Resting his legson the dashboard, the young man gave a listless complaint.
Ashlan Highrole,one year older than Kai at 18 years of age, is also a fellowpatrolling soldier with a respectable height.
"Nothing's happening. Right, Kai?"
"It's only been 70 seconds. We'reordered to observe the graveyard for 300 seconds."
Graveyard was thename given to the jet black pyramid. The structure that Kai waspeeking at with his binoculars, reached up for about 200 meters andcould rival current super-sized buildings. Kai was currentlyobserving this pyramid that could reach the heavens.
"Look, it's been 300 secondsalready. Nothing's happening."
"It's only been 170."
"Ah……man.Isn't that enough already? If I'm riding in a car this long, mymotion sickness is gonna come bite me in the ass, so I'd like toget this over with as fast as possible."
Writing 'No Irregularities' on thereport paper, Ashlan limply leaned back into the passenger seat. Kaion his part let go of the binoculars.
"300 Seconds."
"…Y-Yeah. As stuck-up as always…"
"Reporting. No irregularities at theUlza Federation's graveyard. The demons are perfectly sealed."
"……Haaaa."
Letting out a deep sigh, Ashlan turnedtowards the driver's seat.
"Hey, Saki, yousay something as well. We've gotten no irregularities yesterday ortoday, and I tell you, we ain't getting any tomorrow either."
"Hmmm?"
The girl calledSaki, with orange-colored hair, lifted her body up. Chewing on herfavorite gum, she had a tendency to feel relaxed when she could leanagainst the driver seat and steering wheel.
"What's it matter? If Kai's doingit seriously, then we can take it easy."
"I'm sayingthat there's gotta be a limit to being this stuck-up. It's been100 years. A 100 years! Did the records mention even a single one ofthose sealed-in bastards escaping? Huh, Kai?"
"No."
"Right?"
"We're hereto observe and to make sure that one escape doesn't happen."
"…………Logical.But my shoulders are getting stiff here," added Saki, biting downon her gum. "What's it matter if we're the only region thatdoes it seriously? There are four other graveyards in the world afterall."
"The otherregions are watching their respective graveyards just as diligentlyas we are of course."
Responding to the complaint, Kai headedback towards the gun truck.
"It's animportant mission, even if it's just a one in a million chance, itwould be a disaster if any demons actually managed to escape."
Four of these jet black pyramidsexisted in this world. These so-called graveyards act as a prison forthe other races that humans had to battle before.
—Being able to wield powerful magic,the demon race.
—Consisting ofbeings such as angels, elves and dwarfs, the foreign deities.
—Owners ofpeculiar, ghost like bodies, the spirit race.
—With dragonsat their peak and consisting of giant, powerful beasts, the mysticalbeasts.
With strengththat overpowered human intellect, humanity had to live in fear ofthose four races. However, around 100 years ago, their counterattacksucceeded.
Including thehumans as the fifth race, history's greatest war, the Great War ofthe Five Races, ensued. Through this war, humanity managed to sealthe four other races into the jet black pyramids called 'graveyards'.
Ever since,humans have continued to assiduously observe the graveyards likethis.
"Oh right. Kai, I almost forgotsomething important."
Saki brought her body forward, stillsitting in the driver's seat.
"The gift for Jeanne's promotion,we were talking about a present before."
"We're still in the middle of ourduty. Sorry, but leave that for later."
"……Hmpf.I'm telling you, nothing's happening anyway! It's fine to talkabout it now!" Saki raised her voice in protest.
On the passenger's seat next to her,Ashlan was still leaning back.
This was thecurrent mentality, 'the world is at peace'. The four races shouldhave no hopes of escaping from the graveyards—
Not just Saki or Ashlan, it was thegeneral opinion of every soldier in his or her twenties. One couldsay that Kai was the rare exception.
"Even ifnothing's happening, I don't want to let my guard down. Althoughhalf of it is just my stubbornness."
Saki and Ashlancertainly weren't lazy per se. Her opinion was perfectly justified.One wouldn't expect that those graveyards, which had stood strongfor about 100 years now in sealing the other races, would justcrumble and collapse the very next day.
However.
There was aparticular reason why Kai couldn't let his guard down when it cameto those graveyards.
"It's because I saw them."
Ten years ago, hehad fallen into the demon race's graveyard. He saw them, thedemons, squirming and crawling within the walls of this very pyramid.
"We'retalking about that again? Both Ashlan and I have heard that story 20times already."
"I'm tellingyou, it was just your imagination. Falling into the graveyard andthen being saved? That pyramid is the demons' nest, you know?"
Just as Ashlanstated, even Kai thought that it was a miracle that he had survived.Despite all that, he was still standing here, alive and well. Beingassaulted by countless demons, the young Kai lost consciousness andwhen he woke up, he was found laying outside the graveyard. However,there was nothing to prove his memories were true.
…That intensepressure from the demons. That couldn't have been my imagination.There's no way that it was a dream.
The fear that hedefinitely felt was from the demons. Even if the people around himdon't share the same opinion, the possibility of those powerfuldemons breaking free of the graveyard's seal was more thanprobable. And Kai decided he had to be prepared for saidcounterattack.
Therefore, forthe past ten years, Kai had been undergoing training more rigorousthan anybody else. Using every free minute at his disposal, heimmersed himself in his training even during his dinner and bathingtime. Even receiving the title 'training freak' from hissuperior, that's how Kai was.
"Kai would havebeen seven or eight at that time, right? With only one entrance tothe graveyard, there's no way that the guards around it wouldn'thave spotted you."
"Not to mention the surveillancecameras. Kai, you weren't shown on them, right?"
There were no eyewitnesses for Kai'sfall. Even the adults that were with him said that they 'don'tremember anything'.
"I'm tellingyou, it was a dream, you know? A dream. A scary dream you saw whenyou were a kid! Did you forget about the face our instructor madewhen you told him this in a super serious manner?"
"No, Iremember perfectly."
"Right~?"
Yup yup, Saki nodded.
"It's just a slip of your memory,Kai."
"Leaving that aside, we can't abandon our duty to watch over the graveyard."
"Gaaaaaaaah?!" Both Saki and Ashlan raised their voices.
"Let's report back to theheadquarters. 2pm observation, completed. No irregularities at thegraveyard."
Kai said so,without paying attention to his coworkers as he looked back at thegraveyard.
2
The HumanityProtection Agency—
Standingvictorious at the end of the Great War of the Five Races, humanitycreated the anti foreign races institution to prepare for thewhat-if.
What if anirregularity occurred at the graveyards?
What if the fourraces managed to escape from graveyards and attacked humanity?
What if the GreatWar of the Five Races broke out anew?
Following theinvention of weapons with great firepower, the construction ofhighways and railways, the world's greatest powers formed theHumanity Protection Agency. It implemented mandatory militaryservice:
Every citizen wasmade to attend two-years of military service as a soldier at theHumanity Protection Agency, which was accompanied by fittingtraining.
That being said,it was a rather old system. The ones that were still diligentlyundertaking this role were few in numbers.
"Ahh, so tired. I'm taking a breaknow!"
At the trainingspace of the Humanity Protection Agency. In the corner of that room,Saki, who was clad in running-wear sat down on a bench.
"Your enemy's a machine doll, youknow? If we hit them, our hands abrade, and if we miss a dodge, we'llget fractured bones. I'm not putting up with this anymore! This isway too ridiculous!"
"…………"
"Kai, you listening?"
"The mythical beasts are that kind ofrace, so you can't help it."
Standing in front of Kai was a machinedoll, modeled after a giant three meter tall dragon.
What if themythical beasts managed to escape from the graveyard?
This specialtraining existed for this scenario, but the majority of people agreedwith Saki's opinion that 'This is useless!'.
—There is no way to win.
In the records ofthe great war, the skin of the dragons, who stood at the apex of themythical beasts, could even withhold a gun shot of a cannon-equippedtank.
"You're right, this might be a bitmeaningless."
Contrary to his words, Kai dashed underthe machine dragon's legs.
"Hey, Kai?!"Saki's scream could be heard.
If he made onemisstep, his spine would be crushed. Ignoring the impending risk, henonetheless closed in, heading towards the legs as thick as logs and,sinking down with his whole body— Hurled himself forwards with allhis strength.
Arts (FourWorld's Fighting Style)! The Martial Arts, techniques taught andadopted by the Human Protection Agency to fight the other races.However, the machine dragon showed no reaction to Kai's attack thatutilised these Martial Arts.
"……Didn't work, huh."
"What are you doing?! You'll die ifyou get trampled! And also, didn't the instructor tell youcountless times that you're not supposed to use the mystical beastsmachine without supervision?!"
"I've gottabe prepared to take a risk if I want to make an impact."
"…Goodness.Kai, you really were born in the wrong period," Saki showed abitter smile as she pressed a water bottle to her mouth.
Her expressionshowed that she was concerned but also that she was engrossed inlooking at the scene, as if she was looking at an attraction at thezoo.
"Don't you think so, Ashlan?
"…Don't…talkto…me…My stomach…is trembling…"
The weeping youngman who was next to Saki, didn't move an inch. Up until now, he hadbeen fighting a different machine doll than Kai and as a result, hadreceived a direct hit to his flank in return.
"Well, let'sleave Ashlan be for now. Even the instructor said something similarabout Kai. If you were born in the time period of the great war, yourname might have gone down in history and not Sid's."
"I'm not cutout for that. I just don't want to lose my touch."
Looking up at themachine dragon, Kai said this as if it was something completelynatural.
One hundred yearsago, the demon race, foreign deities, mythical beasts and the spiritrace each had a strongest individual. An elder, a chief, a leader,and so on. Many words existed to describe the strongest individual ofa race, but for the four hostile races, humanity created anothertitle for the mightiest existences.
The four heroes—
The Hero ofDemons 'Dark Empress Vanessa'.
The Hero of the foreign deities 'SaintAlfreya'.
The Hero of themythical beasts 'Fang King Rath Ie'
The Hero of the spirit race 'Lord ofSpirits Rikugen Kyouko'
Boastingincomparable strength, every one of these 'Heroes' commanded oneof the four races. And, facing these four heroes, humanity founditself in a predicament.
However, heappeared. The Hero of the Humans, bringing about the end of the GreatWar of the Five Races, by defeating every one of the four heroes.
"The ProphetSid, huh," Saki commented, as she gazed up at the ceiling. "TheHero of the Humans, 'The Prophet Sid'. With a glittering swordthat you'd never expect to exist in this world, he struck down thefour races' heroes and sealed them into the graveyards— That'swhat the legends say, right?"
"There's no mistaking that this Sidreally existed 100 years ago. We even have some photos."
The picture of a robed man. The photoclaiming to show the Prophet Sid, Kai had seen it countless times indocuments.
"But, Kai? Allthe historians doubt the legends about Sid, right?" Saki shrugged.
The Hero ofHumanity, 'The Prophet Sid', doesn't exist. That is the theoryright now. Firstly, this 'glittering sword' was nowhere to befound. Neither are there any records of Sid actually striking downthe four heroes.
"There's no proof that Sid reallyfought the four heroes. There are no pictures of his battles, and wecan't find that sword he supposedly used anywhere."
"…Yeah."
No records toprove his existence. Exactly the same as Kai's fall into thedemons' graveyard. No pictures of him during the war. It'd beweird that if Sid really fought them, you wouldn't be able to findany proof. Thus, the number of people believing in this legend weresparse in number.
"That's justhow it is. Maybe Sid the human did exist, but just didn't have asmuch of an influence as we made him out to have had. What do youthink, Kai?
"I have to agree. But—"
Kai swiped away the sweat on hisforehead.
"It's fine if I wish for it to betrue, right?"
"Well, yeah. Anyway, to change up thetopic a bit…Come on Ashlan, wake up."
"………Guha?!"
Without holdingback, Saki rammed her foot into her comrade.
"I brought it up this afternoon, butwhat should we do for her promotion gift? We don't have much moretime left."
"Excuse me? A bouquet should beperfectly fine for that, don't you think?"
Having finally gotten up, Ashlanplanted himself on the bench.
"Isn't something orthodox the bestidea?"
"No can do.It's Jeanne, you know? She gets a bouquet every year as an awardfor being a scholarship student. She definitely won't be happygetting one for such a special occasion. Right, Kai? You agree withme, don't you?"
"……"
"Ah, Kai? Earth to Kai?"
With his back turned to Saki, thecommunication equipment in Kai's hands gave a short sound thatexact moment.
"……Jeanne?"
.
The namedisplayed on the screen was that of his childhood friend. Just likeSaki and Ashlan, she was a recruit and coworker of Kai.
"Mmm? What's with Jeanne?"
"My my my, Ididn't get any messages. Only Kai, huh?"
Kai's coworkers got up from thebench. In front of the two that stretched out their necks to catch aglimpse of the contents, Kai opened up the message.
[To Kai,
You're off-duty tomorrow, right? Meetme at 10am, in front of the kitten statue at the 9th terminal! But,keep this a secret from Saki and Ashlan, okay?]
"………"
Wait a second. She told me to keep thisa secret, but right now, the two people I'm not supposed to tellare gradually closing in on me to take a peek.
"Kai, what did Jeanne say?"
"I didn't geta message either. Weird…do I smell a secret here that you'rekeeping from us? Hey, Kai, you don't mean to tell me that you gotinto some sort of wicked relationship with Jeanne, right?"
"…Wait."
Kai pushed bothhis hands out in front himself to keep them off.
"My mistake. I actually didn't geta message."
"Ohhh? Then, what was that incomingmessage sound that we heard just now?"
"Did you get such a special messagethat you'd have to lie to us about it, Kai-kun?"
Saki threw him agrin, while Ashlan's expression looked more ghastly and even know,they were closing in on him to take a look at the message.
"…That reminds me."
Tightly graspingthe device in his hand, Kai turned his back to the two of them and hestarted running at full speed.
"I didn't do any running today yet.I'll go and run my 10km!"
"Ah, hey, you bastard!"
"Someone! Help us in holding downKai! He's committed a grave crime, basically being in a lewdrelationship with Jeanne!"
"You're wrongabout that…Ahhh, come on, I'm just doing some diligent training,nothing more!"
Jeanne, don't use the HPA'scommunication devices for your private affairs!
Screaming out inside his chest, Kaigave it his all to escape from the two coworkers chasing him.
3
The Ulza Federation—
With the imperialcapital Ulzark as its center, it's developed itself into a vastnation. This country, located on the northern parts of the continent,was at one point invaded by the demons and completely annihilated,becoming their territory. The one that enabled this was the demons'Hero, the 'Dark Empress' Vanessa.
However, as history told, one hundredyears ago.
With humanity ending up the victorsofGreat War of the Five Races, this land once again came back intothe humans' hands.
"10am. Sinceit's Jeanne, she'll probably be an hour late and arrive at 11am."
The 9th terminal. Using the undergroundrailway from his school dormitory, it took Kai about ten minutes toget there. With this zone being relatively close to the capital, moreand more modern buildings started to appear, turning this part into ashopping district of sorts.
"Kai, thanks for waiting," a livelyvoice reached his ears.
Kai turned aroundand found a silver-haired girl holding a handbag in her hands.
"Jeanne's perfectly on time? Ithought I'd have to wait another hour."
"Hmpf? So rude~" She puffed out hercheeks.
However, after a short breath, sheshowed him a bright smile.
"I'll be transfered to the capitalnext week, so time is precious right now."
Jeanne E Anith—
With a stature atad bit taller than most girls her age, she had a slim physique. Herlong silver hair and gallant facial features accumulated to make hera girl you could find in a model magazine. Living next to Kai, shewas 17 as well. Her gentle looks were perfectly matched with along-sleeved blouse and skinny jeans. Because of her tendency toprefer male oriented clothing, her feminine charms were emphasizedeven more intensely in return with her current outfit.
"Come on, let's go. Recruit Kai,crawl your way along the ground towards that building over there!"
"In the middle of the city?"
"I was joking. I mean…"
Jeanne pointed atthe clothes that Kai was wearing. It was the combatant gear of theHPA and hanging down his shoulder was the close-combat rifle. Ofcourse, taking it out in the middle of the city was not allowed, sohe had properly locked it up.
"You should be off-duty today, right?Then why'd you have to wear your equipment?"
"I was doing some self-practicebefore I came here, that's why."
"…I know. It was just sarcasm. Mygod," the silver-haired girl scoffed. "Really, Kai's the onlyone that would come in full gear when I invited him on his day off."
"You go outwith other people on your days off?"
"I don't. Again, sarcasm!"
Pouting oncemore, Jeanne gave Kai's stomach a straight jab with her elbow. Asif it was funny, she continued with a bright voice.
"…Just kidding. You're fine justlike this."
The both of themstarted marching into the mass of people. The buildings lined up ontheir sides were commercial buildings, the street was filled withfamous clothing brand stores and candy stores. Jeanne on her partwatched every single store they passed with a serious expression.
"Which store should we try? It'sbeen a while since I went shopping like this, and I quite frankly ama bit overwhelmed with the sheer amount of choices."
"By the way,why did you invite me today?"
"Shopping. For Saki and Ashlan."
The names of hiscomrades passed through the girl's lips.
"Including Kai,that's the three of you. The three of you are planning on gettingme a present for my upcoming transfer to the capital, right?"
"…I don't know what you'retalking about."
She hit thebulls-eye perfectly with the present. The three of them did indeedplan on getting Jeanne a present. But, since they had planned onkeeping it a secret until the final day, he couldn't just go "Yeswe are" in front of the person in question.
"It's fine it's fine. I'mthinking the same thing after all."
"The same thing?"
"A present for the occasion. I wantedto give it to you before I'm off to Ulzark."
As it stood,Jeanne came from a renowned family that belonged to the elite,bringing forth influential and successful top brass of the HPA oneafter another. Her father is actually a well-known commanding officerof the HPA Ulza branch and her grandfather was stationed as agovernor. Now Jeanne, inheriting that blood, was to be promoted evenfaster than her coworkers.
—The 17 year-old beauty was to betransferred to the capital.
Receiving thispromotion faster than anyone before her, she was featured in the newsa few weeks prior. There were rumours going around that she'lleventually surpass her father and grandfather.
"That reminds me, all the boys werecrying tears of blood because you'll be gone."
A war maiden.
That's what hercoworkers and instructors call her. Being taught about commanding atan organization like this from a young age by retired veterans, shehas a reputation as a suitable successor to the leading commander.Adding her beautiful face onto that, the girl called Jeanne hadaccumulated enough fame through her charisma that even the higher upsof the Ulza headquarters could not ignore her. With the announcementof her transfer to the capital, all her male co workers must havebeen devastated.
"Even Ashlanwas pretty depressed about it. Saki as well."
"…It might be the last time I seethem after all."
"You're over exaggerating. You'llonly be stationed in the capital for about two years, right?"
Once those twoyears had passed, they would be reunited with the then commandercandidate Jeanne. Kai firmly believed that this wasn't something tobe in low spirits about. Until he heard the girl's response atleast.
"When I come back, Saki's andAshlan's military service will be over, you know?"
"………Ahhh, I see."
The obligatorymilitary service lasted two years. Once it ended, the variousyoungsters would each go their own way again.
"Kai's the only friend that'llstay, you know?"
"Yeah, makes sense."
With theconclusion of the mandatory military service, the majority of theircoworkers would turn their backs to the HPA. In the midst of that,being one that would voluntarily elongate his service, Kai could becalled an irregularity.
"I'm doing the military servicebecause I like it, but that's quite the rarity nowadays."
"I'm the same, you know?"
"I know I know.I want to surpass my father's rank, you always say, right? Though Idon't remember how many tens of times you've told me about thatalready."
"Add another zero to that."
Jeanne, walkingthrough an alley with the sunlight filtering through the trees andlifted her head up with a giggle.
"I've toldyou so many times, that you must've gotten a sore ear by thispoint."
"I'm surethat her father is happy that you're working this hard to surpasshim and becoming a splendid daughter .But, only us, huh. There aren'tmany weird people that want to continue their military service aftertwo years."
"You always say that it's your dutyto watch over the graveyards, right? That it wouldn't be weird fora large flock of demons to one day break out again. And, to onceagain find Sid's sword."
"………"
The Prophet Siddefinitely existed. The fact that the person who fought the fourraces' heroes was alive at some point, Kai didn't doubt that fora second.
…I saw it.
…Ten years ago, I saw Sid's swordwith my own eyes.
The hero's sword exists, without adoubt.
Inside the demons' graveyard.
That time I hadfallen into the jet black pyramid, I definitely saw it. Illuminatingits surroundings with a radiance comparable to the sun. Beingsurrounded by the mass of demons, standing at death's door, I wasdesperately reaching out towards the sword with my hand—
That's as far as Kai's memoriesbrought him.
"Well…it'scertainly not like I believe that will definitely happen."
Inside the graveyard, filled with thesealed-off demons, why was Sid's sword hidden in there?
That questionstill remains, but what I saw back then the 'Light-emitting sword'was definitely the one you would hear about in all the legendsconcerning Sid.
Though, Kai was about the only personthat believed in them in the first place.
"I know thatJeanne's only going to tease me if I bring it up."
"I won't tease you though?" saidJeanne, her mouth forming a broad smile.
"I'm reallyserious here."
"I'm not mocking your resolution.What I'm teasing is your attitude, Kai. That sullen look is just socute that I can't help myself."
"…Ahh, is that so?"
"How many yearshas it been? When you suddenly started saying 'I saw Sid'ssword', I mean. We should've been about ten back then. We wereplaying together a lot back then."
The two of themonce again walked through the mass of people. Perfectly in the middleof an intersection, the girl walking next to him suddenly came to astop.
"It's justKai. Playing with me when I was a kid, and staying with me even now,I'm sure that this won't change when I come back from the capitaleither."
Her profile asshe turned around showed her unwavering and unblinking eyes whichlooked straight at Kai's face.
"Hey, Kai. What do you think willhappen with the two of us from now on?"
"From now on…You'll go to thecapital, right? And after two years, you'll come back."
"No, I'm saying even further."
His femalechildhood friend who was also his coworker, took another stepforward.
"Hey Kai, what if I———"
That moment.
——Jeanne'sbody began distorting.
"Jeanne?!"
"Eh? What's wrong, Kai?"
While herappearance was shaking and warping like ripples running throughwater, Jeanne responded as if nothing had happened. But, it wasn'tjust the girl. Everything in front of Kai's eyes began distorting.Multistoried buildings, the neatly lined-up rows of trees, even thepassing people, everything was warping grotestically. Following that,a gust of wind, with black particles mixed in it, that slowly turnedinto a sandstorm.
…Nobody'srealizing this? What's happening to them and the sandstorm?
…What—What's going on?!
When Kai lookedup, the sky in front of him had turned pitch black. The white cloudsand sky which were stretched as thin as threads, as if having beencut into a thousand pieces headed towards a single dot in the sky ata terrifying speed.
—The sky was being sucked up by thisblack dot.
And not just thesky, the distorted buildings were being lifted up from the ground,followed by the pavement on the street. Everything was pulled towardsthe sky. The trees were uprooted and even the passing people weren'tspared from its pull.
Just like a giant black hole, suckingup everything in its surroundings.
…Nobody'snoticed this?
…Don't tellme, I'm the only one that can see this happening?!
And then, his childhood friend stoodout in this darkness.
"Jeanne!"
"Eh? What's with you, Kai…If youcall out my name in front of so many people…Uhm…Ahh…Is it okay,if I get my hopes up?"
Her smile emerged even stronger fromthis obscurity. Not knowing what was happening around her, the girl'sbody slowly ascended towards the sky.
"Jeanne, take my hand—"
He desperatelyreached out with his hand amidst the sandstorm. That same moment,Kai's field of view became pitch black.
Commence 'World Reincarnation'
Executing the world's 'overwriting'—
4
Right after thesandstorm had passed, Kai, with his mental state having taken a turnfor the worse, was still standing at the intersection of the 9thterminal.
—Completely alone.
Jeanne, whoshould have been standing in front of him, was nowhere to be found.The same was true for the passersby and the hundreds of peoplenonchalantly entering and exiting the multistoried buildings on theirshopping trips.
"…What isgoing on. Hey, Jeanne? Jeanne, where did you go!? Playing hide andseek now is in bad taste, so please come out!"
The deserted 9thterminal, what might be the meaning of this?
The paved roadbeneath his feet was heavily trampled and the trees close to him weregone, replaced by a giant crater. The windows of the multistoriedbuildings were completely shattered and the buildings themselves wereall close to ruin.
Like ruins. Thescenery of the 9th terminal seemed to have changed into that of theend of the world.
"Whathappened…? Jeanne and everyone else is gone…"
Not a singlehuman in sight. Way too abnormal. A phenomenon exceeding logic hadoccured—
With that feeling, Kai gazed at themetal case hanging from his shoulder.
The HumanityProtection Agency's bayonet. Kai did not have the key for the case,which belonged to the Ulza headquarters, so he could not take it out.Find a method of protecting yourself, that's what his instinctswere screaming at him right now. Searching for Jeanne and everythingelse came after that.
"It's not that close by, but Ishould hurry…"
Towards the Ulzaheadquarters of the HPA. That moment, behind Kai's back in theshadows of a building, a small stone rolled down.
"A sound? Is someone there?"
Be it a straydog, a stray cat or anything. If it was a living being, that wouldbring Kai a bit of relief. It would mean that humans should benearby.
"Hey, who is…?"
It slowly showed itself from theshadows. It was neither a dog nor a cat. Seeing that, Kai forgot tobreathe for a second.
"Eh?"
Itwas standing on two feet, and it'sheight surely must've surpassed two meters.
A body with pitchblack skin, looking almost like solid armor. On its back, were twojet black wings and beneath that, a wriggling tail. The structure ofit's head, almost triangular, was clearly different from that ofhumans, its eye sockets were a pure white.
…It's the same as 10 years ago.
…It's thesame as the things I saw when I fell into the graveyard.
During his military service, he didn'tforget about it once. About the chance that these monsters could oneday come crawling out of the graveyard again.
—A jet black demon.
Such a monster was indeed standingthere.
…A machinedoll…? No, doesn't look like it.
…Not in the middle of the city.
The machine dolls that the HPA haddeveloped were virtual enemies, only usable inside the traininggrounds. They shouldn't be able to move in this place.
"Hu———Hu…ma……"
A torn voiceescaped the demon's mouth. Maybe the difference in the structure ofthe vocal cords made it difficult to understand what it said, but itdefinitely just used human words.
"——Human? In this place?"
"It can speak?!"
It was said thatthe demons and the four heroes weren't be able to understand humanlanguage and only a handful could vocalize words. That's how it hadbeen in the history that Kai knew.
"A human…soldier…"
A light was lit.From the protruding object of the demon's wings, light was born andthat gradually turned into a flame, growing in size more and more.
"Disappear."
It was comparableto the shots of a machine gun. Barely grazing Kai, they hit the wallof the building behind him at full force and ended up coloring thesurface a deep black. If Kai hadn't moved, those flaming bulletswould have probably put innumerable holes in his body.
"Magic?!"
Right before the magic hit, Kai hadjumped backwards.
Magic—or as itwas known as long ago, miracles and sorceries, were the general namesfor this power. Strong magic was comparable to humanity's heavyweaponry and the higher ranked demons could fire high-level magiclike it was nothing.
This was thefirst time he had seen 'the real deal'. But, it would be a falsestatement to say he had survived this by pure coincidence.
—His body hadmoved unconsciously.
All because hehad expected this day to come eventually, anti demon techniques andknowledge were burned into his body after all that rigorous training.Thanks to that, his body reacted in time and his life was spared.
"…I have absolutely no clue what'seven happening right now."
Something must have happened. Thisdemon isn't just a machine doll and, it's clearly hostile towardshumans.
"————That's just fine."
Click,a sound came from the metal case. What was hit by the demon's rainof flame bullets just now wasn't Kai himself, but the locked casewith the weapon inside. Now that the lock had been blown open, ablack bayonet laid there.
"I'll be your opponent."
Pointing theblade mounted gun towards the demon, Kai put his finger on thetrigger. It was the all-purpose type assault bayonet 'Drake Nail'.The name came from the blade that imitated a drake's claw, whichwas a member of the mythical beasts. It was an anti races weapon thatthe HPA developed using the records of the great war.
"………A human is?"
Traces of flames were in the air.Again, numerous 'bullets' were brought forth by the demon'smighty magic.
"You're an eyesore!"
"Simplified elvish bullet."
A white spark.The bullet that Kai shot with the Drake Nail was both transparent andshining brightly like the fragment of a crystal. That samebullet—destroyed the tens of flame bullets altogether.
"…?!"
The demon's eyes swelled up, like ahuman's eyes would open wide.
"Elvish magic?!"
"No, this is the result of humanintellect and hardwork."
An experimentalweapon developed after the great war. Chipping a certain magicdispersing crystal into the form of a bullet, it scatters the chantedmagic—effectively, erasing it.
"The elves fromthe spirit race were using tools like this during the great war,right?"
However, thosetools had elvish magic imbued into them. The humans, unable to usemagic, made up for that with technology and science, hence it wasnothing more than a pseudo weapon. That resulted in the 'simplified'part of its name.
"Let's do this."
He startedrunning on the broken, shredded road. On the way, a deep red circleappeared beneath Kai's feet. This ring with a five meter radiuscompletely surrounded Kai and tongue like flames colored a deep redbegan ramming out of the ground.
"Burn."
Pillars of firereached up to the sky. The flames, born of the circle that appearedon the ground, were moving upwards to turn everything on their way tocinders.
No room to fire the simplified elvishbullet. The moment Kai guessed that, he kicked off the ground andjumped outside the circle.
"………You dodged it?!"
"I've been training my ass off sothat I can fight you guys after all."
Slipping towardsthe demon's chest, Kai swung the Drake Nail and aimed at his flank.
——A blast.
At the tip of theDrake Nail, sparks burst out like blooming flowers. The shock madethe giant body of the demon tremble, the ensuing black smoke andflames concealed its body.
"Let me tell you one thing. What ushumans managed to come up with wasn't just the elvish bullet."
The huge body ofthe demon collapsed. This must've been the first time that thisbullet was used in a real fight against something from the fourraces.
—The simplified drake bullet.
It was a bombthat imitated the fire breath of drakes. The same moment you hit yourtarget with the Drake Nail, the detonation followed. It's designedto strike down the four races at point-black range.
"………Huff…"
With no sign ofthe demon getting up again, Kai slowly lowered his Drake Nail holdinghands, which were tingling from the explosion and let out a sigh.
…It was just one shot. I just pulledthe trigger for the simplified elvish bullet and simplified drakebullet.
…My whole body is shivering from thetension.
It was his firstfight with the 'real deal', the same applied for that magic. Ifhis reaction had been even just one step later, he would've beenengulfed in the flames and wouldn't be standing here with theseminor injuries.
"But, I did it!"
All this time, training himself todeath almost, it wasn't for naught.
"I can do this…Even if my enemy'sa demon, I can fight them."
Even now, Kai had no idea what wasactually going on. But, he found validation. Even humans could fightagainst the powerful demons. Depending on your training regime, itwas possible to surpass them.
"What, who are you?"
Abruptly.
The ominous soundof wings fluttering immediately blew away the sweet aftertaste ofvictory. The sound, too strong for it to be from a bird's feathers,came directly from above Kai's head.
"A human…? One of my kin…wasdefeated by a human…?"
A second one.Judging from its appearance, it wasn't all that different from thefirst demon, except the one now flying in front of his eyes wassmaller. With its height almost on Kai's level, if one compared itto the first one, it would seem rather powerless.
…But, this overwhelming pressure.
…Judging fromthe size, the first one definitely looked stronger, but just by it'suse of words, it most surely has a higher intellect.
"What are you?"
"As you can see, I'm a human."
This one's far more dangerous thanthe first one.
With Kai'sintuition telling him that, he slowly responded.
The slim-figureddemon stared down at Kai. With its wings widened, it seemed as if thesecond demon was just hovering in the air, it's mouth, whichstretched till it's cheeks, slowly moved.
"For us, and for the other races,it's far more convenient to be at least knowledgeable in the humanlanguage."
What did it mean by that?
As if it wantedto ridicule Kai, who was waiting for it to continue, the demon waiteda moment before he brought down these words.
"It's far more effective to giveyour slaves your orders in their mother tongue."
"………?!"
Humans were made into slaves.
Those words were—
Nevermind thereason for why this sudden change had occurred, in this world, theway things were meant to be was cruelly different and perfectlydemonstrated right here.
The humans were defeated by the fourraces?
"Our slaves aresufficing as of now. Her majesty Vanessa said so."
"Vanessa?"
Kai knit hiseyebrows at this familiar sounding name. Dark Empress. It was thename of the 'Hero of the Demons', who led the demon race itself.
"…Dark Empress Vanessa?! Thatarchdemon?!"
"Human, youreek of danger. Disappear."
A ring lit up atthe demon's fingertip. A second later, it expanded into a sinister,violet colored circle. From there light resembling a lighting boltwas starting to gush out.
"——Close your eyes!"
It was a voiceKai had heard before. But, before Kai wasn't given any time toreminisce on who that voice belonged to, an intense flash of lightobstructed his view.
"!" The demongroaned.
Looking directlyinto the blast of light, it's eyes must've been burned severely.
"A flashbang?!"
It was something easily recognizable that the HPA made proper use of. As long as the enemy didn't belong to the fairy race, who held special 'eyes', it was very effective against the other races.
But, who threw that?
"Over here! If you don't hurry up,a flock of demons will be coming soon!"
A human?
Turning his back to the blinding light,Kai ran. Towards the beckoning human-shaped being.
"Hop on. That bullet might beeffective, but it won't last more than ten seconds!"
His hand wasgrabbed and out of the corner of his still recovering eyes he saw thefigure of a single girl. Without stopping, she pulled Kai into thearmoured vehicle.
"Succeeded in securing the stray.Ashlan, step on the gas!"
"Gotcha!"
The wheelsstarted spinning at high speed. Coupled with a high-pitched noisefrom the tire gaining traction, the car separated from the demon withgreat speed.
"Those guys can fly through the sky,but they won't be able to keep up with our speed. They definitelywon't catch us in this car…It's okay now…But still, thatmight've cost us a few years of our life expectancy."
Sitting in the back seat, the girl letout a relieved sigh.
"Really, you got a death wish orsomething? Where are you from? A prisoner of those guys? Though youlook less like an escapee. Your clothes look similar to ours."
"………Saki?!"
"Eh? You know me?"
The girl's eyes went wide inastonishment.
Her age should bearound the same as Kai's, she had natural, unsettling short orangehair, big, round cat eyes with high canines in the back of her mouthand freckles on her cheeks.
There's no way that Kai could bemistaken. She was a coworker from the same unit.
"Of course I know you. Thanks forsaving me, Saki, whatever's going on in here…"
"Again, who are you?"
"………Eh?"
Both of them were taking a long hardlook at each other. Until yesterday, she was Kai's trainingpartner. He couldn't possibly mistake her for someone else.
"You're Saki, right. SakiMiscotti…correct?"
"Yeah."
"You are part of the HumanityProtection Agency during your military service—"
"What's that?"
The girl tiltedher head and glanced over at person sitting in the driver’s seat.
"Ashlan, haveyou heard of that? This humanity protection whatsit thing? Did wehave that in the Ulza Federation?"
"Nope, neverheard of it," the young man used nimble movements on the steeringwheel as he responded.
His profile as well, undoubtedlybelonged to the Ashlan that Kai knew very well.
"Hey, Ashlan?! You're AshlanHighrole, right? Stop with the bad jokes, will you? It's me, KaiSakura Vento!"
"Have we metsomewhere before?"
"……"
Kai became speechless. He probablycouldn't find any appropriate way to react to it.
"You really…don't remember me?"
"Again, have weeven met before? Ahh, but you know my name."
Of course I do. We've been working inthe same unit for over a year now.
"Your favorite flavour of gum isorange, and you hate coffee-flavored gum. You always brag about yourbody's flexibility, and you can spread your legs more than 190°."
"Eh?! H-Hey, why do you know aboutthat!"
"Ashlan has hadvery bad motion sickness ever since you were born, you were alwayssuffering from that when we were riding a car. Not to mention thatdriving was impossible for you…"
Shortly after he finished his words,Kai suddenly returned back to himself.
Ashlan is driving a car? Not in ahundred years. He would leave driving to the graveyard to Saki or Kaiand would instead sleep in the passenger seat.
"Ashlan…What happened to yourmotion sickness?"
"Haa? I got over that a long timeago."
The armored vehicle drove past adestroyed building at high speed. Driving on the wrecked road withall the debris, his skill might be higher than Kai's.
"In this world,if you can't drive a car, you'll be caught by the demons and madeinto a slave, you know? Motion sickness is a no-go here…Wait? You,why do you know about my weak semicircular canals?"
"It's weird that he even knowsabout my favorite gum flavour."
Saki nodded in agreement.
"You…who are you?"
"…………You really don'tremember, huh."
Saki's and Ashlan's memories wereperfectly normal. They were the exact same people that Kai knew. Evenso…
"Wait a second…What the hellhappened here…?"
Kai was the onethat had been one-sidedly forgotten.
