The Whale's Desperate Plea
The Anchor’s voice suddenly cut through the silence. [S.K.I.N system detected within 50 meters. Beginning guidance.]
“Wait. Stop.”
The Mother Box’s abrupt announcement made me speak without thinking. Yuna turned to me, confusion written across her face at my sudden command.
“Huh? Oh—yes!”
At my urgent shout, Yuna skidded to a halt. Even on the frictionless ice, my speed restriction had given her enough time to safely deactivate her ability.
“Why did you stop so suddenly? Did you spot something?”
“Looks like it. This way.”
I pointed toward the red path the Mother Box had overlaid in my vision. Yuna still looked lost, but she didn’t argue. She simply slid forward again in the direction I indicated. The guidance led us into a corner of the scrapyard where piles of discarded metal rose like small mountains. Under the blazing sun of West Street, the abandoned scrap radiated heat, shimmering with mirage-like haze.
“Um… there’s nothing here?”
She was right. At the end of the path sat a single rusty humanoid robot half-buried in sand. It was an old mass-produced labor model you could find anywhere. It had clearly been inactive for years; red corrosion coated every joint, and its chest plate was crushed inward, exposing tangled circuitry.
But the Mother Box’s response was unmistakable.
3 meters ahead. S.K.I.N system confirmed.
I narrowed my eyes and stared hard at the rusted robot. S.K.I.N system. Skin. Shell. So it was the ability to change appearance… or perhaps to wear something like a disguise?
The moment I realized it, I moved. I swung my fist at the battered machine—only to stop inches from impact. Just like the first time I had met her.
“My, what a violent greeting.”
“Do I have any reason to welcome you?”
“Sigh. I still don’t sense a single shred of intelligence from you.”
“Intelligence my ass.”
Having been exposed, Yambre quietly rose from the sand. I sneered at the sight.
“Looks like you’ve been through hell since I last saw you. Wearing a junked-out robot body? Really?”
“Through hell? How cruel of you to say so.”
“What, would you prefer I call it pretty?”
“I would rather not hear such words from you, thank you.”
“So. Why are you here? Come to apologize or something?”
I mocked her even though I knew she would never do anything of the sort. Yambre, never one to back down, returned the mockery with polished grace.
“An apology? Ah. I do feel a tiny bit sorry for making you face reality. Perhaps I was too harsh on a fool who didn’t even know what he truly wanted and only cared about saving face.”
“I’ll kill you. I really will.”
“Haha. Truly, simply speaking with you fills me with irritation.”
“Same here.”
Yambre let out a deep sigh and murmured.
“I didn’t want to come here because I loathed the idea of seeing that unpleasant face of yours.”
“Then why did you?”
“…Isn’t this all because of what you did?”
“What?”
When I scoffed at her obvious reluctance to be here, Yambre answered in a voice thick with genuine anger. What did she mean, I made her come here?
“Damn it all. If you hadn’t presented that choice…!”
“Ah. So that’s what this is about. That did happen, didn’t it?”
The choice to follow the original story. Because she had been forced to obey it, she was standing here now. But something about that explanation still felt off.
“If that were truly the only reason, you wouldn’t have shown yourself in front of me. You could have hidden the S.K.I.N system with your ability, couldn’t you?”
“How perceptive.”
“Cut the crap and tell me what you really want.”
At my rough demand, Yambre lifted one rusted metallic finger and pointed somewhere into the distance.
“You’re looking for an Anchor, are you not?”
“…What?”
“Searching for an Anchor in this vast West Street is like hunting for a single grain of sand. Allow me to assist you.”
The unexpected offer made me frown. What the hell was this woman saying?
“You’re going to help me? You? Why?”
“Please put away that suspicious glare. I truly despise you, but we must cooperate.”
Yambre wore an expression of exaggerated grievance, yet her eyes remained eerily calm.
“After all, I also wish to prevent the Angel Descent.”
“You want to stop the Angel Descent?”
“Yes. I have no desire to see what Reverse Factory is planning. Considering the aftermath the Angel Descent will bring, it is far more convenient for you to corrupt their data.”
“…Aftermath?”
So it wasn’t simply a matter of hundreds being slaughtered? The ripple effects of summoning an angel. As I pondered her words, Yambre muttered as if she found me ridiculous.
“Truly… your future sight is such a bizarre thing. You know what you should not, yet remain ignorant of what should be obvious.”
“Wait. She’s right next to—”
“Ah, it’s fine. That young lady cannot hear our conversation. I have simply redirected the sound away from her for a moment.”
I had panicked at the thought of my greatest secret being revealed in front of Yuna, but Yambre told me not to worry.
“By the way, what image comes to mind when you hear the word ‘angel’?”
“…Religion? Salvation? That sort of thing?”
“Exactly. Such words feel terribly out of place in this city, don’t they? In a place where all the gods are already dead, talking about angels is nothing but a bad joke.”
Even as she said it wasn’t funny, Yambre smiled from ear to ear.
“In this city, angels are not symbols of salvation. They are harbingers of ruin and the end. You need only look at the Holy Maiden and the Valkyrie who have been permitted to remain here to understand.”
“I’m not here to listen to a day-long lecture about what angels really mean.”
“Ah, my apologies. However, I needed you to agree with this premise before we could continue.”
“Fine. I get it, so just get on with it.”
At my urging, Yambre nodded and continued.
“The summoning of an angel is an act that shakes the very foundations of the rules that govern the city of Shion.”
She raised a single finger as though delivering a lecture.
“This city is pure chaos—a collision of countless dimensions and outsiders. The only reason it has not collapsed is because it is bound by an overwhelmingly powerful restraint known as the Law. That absurd force which forces non-humans into human shape and allows magic and science to coexist.”
“…What does that have to do with angels being beings of the end?”
“As you know, the existence of angels is not legally prohibited in this city, correct?”
“Right.”
“To force an angel’s descent in such a situation is literally to uproot the Law from its very foundation. A single angel’s arrival may not destroy Shion outright, but it would serve as the trigger that breaks the city at its core.”
His explanation made the severity of the situation sink in deeper. This wasn’t simply about summoning a monster. It was like injecting a virus that would cause system errors. But if Reverse Factory truly intended to do something so dangerous, one question remained.
“If it’s that dangerous, why is the Hunter Guild just sitting on their hands?”
I asked, frowning. Considering how naturally Elly had spoken about angels, there was no way the Hunter Guild was unaware. Yet they had only sent Elly to me and taken no other measures. When I pointed out the inconsistency, Yambre asked a question in return.
“Sitting on their hands? They are currently moving more frantically than anyone else.”
“What?”
“The Babel Tower. Are they not eagerly piling up that shining symbol of arrogance? They believe that once the tower is complete, they can solidify their Laws permanently. And of course they would. Every faction is researching ways to dismantle the Law in their own manner. The mages seek to draw outside attention by raising the tower. The greedy Scavengers await the Law’s collapse. The sinister undertakers aim for the sky itself, and the foolish beasts reach for unbound life.”
Yambre continued with a contemptuous laugh.
“Everyone beneath the four great guilds is desperate to twist the city’s Law to their own tastes. Therefore, from the Hunter Guild’s perspective, completing the Babel Tower to eternalize their control takes priority over the fire burning right before their eyes. They believe that once the tower is finished, they can crush every other attempt.”
“So Reverse Factory is crossing the line while everyone’s distracted.”
“Correct. When the watchers are staring only at the sky, it is the perfect time to dig beneath their feet, is it not?”
……
Listening to all this, it was a wonder Shion still stood at all. Or rather, was that why everything collapsed the moment the tower fell in the future?
“And that outcome is not particularly pleasing to me, either. I need the city of Shion… not the scraps left behind after someone else has toyed with it as they pleased.”
“So you’ll help me?”
“Indeed.”
It was a logical argument, yet I suspected she had other motives. She probably wanted to observe me while I was caught between the Apocalypse Device and the grimoire. Still, at this moment, it seemed Yambre really did intend to help.
“So where is the Anchor?”
“I do not know its exact location. However, I can provide keywords.”
“Keywords?”
“Fig, Abyss, Singularity, Spiral Staircase, Dawn, Whale.”
“…What the hell does that mean?”
“They are the keywords used when the factory creates Anchors. I know nothing beyond that.”
Fig, Abyss, Singularity, Spiral Staircase, Dawn, Whale. The words seemed completely unrelated, like playing twenty questions. These were supposed to be hints for the Anchor? Without more detail they hardly felt like proper clues. Maybe I should use my future sight here. I was about to sigh when—
“…Huh?”
A shape appeared in the middle of the vast Machine Graveyard. The moment I saw it, a single word left my lips in a daze.
“…Whale?”
“Oh. You found it right away? Then my assistance is no longer required. I’ll take my leave.”
The instant Yambre vanished, Yuna finally seemed to notice me again and poked my shoulder.
“Huh? Helper? What did you just say? And where did that weird robot go?”
Her voice snapped me back to reality. Where Yambre had stood, only the rusted pile of scrap remained. But my gaze wasn’t on it.
“Yuna, do you see that?”
“Yes? That… mountain-like thing?”
Yuna turned in the direction I pointed. What lay there was an overwhelming piece of wreckage.
The remains of a massive transport ship that had once flown through the sky or raced across the earth. Its exterior armor had been completely torn away, leaving a skeletal steel frame that stabbed into the heavens like the ribs of some giant beast. Severed cables spilled out like entrails, swaying in the wind. The front section, half-buried in sand, resembled a skull screaming in agony. A steel whale’s corpse, beached and desiccated in the middle of the desert.
“Yeah. It’s a whale.”
I recalled one of the keywords Yambre had left behind. It was an obvious motif, but no other clues were visible nearby.
“Let’s go take a look. I have a feeling there’s something there.”
“Mm. It does seem like a suitable landmark.”
Yuna nodded and followed me toward the steel whale.
“Ugh. It’s so dark I can’t see anything…”
“Wait. Over there…?”
“Huh?”
The interior of the steel whale was so dark that it was nearly impossible to make out anything inside. Yet a faint glimmering light caught my eye. As we cautiously followed it, the coolness of the shaded interior gave way to rising heat. Something was definitely in here.
……
I advanced slowly, ready to fight at any moment.
Message received.
“Huh?”
A message at such a random time. Who could it be? Everyone who would contact me was already here. Wondering, I opened the message.
help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me
A horrifying message filled with nothing but pleas for help. The terrifying sight made me freeze for a split second. Then, from beyond the passage, the source of the light revealed itself.
“…What the hell is this.”
The Anchor. What Reverse Factory had dumped in the middle of the desert and called an Anchor wasn’t some machine or magical tool.
“…Help me.”
It was a person trapped inside a glass tube, quietly moaning for help.