Zero One
Roque looked down at Lije and let out a deep sigh.
"...I told you to wait in the car."
"Right now. The moment Lije is needed."
"How do you know?"
"Lije knows when Roque needs Lije. Right now."
Roque's gaze deepened, while Lije remained expressionless. Hayato's lips moved as if he couldn't follow their conversation at all. The arena boss on the floor, meanwhile, just muttered whatever came to mind.
"And what the hell is that kid...?"
Whether the man cursed or not, Roque kept his eyes fixed on Lije. He spoke.
"Can you connect?"
"If Roque wants."
"...It's like you were waiting for this."
Lije simply looked up at him with her round eyes, saying nothing. Meeting that gaze, Roque fell silent for a moment before turning and hauling the still-sprawled arena boss to his feet.
"Wh-what?"
Without another word, Roque shoved him toward the door. Understanding the intent, the boss opened it without protest. His office, set up in one corner of the arena, came into view.
A wide desk held a powered-down computer screen, scattered papers, and miscellaneous junk. The boss slunk to a corner of the office and spoke.
"That computer's been fucked for hours now. Checked it with a handheld terminal—turns out it torched the backup server too. Shit, how the hell did they find those coordinates...?"
Lije entered the office, ignoring his excuses. She pulled a rectangular handheld terminal from her pocket—what Roque had bought her as a game console—and began wiring it to the dead computer.
Hayato glanced between Lije, who was tinkering away, and Roque, who waited patiently, before finally speaking.
"This humble one finds the situation hard to grasp, Senior Roque. Might I ask for an explanation?"
"Not sure if you know the saying about loose lips sinking ships. If you want to find your brother, you'll guard me and Lije in a bit."
"...What do you mean?"
"You'll see."
Lije, fiddling with the game console, computer, half-burned parts, and cables, suddenly held up her finished creation.
"Done."
"...That'll work?"
To Roque, it just looked like her game console with a bunch of computer cables plugged in.
"This is enough. Roque, prepare."
"Mm."
Roque knelt on the office floor, and Lije approached with the cable-rigged game console.
Hayato watched papers tumble across the floor, dragged by the trailing wires, his face bewildered.
"Y-you're really not going to tell me what this is?"
"Lije and I will be defenseless for a while. No idea how long it'll take to pull out, so cover us."
"W-wait! Hold on, Senior Roque! How can you trust me with—"
Roque pulled the Aura Blade handle from his belt and set it before his knees, replying casually.
"I trust your honor as an Aura Master."
Hayato, flustered, seemed deeply moved by the words. He clamped his mouth shut, nodded firmly, straightened his posture, and composed his expression.
"...Understood. This one shall prove to you that my years of training were not in vain."
Roque gave a slight nod at the solemn declaration.
In truth, a cyber space dive didn't fully block the senses. Roque had already sensed a disconnect between his real body and net sensations during the last dive. If danger struck in reality, he could return without issue.
Still, invoking honor was to keep Hayato from dwelling too deeply on Lije's abilities. The power to drag an Aura Master like Roque into cyber space without implants or sockets was far too dangerous.
As mercenaries like Kaylee had warned, if this got out, Lije would end up dissected and preserved in some megacorp lab, down to the last drop of brain fluid.
As Roque sorted his thoughts, Lije stepped forward, gripping the elongated game console vertically and offering the other end to him. He was to hold it.
Roque stared at the flashing light lines on the screen, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the terminal. He and Lije both closed their eyes as the scene unfolded before them.
"..."
The arena boss, quietly watching from the corner until then, waited until silence fell before slyly reaching for a bookshelf. He didn't know what was happening, but one guy seemed neutralized. With a kid added and only Hayato guarding, there were bound to be openings.
He couldn't miss this chance. His hand grasped the hidden pistol on the shelf.
Hayato spoke.
"A pity."
"What?"
"You could have lived."
"...Huh?"
Stiffening at Hayato's sudden words, the boss realized he'd been caught and yanked out the pistol. A blue flash grazed his neck and hand.
The boss's cleanly severed head and wrist thudded to the floor. His headless body followed with a heavy flop.
Hayato flicked his Aura Blade to retract it, turned, crossed his arms, and watched Roque and Lije. They stood with eyes closed, each holding one end of the cable-laden game console.
"...This one asks nothing if I can find my brother. The world is already chaotic and tangled with everyone's stories. So I pray my foolish brother lives, and that you find him..."
Hayato murmured, standing resolute. As long as he held the line, no one could interrupt Roque and Lije's dive.
The infinite grid-patterned void stretched endlessly before Roque's eyes once more.
The difference from his first dive was the skipped process of self-awareness and summoning his Aura Blade. Roque felt the cyber space senses—subtly off from reality—and raised his hands. They moved naturally, yet the sensation was hard to get used to.
As he clenched and unclenched his fists to adjust, a yellow firefly appeared, detached from the neon grid world.
Roque silently reached for the firefly. Lije didn't resist, landing on his hand. Staring at the light, he asked.
> [It'll be more intense than last time. The magicians who trashed the target server likely hid traps and decoys on their way back to erase traces.]
The firefly Lije fluttered up from his hand. She began drawing a 3D image in the void with her light trail.
Simple despite its size, Roque quickly recognized it.
> [To move nimbly through net coordinates, we need this.]
Roque chuckled dryly. A motorcycle chase in cyber space. Epic.
> [Can't give exact sequential coordinates like last time. Just rough direction. You ride and find the target.]
A round gauge appeared on the cyberbike's "head." A yellow arrow pointed one way.
Roque eyed the cyberbike, then mounted it. The handlebars felt oddly cool yet warm—not lukewarm.
Firefly Lije landed on his hand again.
> [This bike runs on net space coordinates, so don't think of a real-world bike.]
> [...Think airplane, not motorcycle. Gotta handle front-back-left-right, up-down threats. What's wrong? Lije worked hard on it...]
Lije ignored the curt cutoff.
> [Ready?]
Roque twisted the throttle in reply. His body and the cyberbike shot forward, his forward view stretching to a central vanishing point.
The next instant, they burst into true Midland cyber space.
A vast sea of information in dozens of colors, lights, and beams welcomed him. Familiar from before, yet Roque paused to take it in. Only his second time, but the net pulled him in effortlessly. Maybe that's why he'd agreed to Lije's suggestion without complaint—to see this again.
After a brief gaze at the light and data sea, Roque gunned the cyberbike toward the arrow.
The virtual bike was tricky. Scanning up-down-left-right-everywhere while steering was a hassle. He barely grazed a corporate server wall.
Glancing back, a silver digital lion—firewall, probably—stared blankly.
Roque muttered, accelerating per the compass. He wandered a bit but was an Aura Master—peerless at control and balance.
His bike streaked through vast cyber space, leaving a long, thin light trail.
Corporate data servers, defying gravity, loomed as massive obstacles. Roque dodged with acrobatic maneuvers—insane even for reality.
Soon, he felt boundless freedom matching the infinite space. No gravity, no body to confine him. Just mind and bike as one, tracing a path through the net.
In his trance, the gauge beeped.
Flight was fun, but Roque remembered his goal. The bike followed the arrow.
Soon, giant octopuses—bigger than humans, blades on tentacles—flew toward him.
The arrow pointed beyond them. Roque smirked at the growing graphics.
Yet he didn't slow—accelerated. The octopuses sped up, then spewed something from their dome heads.
Roque swerved, face incredulous. The projectile looked like white bone shards.
Magicians' imaginations and spells for info-lifeforms were beyond him. He'd entered without implants by chance, not gained magic insight.
So he'd show them his creation.
A rough gray energy sword erupted from his right hand. As it gleamed, the blade-tentacles flipped and swung at him.
In a flash, the cyberbike spun, threading the net of legs. His Aura Blade slashed the trail.
As Roque rode off, the octopuses drifted, tentacles severed, sinking into the net depths—legless phantoms.
Roque rode on like a mounted warrior, Aura Blade in hand, following the compass. He reached a cluster of ragged, small data servers filling the space.
Hundreds of tiny containers mashed together haphazardly.
Roque approached slowly per the guide. If magicians waited at the end, he'd be the first Aura Master to fight one in cyber space.
But his Aura Blade retracted smoothly.
Deep in the alley of piled small servers, the scene differed from expectations.
No neat magicians—just servers shredded by blades, fragments floating in void. Touching one brought broken text.
Mostly gibberish. Roque scanned them, then touched a less-damaged server. Yellow firefly glowed on his hand, projecting closed-circuit footage before his eyes.
The video was straightforward: In a warehouse-like spot, people tinkered with gear and terminals. Suddenly, a black ninja dropped from the ceiling, drew a red beam sword, and massacred them.
Roque instinctively knew it was Ryuhei—the cyborg ninja from the club fight. His left hand busied itself, extracting time and location from the footage.
Not much data left; it was decomposing into cyber space. But close by.
As Roque prepared to leave, new footage played—an audio log.
The screen showed Model BN-031: A walking tank with four legs, two cannon-arms. Armament like ship guns—dangerous even to Roque's untrained eye.
Roque knew he had to hurry. Screw up, and Hayato's brother might be scraps. All today's effort wasted.
He raised his left arm. The golden glow on his hand flared, yanking his senses back to reality. Mind and body synced with a strange expansion.
As he returned, fleeting images flashed: Midland's night sky filled with massive wings, breath-melting flames scorching earth, yellow reptilian eyes, a black maw swallowing him.
Roque opened his eyes and caught Lije as she slumped. Hayato spoke.
"Whoa? You okay?"
Roque cradled the unconscious Lije, gazing at her face. The return visions lingered—confirming this tiny girl's link to ancient dragons.
"...B-bad? You and Lije got back quick."
"How long?"
Still watching Lije, Roque's question drew a hesitant reply from Hayato.
"Well... less than five minutes, I'd say."
"Good enough. Let's go."
As Roque stood with Lije in his arms, heading out, Hayato asked his back.
"Where to?"
Roque halted and turned.
"To find your still-living brother."
Hayato's widened eyes calmed, though emotions churned within.