One Net Catches All (2)
"Stabilizing the specimen."
Someone worked the machinery, and with a long hiss of venting gas, the creature inside the glass tube slowly revealed itself.
An armored carapace like a suit of plate, and one enormous pair of wings. Its forelimbs and hindlimbs ended in claws sharper than most sword blades, while its violently split pupils hung slack and unfocused — the work of that crown-like organ grown from its skull. Every time the crown spat light, the dragon's mind flickered out with it.
"KRAAAAAAARGH!"
It roared, fighting back — and the nameless power flooding from the crown only bore down harder on its mind, while chains of radiance coiled around its entire body, lashing it hand and foot and crushing every attempt at movement.
"Krrr…"
Behemoth, the Mad Dragon of the Azure Sky, let out a broken groan.
As its vision dimmed, something like a doll swam hazily into view. "Kuhuhu! Yes, sleep deep, little one." A human, wreathed in an eerily alien air. Her hand brushed the space between the dragon's brows — and a drowsiness utterly beyond anything before it crashed over Behemoth's soul. "Seal your soul away and give us your body. You will become that person's strength." Its eyes slid shut, completely, at last.
Elpiros's lips curled into a thin, cruel smile.
Only a little further now. A little longer, and that mighty monster would be hers to command in full. And on the day that person descended upon this place, the dragon would spread its wings and set the road before her blazing with fire.
"Cardinal! I heard you called for me!"
Someone drew up at Elpiros's side — a hunter of New World, half his body remade into something monstrous, and one of the Advent Church's faithful.
"Mm, that's right." She stretched, small and languid, as she spoke. "I'll be stepping out for a little while. The Prophet has summoned the Cardinals."
"Th-the Prophet…!"
"So, I'll be gone for just a bit, 'kay?"
These were Cardinals who bowed to no one — with the single exception of one being. The Prophet, though, stood outside that rule. In all but name, the Prophet was that person's proxy.
"I won't be gone long? I'll be back before you know it."
Irritation lay thick on her face. Summons of the Cardinals were events she had never once enjoyed — and to make matters worse, she'd only just found such promising material. Leaving it now stung.
'A child who could become a knight above Legion Commander rank, too.'
But what could she do? For a Cardinal, defying the Prophet's summons was simply not to be countenanced.
"Still, just in case — I'll leave this one behind."
Elpiros snapped her fingers. The air split open with a crack, and a pocket of black void yawned wide. From within it, something vast and armored came walking out, unhurried.
"With this one standing guard, any intruder who wanders in will be dealt with."
"Thank you, Cardinal." The half-monster's mouth curled upward. "I will not fail your expectations."
"What's your dream?"
Whenever she finally fell asleep, worn down by pain, the question would sometimes drift past her ear. A rusted memory, faded almost beyond recognition.
"Me? Hmm… eating lots and lots of delicious sweets!"
"Puhaha! Dummy, that's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?"
"What kind of person do you want to become."
It was always the same scene. She would come back to herself sitting on a hospital bed, deep in conversation with someone — a girl with long red hair, so pretty it ached to look at her.
"Hmm… I don't know yet."
"You're pretty and you're good at so many things, Ayase. You could be anything you wanted."
Every so often, the girl would look at her with an expression that said she truly envied her.
"Then what about you? What do you want to be?"
"Me… oh, wait — he's on!"
A commanding figure filled the TV screen.
He looked utterly composed, utterly dignified — impossible to believe he had just cleared an S-Rank Gate. Fitting, perhaps, for the man who led 'Britain's Golden Generation'; every stride radiated poise and daring.
"Wow…!" The girl stared at David on the screen, eyes shining. "Is that the kind of person you want to become?"
"…Yeah. My dream is to become a hunter, and then a World Ranker."
World Ranker. A hall of fame that only the handful of mightiest hunters on Earth could ever hope to reach. Selection came around roughly once a year, made by the International Hunter Association — and the criteria went beyond mere physical strength, folding in a hunter's influence and standing in the public eye. If raw power were the only bar, the ranks would end up cluttered with those who had grown strong through corruption.
"Isn't it just wonderful? Becoming someone who watches over the whole world!"
"Mmh… you think so?"
Back in those days, Ayase had no dream. She'd been born with a gift for everything, and she'd been beautiful enough to turn heads even before she'd lost her baby fat. If she set her mind to something, she could do it — anything. And that was exactly why nothing interested her. To Ayase, a dream was a fruit you could pluck just by reaching out your hand.
But she had seen it — the girl watching the World Ranker on that screen, moved to something deep inside. Those far-off eyes, like someone gazing up at a star she could never, ever reach.
"Then I'll become a World Ranker too."
"Huh?! You're not just copying me?"
"N-no? It just suddenly made me want to."
She'd grown curious. What was that seat, that you craved it so badly?
"Pfft! Fine, fine. Okay." The girl smiled, warm and indulgent, and ruffled Ayase's hair. "Then let's make it a contest — whoever becomes a World Ranker first?"
"Yeah!"
Words dropped in passing. The kind of promise every child swaps at least once, half a joke. Surely that's all it was ever meant to be.
The rising star who will carry Japan's future — 'Ayase Karin'!
That is — right up until Ayase awakened as an S-Rank.
"I'm very sorry, but the patient is refusing all visitors."
"…I'm sorry — what?"
From around that time, the girl began avoiding her visits. Letters went unanswered. Calls went unattended.
"Why…? Why won't you see me?"
At first she was bewildered. Then, a little, she was angry. What was so hard about showing her face just once? She'd become an S-Rank awakener — she even had a shot at World Ranker now, at the dream they'd shared.
At some point, Ayase stopped seeking her out, too. She simply poured everything into becoming a World Ranker. Because if — if she really made it — maybe then she would see me again. Clinging to that one frail hope, she had become a hunter and cleared gate after gate.
And then, one day—
"Hello? …Yes? Wh-what did you just… say…?"
The girl was dead. Cause of death: illness. The sickness that had hounded her so viciously since childhood had finally, in the end, stolen her life as well.
'…What on earth could have been so hateful to her?'
Why had she avoided Ayase right up to her dying breath? Had she truly hated her that much? The dead girl could give no answer. And yet Ayase could not hate her. However firmly she resolved to, the moment she closed her eyes, the memories they had shared would shimmer faintly at the edge of her heart. Because even now, she went on living while leaning against that worn, worn-out past — the most peaceful and happiest time she had ever known.
I will become a World Ranker. No matter what.
She would keep the promise they made that day — and then she would stand before her, proud and unashamed. Just like the World Ranker she had watched on that screen, so long ago.
"Lady Ayase. We've arrived."
The driver's voice woke her.
"Ah… we're here already."
"Haha, you've been sleeping a great deal lately. Please don't push yourself too hard."
The reason her sleeping hours kept stretching wasn't fatigue. It was that she was dying. Not long after the girl's death, a Mana Tumor had flowered inside her like a curse — as if to taunt her: stop putting that dream off.
"…Thank you."
She gave the driver a polite bow and stepped out of the car. Downtown Tokyo. A vast building rose before her.
This was the guildhall of New World — an upstart guild, launched only recently, yet rapidly carving out a name for itself in Japan.
"Here… again."
This was not Ayase's first visit. Back when her condition had been deteriorating badly, someone from this place had approached her. They said she could become even stronger — that there was a way to shed a body which only grew weaker by the day. She had gone along thinking nothing ventured, nothing gained, and they had pressed a strange item into her hands.
Click.
Ayase drew the small case she kept from her coat. Inside, a transparent shard glittered with undimmed brilliance.
'If you take this, Ayase-san, you can become a World Ranker.'
An absurd thing to say. She could sense a faintly alien energy seeping from within it, but…
"Becoming a World Ranker with a trinket like this."
As if such a comfortable shortcut could exist anywhere in the world. They'd told her there was no need to use it right away — that she could throw it away whenever she changed her mind.
And yet, somehow, she couldn't bring herself to discard it. As if the shard had closed its fingers around her and refused to let go.
"F-first, anyway — that's not what I came here for today."
The reason Ayase had come today was Yamamoto and nothing else. Through Amaterasu, she had learned that early that morning, he had been spotted heading for this building.
'Did New World make him an offer, too?'
She still couldn't be certain this Yamamoto was the Yamamoto from the A-Rank gate. But if he was, she had to bring him back to Amaterasu. A man like that would surely make the next-generation star to succeed her. 'The current star and the rising star, side by side!' The two of them working together would set all of Japan talking. And… there was something she needed to apologize for, too. For the way his name had slipped out without her meaning it to.
"I'll wait here, and talk to him when he comes out."
Sunglasses on, Ayase took up her post in front of the building. She waited — thirty minutes, give or take—
KWAAAAAANG!
A colossal shockwave burst from inside the building — an impact so huge it was as if the world itself were collapsing.
"Ya-Yamamoto-san?!"
"Ghh… guuuaaagh! Wh-what the hell are you?!"
"That's my line."
I slowly pulled off the wolf mask and let it drop to the floor. "What are you people, exactly?"
"Attacking us out of nowhere…! You… coward…!"
"Wow, it's been ages since I last heard that one. Not since I came back, anyway."
I had walked straight into the New World guild building — the address printed on the business card. Astonishing, really: a sham religion, and they had the entire building to themselves. After that, nothing worth mentioning. 'You can grow stronger than you are now. You can stand at the peak of the world — not just Japan' — and with that pitch, they'd handed it over.
"So this is where the Otherworldly Fragments come from, too. And for hunters who look like strong candidates to become knights, you skip the Moon Shards and implant the Fragments directly — is that it?"
"H-how do you know that?! Who the hell are you?!"
I crushed the Otherworldly Fragment he'd handed over in my bare hand.
"Who am I?"
I tipped my head up slightly and studied him. Up until a moment ago, he'd worn a human shape; now parts of his body had warped into something monstrous. It was like watching Fujiwara Manabu at the Guild War finals all over again.
"I'm the bastard who came to collect your heads, you piece of shit."
"You insignificant worm!"
Seething, he threw himself at me.
Flame Soul
I didn't even need to draw my spear. A hand draped in Karma Flame closed around his skull and slammed it into the floor.
"Kghuhak—!"
"Come to think of it, I won't be needing this face anymore."
I let my mana pour out and wiped the illusion from my face. The mild, honest-looking features I'd never managed to get used to dissolved, and my real face came home.
"Peekaboo."
"Kehk…! You… you're…!"
The eyes darting over me blew wide open. I closed my grip, and his head burst like overripe fruit.
KRAK!
He was already half monster — my conscience didn't so much as twinge.
I flicked the blood away and let out a long breath.
"Good. Now, then."
Time to start sweeping them all up — every last one.