Blue Ray
***
The silver liquid officially designated as Astral Flow.
As its name suggested, the silver liquid had emerged as a critical material related to dimensions — a next-generation substance on which Karlstein had pinned enormous hopes. Its reactivity with the Astral Dimension in particular was nothing short of staggering, and the potential applications seemed limitless.
It was a veritable honey pot.
In fact, simply integrating Astral Flow into the matter-transfer system he had already constructed — like laying fiber-optic cable across a network — would raise its stability and efficiency by a dramatic margin.
On top of that, this single material could resolve a considerable portion of the countless problems surrounding the relay installations.
Construction of the Dimensional Relays was proceeding step by step, but Karlstein involving himself in every detail from start to finish was grossly inefficient. The overhead might well end up bigger than the project itself.
Hadn't he already been forced to accelerate the next community update schedule, precisely because of the Karma Points it would devour?
And now, here was a single liquid material that would solve half his worries. Greed was only natural.
'The problem is getting hold of the stuff in the first place...'
The samples were far too few, and the quantities he needed were far too great. With enough of the material, he could run all manner of experiments. But since it could not be found anywhere in the Empire's territory, he had no choice but to wait indefinitely for another entity carrying silver blood to appear — just like last time.
'What to do...'
He was in the middle of such deliberations when Aria's voice cut through his musings.
"A Triple Numbering?"
- Grand Duke Maxien, who was returning from patrol, has already departed for the site.
"Maxien..."
Well... against a Triple Number, Maxien could probably manage it with her eyes closed.
Triple Numbers referred to special entities among the monsters — those assigned three-digit designations.
> One of the higher-tier entities among the Triples.
"Is that so?"
- Yes. A 200-series entity. Blue Ray.
No. 221 — Blue Ray.
Among the countless monsters beyond the Wall, certain special entities had been assigned numeric designations by the Galactic Empire according to their threat level. Even among three-digit monsters, a 900-series and a 200-series occupied entirely different weight classes. The 200s belonged squarely in the upper echelons.
"Blue Ray, of all things..."
Worse still, Blue Ray was a monster specialized in high-speed movement and mid-range bombardment — a notoriously poor matchup for Maxien.
Maxien had once driven off a Double Number in single combat, so there was no cause for serious alarm, but no one could claim matchups meant nothing.
"She's in for a rough time, then."
- Yes. However, there is a problem...
> Multiple unidentified signatures detected near emergence site.
The blurry figures captured on the screen seized his attention.
"Hm?"
Three figures, presumed to be psyche-entities, were being observed in the vicinity where Blue Ray had appeared.
So those honey-pot-dwelling psyche-creatures were mixed up in this too? Hmm.
But what was this?
Why were Blue Ray and the psyche-entities acting as if they didn't know each other?
Monsters, as a rule, were known to emit a constant wave pattern and communicate in a swarm-like fashion. The psyche-entities had also been reported as a kind of monster, yet watching the screen, it somehow didn't look that way — or was that wishful thinking?
Either way, the matter could be settled by seeing for himself. He didn't much like making Maxien suffer alone, after all. The last thing he needed was an irritated Maxien sweeping the psyche-entities away without leaving a single trace behind.
"I'm heading over now."
- Preparing your departure.
Karlstein hastened toward the frontier.
[Then what are we supposed to do?]
[How should I know!]
[Why did it have to be a Chaos creature, of all things!]
Three figures wreathed in silver flame were fluttering about in a panic.
One took the form of a high monk with a third eye set between his brows; another had the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a man; and the last resembled a woman with six arms.
[Criella's trail led here beyond any doubt.]
Of the three, the high monk was the only one who kept his composure, calmly assessing the situation rather than betraying his alarm like the others.
[Then what do we do about it? The trail just cuts off right here!]
[In that case, the reasonable conclusion is that he perished in this place.]
[Forget Criella for now. Who cares about some mutt that thrashed around like a headless chicken and got his whole world eaten? That's water under the bridge.]
[All the same, the Root commanded us to track him. We must confirm the situation.]
[And maybe get erased ourselves before we manage that, for all the good it'll do.]
All three wore the same faint silver flame, yet they did not appear particularly close to one another. The reason they nonetheless huddled together, leaning on each other while keeping watch on their surroundings, was this:
[Isn't that him? The Chaos brute that's been tearing up the front lines lately?]
[Judging by the appearance, it would seem so.]
Chaos — one of the factions locked in enmity with the Great Sephiroth.
The creature in question carried an enormous cannon barrel across both shoulders, with three pairs of membrane wings folded behind its back. Half machine, half monster, you might say.
It was one of Chaos's own, rumored in recent days to have led several packs and shredded the front lines into ruin.
[Then why are they fighting each other?]
[No idea.]
Where their gazes had gathered, the Chaos creature and a human woman were clashing amid a storm of destruction, sweeping away everything around them.
Vrooom... krrooom...
This was the heart of a void where no sound should travel — and yet the shockwaves of battle were reaching even here. Fragments of light, great and small, scattered and rippled outward, stitching glittering seams across the cosmos.
[Aren't we about to get caught up in that?]
[They noticed us long ago.]
[...]
The three of them were all but spectators, hanging far back from the battlefield — or at least, it wasn't quite that simple. The moment they moved away to escape the fighting, they could feel the two combatants adjusting to keep tabs on them, matching their every relocation. An utterly absurd situation.
They were fighting, yes — but they seemed unwilling to lose sight of this side, either.
[Aren't they taking us far too lightly? Perhaps so if it were one of us, but there are THREE of us!]
[They're hardly pushovers, all the same.]
Truthfully, he had only roared out of wounded pride, and it didn't look remotely convincing. One glance at the battle between the Chaos creature and the human made that plain enough.
[Can a human truly become that powerful?]
[She's like a mortal champion standing against a god.]
[A champion would actually be the preferable outcome, no?]
[Even so, perhaps that human woman would be more amenable to conversation than the creature who slaughtered countless of our kin.]
[You're proposing we negotiate with a human?]
The horse-bodied one wore the expression of a man whose pride had been deeply wounded. He despised humans above all else. His tantrum might well have exasperated the others — and yet, in their hearts, both of his companions partly agreed.
The species called human was no better than livestock. Microorganisms that merely enriched the vitality of whatever world they took root in.
[Even so, for the sake of the Great Sephiroth, one must be prepared to bend one's pride.]
[That is not the only path open to us.]
The six-armed woman's eyes gleamed with something sinister.
[We simply aim for a situation where both sides lose. Now that Criella's demise is confirmed, we cannot withdraw empty-handed.]
[Agreed. A mutt who did nothing but make a mess of things — but our kinsman all the same.]
[However, something troubles me.]
The monk's third eye flared as his expression grew more grave.
[Did none of you sense it upon entering this dimension? The wrongness?]
[Hm?]
[I haven't the faintest idea what you mean.]
[Hmmm...]
Something nagged at the monk, though he could not articulate it clearly.
[We would do well to be cautious. What say we withdraw for now?]
Try as he might, the monk found the whole affair ominous, and so he proposed retreat.
[And do you imagine the Root would simply let us come back empty-handed?]
[We must bring back a minimum of results. Perhaps we'll even be rewarded.]
[Holy Blood...]
Whether out of greed or simple conviction, the other two saw it differently. The Root they served repaid merit and failure with perfect reliability — a master who would surely dispense Holy Blood even for the smallest achievement. Opportunities like this did not come often.
[On the surface the Chaos creature seems to hold the advantage, but it's actually being driven back. That human woman is no ordinary foe.]
[Is she even human at all?]
[Who knows. It makes no difference.]
They, too, were beings of no small power.
[For now, we simply support the Chaos creature.]
[Agreed. But let's keep our distance — it's dangerous.]
[Understood.]
Ordinarily such coordination would be unthinkable, but this was an emergency. Sharing their minds with one another, they began to combine their strength.
[The human woman dies first.]
They had no idea that someone was warping toward the battlefield at tremendous speed.
Maxien split the enemy's blue bombardment clean in half and narrowed her eyes.
'This creature...'
It was definitely one she remembered. Blue Ray. The 200-series entity was specialized in mobile artillery, and in sheer cunning it had lost nothing to a Double Number.
The odd thing, though, was that it was far stronger than her memory suggested.
'Have I grown weaker?'
Impossible.
In truth, she wasn't being pushed back. No — if she could only close the distance, she was confident she could take the thing's head in a single stroke, matchup be damned.
But its movement speed was extraordinary. Blatantly faster than it had been in the past. She kept pressing in, even accepting damage to do it, yet the gap refused to shrink. Call it a difference in compatibility.
KRAKOOM — shff—
Another round of bombardment was cleaved apart by the swords hanging in the empty air.
Six blades currently orbited around her in ceaseless rotation, and four of them were locked in pursuit of the creature. She, too, was chasing it sword in hand — and yet...
The distance simply would not close.
It wasn't as though she could only attack up close. But the farther the range stretched, the more pitifully her power fell away — which was another way of saying that the closer her blades came, the more limitless and devastating her swordplay became.
'Whew... infuriating.'
Irritation crept into her eyes.
Just then, she caught sight of those three fly-like creatures beginning some manner of mischief.
'Should I deal with those three first before taking on the beast?'
As her gaze deepened, a voice message arrived.
Her frantic pursuit stopped dead.
"You've worked hard, Maxien."
She had never wanted to show him such an unsightly performance.
Furious as she was with the current situation, she found she didn't mind his voice at all — and with an expression turned to ice, Maxien swept her gaze across the creatures around her.
"It's over."
She stopped chasing. As far as she was concerned, the battle had already ended.
A flash of annihilation pierced through the battlefield where she stood.