Terrorists that Suddenly Appear, Unique to Movie Versions
(Author: Actually convenient as an introduction.)
(Short chapter and not much to look up. Aside from Arisu speaking in a formal tone to an important figure, there’s not much to note.)
A new generation of supernatural abilities.
Taking the peace treaty with the otherworld Fairy World concluded five years ago as an opportunity, mass media and the like had come to call the current era that.
In fact, it could be said that the everyday scenery in Akebono City has changed greatly compared to before. In the town, not only humans but also holy beasts──residents of the other world called Fairies──had come to walk about freely, and through their interaction with them, humanity’s research into supernatural abilities had progressed tremendously over the past few years.
In a supernatural ability society, it was truly a breakthrough, an era that has reached a turning point. Its benefits were especially great for general society, and the quality of young ability users had increased to a degree incomparable to some time ago.
Such was the daily life of this new generation, but the town was not always peaceful.
Rather, exactly because this era had reached a turning point, the existence of “evil” that required public security forces that exercise supernatural abilities had not ceased.
──Right now, that was exactly the riot by anti–holy beast terrorists occurring throughout the town.
The time was nine in the morning.
That activity, which occurred on a weekday morning at the start of the week, was an audacious crime targeting the Fairy World Embassy in Akebono City.
Although the Savers, having caught wind of the incident, had been immediately dispatched, the terrorists had taken the staff inside and important persons of the Fairy World hostage, so they could not act carelessly. The situation had fallen into a deadlock, with multiple warriors surrounding the embassy where the terrorists had barricaded themselves, together with the police, glaring at each other.
What was unfortunate for the victims was probably that, on this day, the Savers’ mobile task force lacked its main forces, Akatsuki En and Rikidou Chouta.
Or perhaps the terrorist side had grasped that information in advance, but for now, the town of Akebono was separated from the protection of the famed saviors.
“What we demand is the immediate withdrawal of the holy beasts from our country! The order of the human world should be built by humans!!”
Inside the embassy, the ringleader of the terrorists who seized control of the facility was shouting in a overbearing manner.
As stated, the demand of those who openly declared themselves anti–holy beast group, was the withdrawal of the holy beasts.
With the events of five years ago, the government steered its relationship with Fairy World toward a path of coexistence. The result was the present-day Japan, where one now often saw many holy beasts.
Among them, the existence of a powerful power similar yet different from human supernatural abilities, “sacred arts,” and the unique knowledge of Fairy World possessed by high-ranking holy beasts had brought enormous benefits to the supernatural ability society and had become a light announcing a new era.
──However, when light grew stronger, shadows were born there.
As research into supernatural abilities progressed through the cooperation of the holy beasts, there were those whose position worsened, and there were also those who could not accept the existence of intelligent life other than humans from the beginning.
Terrorists like them were precisely the latter, and they had always regarded the state of this new generation of supernatural abilities as dangerous, saying, “Holy beasts will destroy the human world!”
『…Is that the consensus of all of you?』
“That’s right! We must make those fools drunk on temporary peace realize it! That we’re different beings!!”
In fact, until five years ago, there were scattered records of holy beasts who wandered in from that world harming people.
There were exceptions, but fundamentally, holy beasts were stronger than humans.
Although the battles in the past originally began from actions on the human side called “PSYence”… as represented by that “Chokmah visitation incident,” it was one of the facts that if a powerful holy beast were to deliver divine punishment, many people could be threatened.
However.
“…What era’s values are those…”
“Did you say something!?”
“…………”
One of the hostages muttered with a sneer. Immediately after, the young man held his tongue when glared at by one of the terrorists, but the other hostages gathered in the embassy’s main hall likewise wore exasperated expressions toward the ringleader’s claims.
Not only the holy beasts, the targets of hate speech, but the humans as well.
Thanks to the efforts of virtuous holy beasts and people, by now the majority had accepted each other as good neighbors.
This embassy was also one of the proofs of friendship between the two worlds, and in that other world as well there were similar facilities toward the human world.
A reckless terror by outdated ideological criminals──everyone here thought so.
However, this terrorist group, troublesome as it was, possessed extraordinary power.
In particular, the supernatural ability “Thorn Chains” the ringleader had was powerful, possessing the troublesome power to restrain and weaken the abilities of those it captured. Having slipped through the net of guards, him capturing an important person of Fairy World with those chains was the beginning of this incident.
“Hmph… For guards of a goodwill ambassador, that was a lax protection!”
『Guh… Mr. Ambassador, I am sorry…』
The members hiding their faces with suspicious masks were all excellent as well, and with movements coordinated like soldiers, the embassy was occupied in just a few minutes.
Above all, because the important person from Fairy World who was captured was a goodwill ambassador from that world, the guards feared harm coming to the hostage and were unable to move as they wished, which was a hard blow.
『Then, beings like us who amount to no more than that would no longer be a ‘threat to humanity’ as you say, would we not? I myself was also easily restrained.』
“Don’t say such convenient things! You lot also feared weak humans and tried to eliminate us, didn’t you!”
『Hmm, this is troubling…』
『Mr. Ambassador…』
With a slightly awkward expression, the old kobold man bound by the thorn chains groaned.
Being a goodwill ambassador from the Fairy World, he was an envoy from the First Island “Ehyeh,” and also a subordinate of King Keter, an Archangel of Sefirot, so he knew of the plan that the holy beast side had attempted to carry out five years ago.
Because of that, he could not simply discard all of the terrorist ringleader’s words as nonsense, and he could not judge how to deal with the agitated man.
The kobold goodwill ambassador carefully considered the most peaceable method necessary to get through this situation, here and now.
As a result, while holding back the guards who were about to leap at the terrorists for his sake, he decided for now to quietly play the part of a powerless hostage.
That was because this was the town protected by the saviors recognized by that “King.”
If so, he believed they would overcome a situation of this extent in a way that would cause less damage than if he were to make a move──such trust existed in his heart.
And to that trust──they responded.
The first abnormality that occurred was something small that crossed at the terrorists’ feet.
“A rabbit…?” The moment someone muttered upon seeing that object, a black rabbit that had suddenly appeared leaped high up to the ceiling and burst.
It exploded. Just like a bomb.
“W-what’s happening!?”
“Boss! A rabbit that suddenly appeared exploded!”
“I can see that!”
The exploded rabbit was, of course, not an animal rabbit. Rabbits did not have such an ability, and what was scattered by the explosion was not entrails either.
It was a smokescreen. Moreover, a dark smokescreen created by a supernatural ability.
At the moment the rabbit-shaped black object exploded, despite it being early morning, the main hall of the embassy was dyed in darkness in an instant.
『Hm… This is, a supernatural ability, I see.』
With their vision suddenly plunged into pitch darkness, the terrorists panicked and the inside of the embassy became hectic, but the goodwill ambassador, a kobold with night vision, could see the state of the room without issue even within that darkness.
He noticed the presence of a girl staring this way within the darkness.
The girl whose eyes met his seemed to understand that he had noticed her presence. When she placed her index finger to her lips and gestured “shh” to keep quiet, the goodwill ambassador obediently followed the instruction.
──Now then… let me see what the saviors of the new generation has to offer. With a demeanor somewhat too calm for a victim of this terrorist incident, he surrendered himself to the flow.
And that judgment was soon proven correct.
The next moment after he felt a brief sensation of floating, the goodwill ambassador’s person was being held by sturdy arms.
The vexing thorn chains that had bound this body had also, by the time he noticed, cleanly disappeared.
They had been cut. By a blue flash unleashed faster than the wind.
“Wha…”
“You bastard, the hostage!”
A few seconds later, as the dark smokescreen cleared and even human eyes could see the surroundings, the terrorists finally noticed the situation… but it was already too late.
The kobold goodwill ambassador had been moved away from where the terrorist ringleader had been, and around him his guards had tightly formed a defense as if to restore their honor.
“Nice work, Muscle Rabbit No. 1!”
The one who carried the goodwill ambassador and ran back to them at tremendous speed was, even from the perspective of holy beasts, quite a unique object.
Beneath a lovable rabbit face, a Dark Doll possessing a robust body like an ogre over two meters tall.
The object called “Muscle Rabbit No. 1” by the girl’s cute voice, while wearing a smile like a beast hunting prey, exchanged a high-five with the twin-tailed girl and set the goodwill ambassador down in a safe zone.
『You use a strange power, young lady. However, it is very refined.』
“Ah, you can tell? No. 1 is especially my favorite.”
『Hoho… Humans these days are frightening.』
A doll that acts autonomously, created by the “supernatural ability” of darkness. The kobold goodwill ambassador, who realized at a glance that it was the result of extraordinary skill, felt awe toward the girl who had splendidly used that doll to reclaim him from the terrorists.
The supernatural ability user was the girl whose eyes had met his earlier within the dark smokescreen.
“Are you unharmed? Any injuries… You seem fine.”
『Ah, you came before they could treat me roughly, thank you.』
“No, no, that’s our mission. …Or rather, you’re very calm… As expected, a goodwill ambassador from Fairy World has nerves of steel.”
『In this position. I am accustomed to conflict of this extent.』
“Wow…”
She was surprised at the goodwill ambassador’s calm demeanor even in this situation, but from his perspective, in this situation where even trained masters would hesitate, he was impressed by the girl who maintained a completely natural, nonchalant expression.
He knew her face. This was his first time actually meeting her in person, but as a promising young supernatural ability user, she was a well-known presence in this town.
At that sight, the terrorists were shocked and called out her name.
“You’re Yamikumo Arisu! You… why is a civilian here!?”
“I’m a contract member. Normally studies come first, but when there’s an unavoidable circumstance, I can participate in missions.”
The girl──Yamikumo Arisu──seeing their unexpected reaction, showed a proud expression and waved around a “Savers” certificate similar to a police identification card.
She was wearing the uniform of Akebono Academy, making it clear she had been on her way to school, which made the mismatch feeling with the battlefield even more striking.
“Savers…! How arrogant and rotten can an organization be to make children fight!!”
“Ah, you can stop that. I mean, could you not be the one to say that?”
“Guh…!”
Arisu returned a gaze as cold as ice, contrary to her bright tone toward the terrorist ringleader, who seemed angry at the Savers for sending minors into danger──or rather, he was intoxicated with himself for making such a claim.
Facing him, who shrank back under the pressure emitted by her small, age-appropriate figure, Arisu asked,
“But old man, is it okay for you to be focused on me?”
“What?”
“Your underlings are all down already.”
“──!”
The game board had already been decided.
Thinking it was even more skillful than the rumors, the kobold goodwill ambassador, who had accurately grasped the current situation with his keen sense of smell, sent a generous applause inwardly.
“For ten seconds, this place fell into my darkness. For eight seconds, your attention was on me… With that much, suppressing them is easy.”
“What…!? Could it be…!”
At Arisu’s words, as she carefully folded down the fingers she had raised, the terrorist ringleader suddenly realized something and hurriedly looked around.
At that moment, his subordinates who had been overbearingly surrounding the area just earlier──the armed soldiers who should have numbered ten──collapsed one after another on the spot like puppets with their strings cut.
Including the subordinates who had been guarding outside, there should have been as many as fifty people in total. All of them were skilled supernatural ability users who shared his ideology… but now, it was said that all of them had been mowed down.
『…! That person is…』
As even the hostages were abuzz at that unbelievable sight, the kobold goodwill ambassador sensed the presence of that individual.
──In an instant, a blue-haired girl descended, her uniform skirt lightly fluttering.
The spread out eight wings that fluttered down white feathers made everyone recognize that figure as an “angel.”
“Right? Mea-chan.”
“Arisu, you’re talking too much.”
Mea──the girl called that by Yamikumo Arisu──faced the terrorist ringleader with a majestic bearing, holding a blue slender sword in her right hand.
It had been too fast to see, but the chains that had bound the goodwill ambassador had also been cut by that sword. Without a sound. Like a gale.
The hair tied in her ponytail switched in the next moment to a pure, unmixed white.
The moment he recognized that color, the doubt the goodwill ambassador had held toward her since first seeing her turned into conviction.
『Ah, so you were here… Princess.』
The guardian angel of the First Island Ehyeh, and the King who Presides over the Light of Fairy World.
Her hair color and sacred aura… all matched King “Keter,” to whom he, an important person of Fairy World, devoted his loyalty.