A New Enemy and an Unexpected Ally
(Author: I like when the final boss of the main story becomes an ally only in the movie version.)
(rather than grotesque being, maybe aberrant or abomination are better translations)
To summarize the story, Kazaoka Tsubasa’s purpose was to confirm whether there had been any contact between T.P. Eight Olishua and the two of them over the past few days, and to warn that she might come aiming for Arisu’s supernatural ability in the future.
For the time being, he himself planned to stay in this town and continue surveillance, but… he said that, the most reliable person who could protect Yamikumo Arisu from her private life would be Mea, who was close in age and attends the same school.
Tsubasa highly regarded Mea’s ability, and seemed to think it was a waste that the organization, the Savers, treated her as a contracted member just because she was still a child.
Mea herself also had her own thoughts about that, and felt that “if I could work all day like my brother-in-law, I could be involved in more incidents.”
However, with her reason, she was aware that she was still an immature child different from them, so she was satisfied with her current treatment. Being entrusted with the peace of this town by the brother-in-law she respected was also significant, and it led to a strong sense of duty for her.
…But more than that, Mea sensed that the young man in front of her was impatient about something.
“…Tsubasa-san, don’t try too hard on your own.”
“Don’t say cheeky things, kid… but thanks for worrying. You’ll become a good woman.”
“Fufu.”
Although he had already left the Savers, Mea still felt an unchanged sense of fellowship toward him as a former comrade-in-arms.
Worried that he might end up in low spirits like five years ago, Tsubasa put back on the hat he had been wearing for tailing, and while showing a smile, lightly patted Mea on the head.
After paying the bill, the three of them headed to their respective ways home.
Tsubasa left the scene, entrusting Mea with escorting Arisu in order to first take this matter back to the client and report it.
Comparing his back as he left with Mea’s expression as she saw him off with a gentle gaze, Arisu, for some reason somewhat excited, pressed Mea a question.
“Hey, hey! Mea-chan, are you into older men after all?”
“…Why? And what do you mean ‘after all’?”
“Well, you know… I’ve never seen it at school. That face you made earlier, Mea-chan.”
“Really? I don’t think so…”
Seeing Mea’s state when she was talking with Kazaoka Tsubasa, which was clearly different from the expression she directed at the boys at school, the love-comedy sensor peculiar to girls of that age operated.
Although, like the matters of Hod and Chesed mentioned earlier, it was a completely off-the-mark view.
“It’s not like that with Tsubasa-san.”
“What a weak reaction! Boring!”
Giving a wry smile at Arisu’s amusing delusion, Mea, without being embarrassed whatsoever, denied her suspicion with presence of mind.
She of course thought of him, her former comrade-in-arms, as an important person, but she had never held romantic feelings toward him, and was certain she never would.
That was partly because Mea herself was originally estranged to such feelings, but more than anything, because she knew that he had another woman he strongly cared for in his heart.
“Besides, he has someone he likes.”
“Huh!? Who, who!?”
“I’ll never tell Arisu.”
“Why!?”
Although he himself had never said it directly, Mea had sensed the true reason why the hero called Kazaoka Tsubasa left the Savers since then.
The Supernatural Ability Phantom Thief he was now chasing──according to him, it was simply “because he accepted a request,” but even if there had been no request, he would have taken the same action. That was how strong his attachment was.
Once again, Mea thought.
──She really steals people’s hearts too much.
She, who had stolen the supernatural abilities of many people, had stolen even more “hearts” from many others.
Arisu, Tsubasa, herself… her modus operandi was always so vivid it felt beautiful, yet she left the traces of her intrusion behind in a disorderly way.
While she entered other people’s hearts without permission, once she thought it was fine, she would just disappear. Toward such a person, Mea──
“Eh”
While walking side by side along the sidewalk, Arisu suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Finding it strange, Mea stopped and turned around, and saw that Arisu’s gaze was fixed diagonally upward.
“What’s wrong, Arisu? You suddenly stopped.”
“…That…”
“That? ──!?”
When she turned her eyes in the direction that was pointed, Mea also stiffened and widened her eyes just like Arisu.
What could be seen there was the tallest structure in this Akebono City, the symbol of the town, “Akebono Tower.”
Exceeding 200 meters tall, it was treated as the largest high-rise building even in this town that was currently undergoing urbanization.
──However, beyond it, was a towering a dark great tree many times taller than the tower… as if reaching the heavens.
“That’s… not my hallucination, right…?”
“…Yeah. I can see it too. Everyone in town can.”
If Mea’s memory was correct, there should have been nothing there until just before.
Without any precursor, a great tree exceeding 1000 meters tall had suddenly appeared.
The townspeople who noticed that bizarre sight reacted in an uproar, each showing their own response──some screamed, others held up their smartphones and rapidly used the camera function.
But everyone who saw it must have thought of the tree that had been featured in the news reports day after day.
“…The Tree of Evil…”
That figure was exactly the same as the dark great tree said to have appeared in four countries overseas.
That “Tree of Evil” had appeared in Japan… in this Akebono City.
It had suddenly grown without any warning; were the people who had originally been there safe? With the same worry crossing their minds, Mea and Arisu looked at each other and nodded, then tried to rush to the scene to respond quickly as Savers members.
──At that moment.
“Mea-chan, over there!”
“A Gate…!? No way…!”
When the space around the tree believed to be a Tree of Evil suddenly warped, a huge hole about 10 meters in diameter opened there.
Anyone who had experienced the incident five years ago would recall it──it was a giant “Gate” connected to a different dimension.
And with her exceptional perception ability, Mea immediately sensed the presence of “something” on the other side of that Gate.
“…! Everyone, please get away! It’s coming… something ominous is coming from there!”
“Mea-chan…?”
The moment she sensed that presence, Mea acted reflexively.
Spreading eight wings from her back and soaring into the sky above the town, she transformed her appearance into the particularly conspicuous orange combat form “Hod Form.”
In this situation, that judgment was apt, and Mea’s strikingly conspicuous appearance gathered the attention of the people who were confused by the incomprehensible phenomenon, successfully bringing many of them back to reality.
──However, the movement of the presence felt from beyond the Gate was faster than she had anticipated.
“That’s…”
From within the jet-black Gate, three shadows appeared.
The first thing seen was black spheres.
The three spheres, shaped like meteorites, in the next moment cracked with a sharp sound, and their forms slowly changed. What had looked like spheres were grotesque beings, curled up like fetuses, wrapping their bodies with their own wings.
“The… Abyss…?”
Mea, having recognized that form, held her breath and murmured.
What had appeared from the Gate closely resembled the form of the threat that Mea and the others had fought in Fairy World five years ago.
Specifically, it was exactly like the fragment of the Abyssal Qlippoth “Kaitzul,” which had imitated the form of the angel Raphael, the benefactor of Kazaoka Tsubasa in his childhood.
However, what differed from that Abyss was its color and the substance forming its entire body.
Unlike the fragment of Kaitzul, which was entirely black as if representing deep darkness itself, the three figures all had a transparent, crystal-like form, and their color was a “gray” as if black and white had just mixed together.
──I’m coming to meet you, Mea.
“!”
Was the boy’s voice that crossed her mind the moment she saw that figure a hallucination?
However, there was no time for Mea to worry about that voice, as the situation moved.
The gray, grotesque beings that had appeared from the Gate began to flap crow-like jet-black wings and circle in the sky over the town.
Like seabirds flying around while watching the surface of the water to search for prey in the beneath.
Holding a bad premonition in that behavior, Mea immediately transformed into Chesed Form and rushed toward the three beings showing unsettling movements.
“Who are you!? Has the Abyss come to this world again…!?”
“…………”
The three circling grotesque beings noticed Mea, turned the part seemed to be their faces toward her, and stopped.
Seen up close like this, their forms were larger than humans or angels. All three had a body length of over three meters.
“W-what?”
“…………”
The sight of them surrounding Mea from all directions with their giant bodies and staring at her was eerie and oppressive, but contrary to expectations, she did not feel the ominousness or hostility like that of the Abyssal Qlippoth from them.
After observing Mea for several beats like that, they raised a mouth-like part on what seemed to be their heads, and moved.
──RetUrn homE…
(tl note: The fake Georgian script here looks very different from previous chapters, though they still don’t actually anything.Previous:
Current:
)
“…!? Return… home…?”
She heard a voice. That just now was without a doubt words spoken by them.
However, it was clearly different from the words of the Abyss heard five years ago. Unlike the Abyss’s voice, which was full of noise and completely impossible to make out, Mea, though it was more of a feeling, somehow understood the meaning of what was being said.
“You’re… not the Abyss!?”
…This existence might be different from the Abyss.
Thinking that, like the holy beasts, communication might be possible, Mea strenuously called out to them.
Who are you, what did you come to this world to do, and where did you come from──however, their reply to that was not words, but a dark electric shock.
“Ah… !? …This technique, it’s Eight-san’s…”
The grotesque beings resembling the Abyss unleashed the same technique that T.P. Eight Olishua, whom Mea knew, had used.
Mea instantly pulled out the orange ribbon in her left hand and transformed it into a large shield to block it, but because the “Hod Shield” used in Chesed Form, which specialized in speed, was somewhat less precise compared to when used in Hod Form, Mea could not completely nullify the power, and intense heat and numbness ran through her entire body.
“…W-wait! Please, listen to me!”
“.….”
The grotesque beings showed no reaction to her voice and continued their electric attacks.
While letting out a cry of agony, Mea spun at super high speed to regain her stance, and switching from Chesed Form to her most balanced pure white form, Sefira Form, she readied the blue thin sword “Chesed Fencer” in her right hand.
With the Chesed Fencer in her right hand and the Hod Shield in her left, this fully equipped stance was a full-power combat style she had never used before, as it would be excessive armament in missions against humans.
Mea felt from the grotesque beings a level of power that made her judge that if she did not go that far, she would only be overwhelmed one-sidedly.
…However, what she could not understand was that despite attacking without discussion, she still could not feel hostility or malice from them.
Unable to read their movements, even avoiding their attacks was a struggle. That was also why she had released Chesed Form, which, while excelling in speed, had the weakness of reduced defense.
“Ghk… My words don’t get through?”
Two of the grotesque strange beings transformed their right hands into blade shapes and leapt in from both sides.
While parrying the slashes unleashed in a pincer attack with the large shield in her left hand and the thin sword in her right, Mea was astonished at the weight of each strike and the unpredictable agility of their movements despite their size.
Ignoring her situation, the remaining grotesque being, which had been looking down at the ground from above, began to move.
──FoUnd it
“…! Wait! Don’t go that way!”
Leaving Mea to the other two, the third grotesque being flapped its jet-black wings and descended at tremendous speed toward the ground.
The destination was exactly the nearby route to school by the family restaurant where Mea had been walking until she flew up.
“Arisu, it went that way!”
If a being with such power rampaged on the ground, there was no telling what kind of damage would occur.
However, even if she tried to pursue it, the two grotesque beings remaining here continued their relentless attacks, and being prevented from leaving, Mea was forced to allow one to break through.
But perhaps it was a small blessing in misfortune; at that place was Yamikumo Arisu, a contracted member of the Savers like herself. Though the opponent was a grotesque being of an unknown nature, she trusted that if Arisu focused on defense, she could limit the damage to herself and let the surrounding people escape until Savers reinforcements arrived.
──However, in the next moment, Mea, who had been watching the state of the ground from afar even in the middle of battle, witnessed an unbelievable sight.
“Arisu’s power of darkness… is being eaten…?”
As if it had been aiming for Arisu from the beginning, the grotesque being that had nosedived straight toward her began devouring the Dark Dolls she had created for self-defense one after another.
The grotesque being, which had greatly transformed its arm, messily grabbed her Dark Dolls with that arm, and absorbed their power into its own body, which was transparent like a crystal.
“It can’t be…!”
Whether it was the body attacks of the rabbit-shaped Dark Dolls or the bombardment of the cat-shaped Dark Dolls, the grotesque being nullified all of the power Arisu unleashed and took it into its own body. It was as if the very power called “darkness” had become their nourishment.
Arisu showed expressions of shock and fear.
Though she possessed genius-level ability that even the main members of the Savers would be outshone by, her own taijutsu* was still that of a girl her age, and her body was not especially sturdy like Mea’s. (tl note: unarmed martial arts)
Normally, the countless Dark Dolls she deployed would not allow an enemy to approach her, but if the power of darkness did not work at all, that became a fatal weakness.
“Arisu… Arisu’s in danger…”
From the state of the grotesque beings, she still could not sense hostility or killing intent, but Mea could imagine what would happen to Arisu if she became prey to that power.
Stirred by impatience that she had to go save her at once, Mea resolved to defeat the two grotesque beings blocking her path, and finally swung her sword.
However, the feeling that her close friend was in danger took away her usual composure in battle.
Therefore, she did not notice.
That a fourth grotesque being that had come out of the Gate was aiming at her from behind.
“Oh no──”
She would be shot──by the time she sensed that presence, the compressed dark energy in the head of the grotesque being had already been released. It was a dark shell imbued with power incomparable to that fired by Arisu’s cat-shaped Dark Doll.
“No… let go!”
Mea immediately tried to transform into Hod Form and take a defensive stance, but her movement was obstructed by the actions of the grotesque beings that grappled her from both sides and restrained her* with their superior size. (tl note: original actually translates to “nelson hold”)
──RetUrn hOme
──YoU rEturn toO
“... You…!”
These two grotesque beings were trying to force Mea to come with them, even if it meant being caught in the attack themselves.
Cooperation that neither the Abyss nor the Abyssal Qlippoth had. At the moment she sensed that, Mea clearly understood. She had come to understand it.
That these gray grotesque beings were similar to the Abyss yet different──beings with intelligence.
However, even upon coming to grips with that fact, there was no way to stop the dark shell fired by the fourth grotesque being.
To avoid a fatal wound, at least she braced herself for the impact──and at that moment.
The incoming shell was suddenly pierced and cancelled out by a shell of light that cut in from the side.
As if dumbfounded, Mea’s gaze was fixed on that sight.
──ShE’s hEre
──ShE’s herE to bUlly Us?
At that moment, Mea felt a slight change in the presence of the two grotesque beings restraining her.
A killing intent that she had not been able to sense at all until now began to spread from them as if overflowing.
That penetratingly cold, sharpened “emotion” was such that Mea involuntarily loosened the strength she was using to break free, almost to the point of feeling pity.
Mea confirmed the figure of that presence that had appeared in the direction they were staring.
Looking down on them from the twilight sky was an Archangel with a silvery-white color more beautiful than a snowy landscape.
“You’re…!”
The unexpected arrival of the person who had fired the light bullet that had just saved her made Mea widen her eyes in astonishment.
It was someone Mea had never anticipated.
Her silvery-white hair, tied into two-side ups, was even longer than her height of over 170 cm, and fluttered softly behind her back. The pure white dress she wore was clearly an otherworldly outfit in this country, yet it naturally suited her, enhancing her hair and her inhumanly beautiful features.
──On her back spread five pairs, ten wings, the proof of the highest angel.
『…You have reason to hate us. However, don’t involve my daughter. Graysphere.』
The silvery-white woman turned toward the Gate where the Tree of Evil stood and spoke in a voice whose emotions were difficult to read.
As if responding to those words, a “voice” was heard from somewhere at that moment.
──So you too bully us like Ain Sof does… Charon.
The boy’s voice, terribly sorrowful──did she hear it as well? In the golden eyes of that angel overlapping with Mea’s gaze──the white Primordial Archangel, Charon──there was a color of regret and pity.
(Author: By the way, at this time, off-screen, Eight is getting excited while on edge and about to snap (´・ω・｀). That kind of original-protagonist backstage will be later.)
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