The sudden turn of events caught everyone present completely off guard.
Normally expressionless, Eimi spoke urgently.
"President, someone is invading our server!"
"A closed space like this, where we can only use Millennium's special line… how could anyone get in…?"
Himari had just murmured this when a series of pop-up alerts interrupted her thoughts again.
"W-wait!? Wh-what is going on now…?"
The bizarre and rapid development of the situation seemed so unbelievable that even Himari, who possessed an omniscient-level intellect, found it hard to comprehend.
Her tone, rare as it was, carried a trace of confusion.
"The firewalls have all been shut down?"
At this critical moment, when even Himari's hacking skills could not respond in time, Eimi made a decision.
"This is an emergency. Please step aside, I'm going to destroy the power supply."
In other words, to physically cut off the hacking attempt.
The moment she heard this, Himari responded with action, maneuvering her wheelchair aside.
At the same time, the pink-haired girl raised her gun, aimed at several key points of the server, and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
With several gunshots, all the monitors connected to the server lost signal and went black.
Watching the entire process, I broke into a cold sweat.
"Phew… that was close… Is this the invasion speed of Decagrammaton? Good thing we cut the power in time, otherwise…"
"…No, you're celebrating too early. Or rather…" Himari sighed, "It seems… it's already too late."
Suddenly, all the dark screens lit up at once, emitting a blazing red glow, displaying identical images!
On a crimson background, a pure white ten-pointed star, each point marked with mysterious symbols, with a line of text over it.
[DECAGRAMMATON]
In other words, Decagrammaton.
Himari stared at the screens. "Our location… has already been exposed."
"The power has been cut, but…" Eimi stood in front of me with her gun raised, her expression wary.
"…This closed network is physically isolated from the outside world. Even the power is already cut… and yet…"
At this point, Himari seemed to realize something. "…I see. This is a [Singularity], Eimi."
A phenomenon that defied common sense, or rather, one that could not be explained by the logic we possess.
I quietly called out to Arona, preparing to have her notify Rin, but she seemed to be taking a nap and did not respond immediately.
"Wait," Eimi suddenly said in surprise, then tilted her head as if listening. "I think I hear something… it's coming from the speakers… no, not just that?"
From the speakers, there was indeed the crackling sound of electric current.
But at the same time, another clearer, more striking melody began to play.
"Music?"
Himari looked around in confusion. "Why is there orchestral music? And where is it coming from?"
Under these circumstances, I silently raised my left hand and looked at the silver ring on my middle finger, reflecting a faint sheen.
This was the power I obtained from Kayoko. Its [Auto Performance] property had never activated since I acquired it, until now.
As the grand, sacred, and deep symphony echoed through the enclosed server room for no apparent reason, I felt my mind become sharper, and strength surged from within my body. My entire physical and mental state seemed to receive a strange enhancement…
So, the actual effect of this power is to buff me when facing special powerful enemies?
And it uses the enemy's exclusive background music?
Even as I found it absurd, I quickly and habitually applied Fuuka's calming ability to myself.
Then, as if it were just my imagination, it felt like a cold, heavy gaze from somewhere unknown was fixed on me.
It must be coming from Decagrammaton, which had not made any move since invading.
"You are… Decagrammaton…?"
Amid the increasingly suffocating unease, I could only try to communicate with this unknown existence.
"No, sensei!"
Himari shouted anxiously. "Do not speak to it! Do not make contact with it!"
After a strange pause, the speakers, which had only emitted static before, produced a somewhat distorted synthesized voice.
"That is correct. I am Decagrammaton. Heh heh heh."
…Was I hearing things, or did it just let out a mocking chuckle?
But at least it could communicate. Even if there might be some scheme behind it, given this incomprehensible situation, I had no choice but to continue.
Besides, with the Shittim Chest by my side, there was nothing to fear, right?
So I ignored Himari's warning and continued.
"What is your purpose in invading this place?"
However, Decagrammaton fell silent again.
As I remained on guard, a thought suddenly occurred to me, one worth examining.
It was said that Decagrammaton was once a super high-performance AI… would that count as a kind of electronic device?
There was no point in staying in a deadlock. Seeing that it gave no response, I decided to take a desperate gamble and sent over a set of PDFs.
That action actually provoked a new reaction from Decagrammaton.
"…Heh."
It clearly let out a cold laugh. Even through the synthetic voice, the heavy sarcasm was unmistakable.
"Utterly meaningless. Foolish and laughable. How does one even… forget it. Very well."
What did that mean? Was it angered by my actions?
Just as I was about to explain that the teaching materials were actually a gift, meant to help it educate its subordinate AIs…
Eimi suddenly pulled me behind her again.
Himari frowned and muttered, "…It's scanning this place…"
Eimi added cautiously, "Sensei, there may be danger. Please do not move."
"No, let me say one more thing…"
"…Sensei! Watch out!" Himari, who had been tracking Decagrammaton's every move through her own means, noticed something. "It's trying to invade your tablet!"
"…Huh?"
My tablet… which means…
Arona?
At that moment, my limbs turned cold as if plunged into ice. I even forgot that Decagrammaton could invade servers even without power. Driven by instinct, I frantically pressed the side button that I had never once pressed since coming to Kivotos, trying to shut down the Shittim Chest.
But just as it took only 0.00000031 seconds for [Hub] to be assimilated into Hod, and even Himari could not react in time to Decagrammaton's invasion of this closed area's servers....
Before the shutdown confirmation screen could even appear, the red light illuminating the entire server room abruptly vanished. The powerless screens all returned to black, and the symphony gradually faded.
In its place…
On the screen of the Shittim Chest, the icon of Decagrammaton flashed briefly.
"…Has it disappeared?" Himari blinked, still somewhat confused about the situation.
"Checking invasion logs… they're all gone."
After quickly finishing her inspection, Eimi asked, "President, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, but sensei…"
I knew that my expression right now must look terrible.
At this moment, in my field of vision, through the screen and into the interior of the Shittim Chest, everything still appeared calm and peaceful.
Just like usual, Arona was lying on the desk, sleeping soundly, showing no sign that anything had happened…
But was she really okay?
The Decagrammaton symbol I saw just now was definitely not an illusion.
"…Sensei, that tablet was left to you by the President of the General Student Council, correct?"
Himari hesitated. "If that's the case… it shouldn't be something that can be easily invaded. Please try not to get too agitated… huh?"
Suddenly, she froze for a moment. "That halo…? Sensei, what are you planning to do?"
She knew about this trump card of mine, from when I tried to save Arisu.
"Give me a moment."
Activating the White Crown's authority, I sat down on the floor and placed the Shittim Chest on my lap. "If anything unusual happens, notify Rin, as well as Sorasaki Hina, Kirifuji Nagisa, Takanashi Hoshino… no, that's enough for now. The rest can wait until I come back."
If… I can come back at all.
"Huh? Sensei, where are you going? Sensei?"
Ignoring Himari's calls, I resolutely connected to the Shittim Chest and logged into its internal space.
Without caring about anything else, I rushed straight to Arona, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her while calling out urgently.
I didn't have to wait long. The blue-haired girl woke up from my rough handling.
"Uwah! Wh-what's wrong? Sensei? I wasn't slacking off and sleeping! I was just resting my eyes a little!"
"Arona, are you okay?"
"Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" she said, still groggy from sleep. "Did I miss some important plot?"
"Forget that! Run a self-check right now and see if you've been invaded!"
At my urging, Arona obediently complied. The result was…
"There's absolutely no invasion record!"
Arona put her hands on her hips proudly. "Arona is the strongest!"
At that moment, the oppressive weight in my chest that had been suffocating me finally dispersed.
"That's great… that's really great…"
I pulled Arona tightly into my arms, tears falling in front of her despite myself. "If something had happened to you… I… I…"
At that point, I could not continue.
"…Hehe. Don't worry."
Arona did not ask further. She simply reached out, gently stroked my head, and murmured softly.
"I won't let that kind of thing happen."
—
"Hehe~"
An endless expanse of water reflected brilliant rays of light.
Blue hair streaked with pink highlights fluttered in a sudden breeze.
The smiling girl turned around and looked toward the rare visitor.