Chapter Thirty-Seven: Impartial Awakening
Thursday,
8:58 A.M.
Whoosh!
A massive gust tore across the courtyard.
It swept past the AST units, coalescing around X.
'This familiar feeling.'
Princess sensed it first.
It resembled Reiryoku in nature.
Rather, it felt similar in essence. And it was gathering around him like it recognized him.
Yes, it reminded her of a memory which was hazy and now vague to her.
Just who was he?
Her brows furrowed in thought.
But in contrast to Princess somewhat lax attitude. The same couldn't be said for another.
"Kuh! All of a sudden—!"
Ryoko's report was cut off, but Maya, listening from the other end, had already reached the conclusion.
They had failed to assassinate him.
Mana surged around Morgan's Territory.
Luminous particles, invisible to the naked eyes circled him in close spirals.
Yet, something about the sudden change in him felt fundamentally wrong.
«Connecting to Main Server: BETA…»
«Synchronize»
[Deploying holographic features…]
Certainly, not only has his computation prowess increased, his perception has heightened.
Not to mention.
He was beginning to gain sensitivity towards 'Mana'.
But that wasn't all.
«It does feel good to possess something close to a body»
Beta's holographic figure floated beside him.
She was roughly about the same height as Morgan.
Wearing what seemed to be semi-casual clothes but resembling a uniform.
Hair tied in parting twin-tails, thigh-high stockings, and finally shoes.
Beta's appearance was the epitome of carefreeness, in contrast to her mechanical looks.
As it materialized fully, it then paused; its attention was on something else.
Narrowing her eyes, she turned her gaze to the now frozen-in-place Morgan.
Her teal-like eyes glowed a deeper shade of green.
«Running analysis»
«Answer. Master's brain waves are high»
According to her scan.
Morgan's brainwave activity had begun to spike upwards.
If it were displayed on a graph, it would show an extreme climb, well beyond typical range.
«To put it into simpler terms. Master is high… it has begun»
Glancing at him once more, she realized her might have triggered 'that'.
«Situation has been foreseen beforehand»
[Beginning construction]
Tzz!
Electric arcs danced across his arms, forming a thin, white-chromatic line down their length.
«Imprinting. Starting…»
[Constructing Mana Circuits]
By flooding his veins with mana, hopefully, just hopefully, the process would work.
Normally, this would have been gruesome to undergo.
But under the influence of his Territory.
In addition, thanks to Beta.
Numbing his pain receptors, and every controllable factor kept in check.
He was able to hold onto his sanity.
Yet, because of that...
"Hahaha!"
Morgan burst out laughing before he realized it.
Even though he was sane enough to want to bite his tongue just to shut himself up.
But it was pointless.
His mind was being split between clarity and something distinctly not sane.
Like Beta said: he was getting high.
High on spiking brain wave activity.
Beta shot him a sidelong glance.
Morgan himself had suspected something like this happening.
At the very least, he was prepared for any sort of setback.
Yet, regardless of that, because Territory was being active, as well as the greenish-yellow mana swirling around—
«It is possible to continue operations like this. After all...»
Beta's gaze shifted forward. Sure enough, they had been surrounded.
About ten AST units swarming around opening fire as it inched closer.
"Command Center, come in."
"I have no idea what's happening, but X seems to be stalled, we can take him out now!"
<
"Roger!"
Click!
The sounds of firearms and rocket launchers being prepared could be heard.
And without pause…
Gunfire spread, explosions resounded.
Rains of metal fired from each firearm towards the crater, still surrounded by smoke.
Thanks to [infrared vision], they could easily spot his actions through the smoke.
Yet, even that wasn't enough.
«…hmph»
Beta's figure levitated slowly in front of Morgan, though it already knew.
They were using some sort of infrared vision.
By calculating their actions and the angles at which the firearm was coming from, there was no doubt about it.
However, it was still pitiful.
Thanks to their [Infrared Visions], detecting her holographic body would be impossible.
Snap!
Imitating her Master, Beta snapped her fingers.
Once more..
In an instant, every firearm round froze midair, suspended in golden ripples just like before.
«It is futile; in the first place, this technique uses mana and vibrations to function»
«If that were the case, resorting to those primitive firearms despite knowing they would have no effect whatsoever is worthless»
«Yes, Inferior people like you lots should grow an additional brain»
Her expression was blank, mechanical, before she snapped her fingers again.
All the bullets dropped harmlessly into the crater below.
"Tch… nothing's working."
While they could not see it, they heard the clanking of bullets dropping to the ground.
Through the infrared rays, however, they could see it had no effect.
An AST member spat the words out between clenched teeth.
Clack!
Tossing her weapon aside, she gripped her Anti-Spirit Blade and charged straight toward Morgan.
Twiss!
"Kuh! Dammit!"
Before her blade could even graze his Territory, once again, the golden ripple stopped her cold again.
Through the haze, she could however see his figure more closely except his face.
However,
at this point,
She could also see a hazy holographic entity in front of him with arms spread.
"W—what—"
Snap!
"kuack!"
A blunt, crushing force slammed into her, through her Territory and striking her chest.
Her face went pale.
Color drained from her face instantly as spit flew from her mouth before she was hurled back.
Nyun–!
Thud!
A resounding explosion resounded.
"Be careful! X uses an Unidentified attack that can penetrate territories!"
While the AST panicked, Beta inside Morgan's Territory nodded her head.
Obviously, she couldn't have done it alone.
Thanks to
Avalon
Not only did it function as a CR Unit—
In a way, it was directly connected to Beta's main server.
The halo behind Morgan acted as an external CPU, computing for him rather than his brain to bearing the load.
Just like a computer running a program.
The more unique one's brainwaves, the more power their Realizer and CR-Unit could draw.
Perhaps it was due to Morgan's rapidly spiking brain activity that she could pull this off.
She glanced at him.
He was still disoriented.
But the white chromatic lines along his arms, and down his entire body, were beginning to coalesce.
Her lips pressed thin.
«Rest assured Master, in about a minute, you will regain control»
Saying that Beta then faced towards the sky.
Princess was locked in combat, surrounded by AST members coordinating in formations around her.
Unlike before, their attacks had gained structure.
It was as if someone had finally begun giving them real tactics.
«I see. Master's Aunt has taken command»
Beta forced those words out with no particular expression.
As for the grunts in front of her.
«Flash Cast: Laser Circus»
Dragging her left hand from right to left, she snapped her fingers, and something weirder happened.
The golden ripples changed.
It changed into a ball of light.
"...that is-! Everyone, dodge!"
The unit leader coordinating the AST members facing Morgan, rather, X, immediately swung her arm in warning.
And sure enough—
Twick!
The ball of light thinned into laser-like filaments.
But that was not the worrisome part.
Now that his attack possessed a means of bypassing Territories…
It was even more dangerous.
Light spread out 360 degrees from his Territory as the origin point, chasing the AST.
Each and every one of them flew further, weaving through the beams of light as they fled.
It would definitely be fatal if it hit!
Ryoko felt her stomach twist.
"Everyone, disperse!"
She immediately gave the order, pulling back as well, and sure enough.
It wasn't only them.
Beta had also targeted Princess.
In the sky.
She and Beta's holographic projection seemed to exchange a single glance.
It happened only for a moment.
Even before Princess could be surprised by this fact, more spheres of light formed around Morgan's Territory.
"...nu?"
With no further gesture—
«Go»
The beams chased after Princess too, and although she maneuvered through them, she had no doubt.
Her gaze lined towards Beta holographic figure.
"Vacant Skies."
The words slipped out of her before she realized it.
Cling!
Her hand gripped tighter against Sandalphon as she swung it down with vigor.
A massive gust roared downward, splitting the beams of light as it tore toward the ground below..
Seeing this, however, a faint smile touched Beta's lips.
«It's time to wake up, Master»
"What a rude greeting."
His voice came out almost groggily, as though he had awakened from a bitter sleep.
Snap!
Immediately as Morgan's eyes fluttered open, before anything else, he snapped his fingers.
The roaring gust rushing toward him vanished instantly.
«Has Master succeeded?»
Beta stepped back, examining him. Morgan tilted his head up and laughed.
"Yeah. Thanks to you."
It was no longer a stretch to say that he had the abilities to harm both Spirits and Wizards.
Specifically, the ability to pierce the Subjective Reality of a Spirit and a Wizard's Territory.
This was only possible through the Mana of the World and special vibrations, which wasn't far-fetched.
[Divine Vibrations]
Just like in that guy's world.
It makes use of a special vibration that allows the user to negate any magical phenomena.
With a realizer and a Territory that could wrap reality, like Westcott had done, it was possible to create this.
For now, it's still incomplete.
But—
Cling!
That alone is enough.
Its incompleteness meant there was a stage higher than this, and that was exactly what he wanted.
Morgan's mechanical wings spread.
His legs shifted against the ground.
"At this moment, I am unstoppable."
Crack-boom!
A thunderous detonation ripped through the air, with an acceleration far beyond conventional speed.
[Mana Burst] + [Friction reduction] + [Pneumonic Wings] + [Thought Acceleration]
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain of concussive blasts echoed through the sky, followed by people falling from the skies.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Like flies, the strategically retreating AST members dropped slowly to the ground below.
"Hah!?"
Ryoko's eyes widened.
Before her senses could keep up with her; all of her men were wiped out in front of her.
She was the only one left.
Hovering above, cold sweat streamed down her cheek as Morgan drifted close to her.
But thanks to the recognition filter, she couldn't make out anything from him.
Yet, as though he had no interest, he simply passed by her.
Whether she should be furious, ashamed, or happy, she didn't know.
She could only slightly motion her head to the back, watching him slowly drift toward Princess.
"And you, wiping them out is easy, why do you hold back?"
Sandalphon.
Perhaps not many people were aware, but it's a sword that could cut the boundaries between two worlds.
As well as concepts.
Mayuri's powers were cut in the same manner.
"...What are you talking about?"
She frowned, pointing her broadsword towards him.
But Morgan only let out a smile from behind his filter.
While he wasn't confident in taking [Sandalphon]'s full power head-on.
However…
If he could force her to cut open a gate to the Neighboring World, that would also be interesting on its own.