《Who are you, you ask.》
There was no impatience in the other party’s intent. Instead of meeting the question head-on, it was leisurely, as though it had already heard the answer.
《Indeed. You are rather strong.》
That was when it happened.
A faint vibration caught at the edge of my divine sense. A reaction was rising from within the bio-armor of the three knight-class beings sprawled across the ground.
Their caved-in faceguards slowly swelled back out and found their original shape, and their joints, bent at grotesque angles, began returning to their proper positions with dull cracks.
― What? Those bastards were definitely…
― They’re already recovering from that damage? The reactions inside them are rising again. They’re no ordinary knight-class.
I had expected as much through my divine sense. Those things were less individual life-forms than beings bound to the one before me. If they had tough bio-armor and regenerative abilities, then unless they were completely destroyed, it was only natural they would get back up.
I felt irritation surge. Cutting off the bastard’s nonsense, I thrust my own intent back at him.
《Don’t talk crap. Then why did you attack me?》
For the first time, a feeling akin to incredulity rode on the other party’s wavelength.
《Attack? Were you not the one who first struck down my limbs?》
The AI cautiously cut in.
― Th… that is true.
― The moment they entered your senses, you charged in without warning…
Shut up.
Before the AI could even finish speaking, I sharply raised my aura. My golden pupils narrowed, and dense demonic power coiled up like mist between my blackened scales.
Who had moved first was not important. By my standards, they had been a threat, and removing them first had been the correct answer.
My body felt as though it might spring forward at any moment. The killing intent riding atop my will grew even sharper.
Rather than fleeing or becoming wary, the other party’s wavelength instead exuded a deep interest.
《Interesting. I am a branch of gray-white, and the thorn that sprouts at its end.》
A branch of gray-white and a thorn.
What kind of name was that? I called the AI, but the answer that came back was just as expected.
― Hmm? I don’t know. It’s not in my records. Rather than a name, it seems more like an internal classification or role for those things…
As expected, this thing was useless.
― Hey! No, it’s true I can’t answer anything you ask me, but that’s because…!
I ignored the excuse. The bastard’s intent rang in my head again.
《If you have no root, follow behind me. To flow alone in this place is meaningless.》
An offer to take me in beneath him as one of his limbs. Heat flared between my scales. Just as my calculation to pierce through that pale body became firm—
《Before that. Insects have gathered.》
The other party’s wavelength abruptly shifted direction. His gaze turned not toward me, but toward the distant empty air above the ruins.
Even the edge of my divine sense faintly caught them. Presences like bothersome gazes, peering this way from very far away.
The bastard’s outer shell, which had looked like pale, worn cloth, split open grotesquely, and an ivory blade extended long from the area near his shoulder. Its texture was the same as the weapons of his limbs, but the energy within it was far more condensed.
A familiar sensation brushed beneath my scales.
A movement in which the instant of drawing was connected to the instant of cutting. A sensation of severance where the result followed one beat late.
It was not completely the same, but somewhere in its roots, it resembled it.
The bastard drew the blade through the air.
Chak.
Fast.
Before my divine sense could follow the trajectory, the presences in the distant sky were severed first.
Boom!
High in the air, sparks flew and an explosive sound burst out. Pieces of metal that had been hiding transparently fell down in a shower along with dust.
― Optical camouflage drones?!
The AI’s voice rose as if it would tear.
― Insane, that’s fast. He hit those accurately from that distance?
One piece of debris rolling across the ground came to a stop near me.
It was a lens. The glass orb, half shattered, was still pointed straight this way.
The tip of my tail descended over the lens.
Crunch.
The glass orb splintered into tiny fragments.
---
The transmission screen shattered at the same time. Noise mingled over the cracked field of vision.
Bzzzt. Bzzzzzt.
The final transmitted frame held the warped ruins and the blurry forms of two entities standing face-to-face at their center.
The screen went black.
“Close-range observation artifact, connection lost.”
On the large screen, only the red message indicating signal loss was blinking.
On each surrounding console, severed fragments of footage appeared late. Some of the readings did not match one another, and several warning windows overlapped until only red error marks remained.
The two forms in the final frame grew blurrier the more they were enlarged.
“Restoring the final transmitted footage. An intent-type waveform was detected, but the contents cannot be deciphered.”
A comparison window opened on one side of the screen. The footage from just before blackout and the waveform records appeared, divided like severed fragments.
[Comparing against noble-class database.]
[Searching for similar untitled noble-class entries.]
[No records of identical entity.]
[Knight-class synchronization reaction confirmed.]
[Partial intent-type waveform detected.]
The staff officer raised his head.
“There are no records of an identical entity. However, an organic synchronization reaction with the three knight-class entities has been confirmed. It can be temporarily classified as an untitled noble-class.”
Rubel sank deep into his chair and clicked his tongue softly. His slender fingers tapped on the armrest.
“A pity. It was an artifact I put quite a bit of effort into making. To think he would detect and shoot it down from that distance.”
“Lord Rubel. Is this really the time to lament the loss of an artifact?”
Rin stepped forward before the screen. Her steps were a little faster than usual.
“It appears untitled, but it is still a noble-class entity. It commands three knight-class as if they were its limbs. Moreover, that entity presumed to be Baengnin is far too different from existing reports.”
Rin’s fingertip pointed at the blackened serpentine entity on the screen. Even in the blurred footage, the outline of its twisted black scales was distinct.
“Its external transformation and reaction speed are beyond our assumptions. Just now, beyond a simple encounter, we even detected a waveform that appears to be intent-type contact. It is highly likely a conversation took place between them.”
“Why are you so agitated?”
Rubel waved his hand with an arrogant air.
“This is an operation planned with even count-class noble forces in mind. What appeared on the screen seems to be a noble-class without so much as a title, so how is that a variable? Don’t tell me it’s because of that Baengnin you proposed?”
“That is…”
Rin’s words briefly caught in her throat. A thin smile settled at the corner of Rubel’s mouth.
At that moment, Ios, who had been quietly watching the screen from the rear, gently cut in.
“Please don’t press my sister too hard, Lord Rubel. What she said isn’t wrong. It’s true the situation is flowing in a strange direction.”
Ios tilted her head slightly toward the screen. Her gaze slowly followed the records floating across it.
“And that entity called Baengnin…”
Rubel’s eyes narrowed.
“What. Did it get caught in Asterion’s foresight or something?”
When Ios operated her terminal, records presumed to be of Baengnin from different times appeared on the screen one after another.
A white serpentine entity observed on the ground.
An illusion that had seemed like a dragon.
A blue flash captured beneath the barrier wall.
An unidentified long-range penetration reaction cut off in midair.
An unexplained visual distortion that had looked like a black moon.
And now, the blackened scales embedded in the screen.
Ios looked at those records for a while, then turned her head. An unreadable smile hung at her lips.
“Who knows?”
Rubel let out a short sigh.
“Hoo. Fine. That way again, is it?”
Rin did not miss Ios’s smile. Anxiety spread coldly down her spine.
If Karin had been here, it would have been closer to certainty than conjecture. Of all times, that girl had been pulled from the front line due to sensory overload and injuries after encountering the count-class noble.
It was always the same. Despite being of the direct line, at the most crucial moments, that weak body of hers was the first to reveal its limits. Rin swallowed her irritation.
“Shall we deploy additional observation equipment?”
The staff officer broke the silence and asked.
“No. We’ve already been noticed. The same method won’t work.”
Rubel cut him off firmly. He turned his gaze away as though he had already lost interest.
“Maintain only the long-range observation network and give up on close range. Instead, share this data with Mudang Corporation as well.”
Rin turned to Rubel with a look of shock.
“Lord Rubel. What do you mean by that? Are you saying we will hand over the Council’s internal data to Mudang? If they intervene, control of the scene will be shaken first.”
Rubel raised his index finger.
“It is not my decision.”
Rin’s lips trembled faintly.
“It is his order, Rin Kasiel of Roen.”
---
The red dot inside the shattered lens fragment went out.
― The signal’s cut. They won’t be able to see any more of what’s happening now.
The branch of gray-white faced this way again.
From within the armor of the three fallen knight-class, the sound of friction grew even rougher. Their caved-in faceguards and gouged armor had already nearly regained their contours. The scattered tips of their thorns also scraped across the ground as they gathered back toward their spines.
《The insects have been removed.》
That intent descended before me once more.
《Now answer. Will you follow behind me?》
What a joke.
My golden pupils were reflected on the shattered lens fragments.
This time, I did not answer with a question.