Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 20 - Chapter 9.5

Interlude: The Third and the Crystal

Eltram

The long night was finally over, and the light of dawn fell upon the desert.

The ship was already devoid of people. Shortly after the incident, while it was still dark, rescue had arrived in the form of sand-ships and Pure-Dragon aviation services that took the passengers to the nearest city. They were on their way there now.

With its escort vessels gone and its own cannons rendered unusable after their energy source was deactivated, Eltram was now nothing but a tomb on the sands. If it happened to be targeted by something like a swarm of worms, there would be no hope for anyone left behind.

Thus, while the cargo was salvaged, the ship’s hull itself was abandoned where its progress had halted.

That was when a certain Master logged in on board it.

“Well, this place sure got a lot less lively.” The speaker was a man wearing makeup and a shirt that exposed his chest—the same Master who’d given gala tickets to Niala and Fey, and who had had an exchange with Crys. “Either they were all destroyed, or I’ve been left behind by the rescue operations.”

As he walked through the inside of the ship, he saw a large informational poster on the wall. It was directed at Masters who were logged out while the rescue was taking place, and it said that the people of this ship had been evacuated. If anyone wanted ticket refunds, they had to visit the offices in any city.

“Ha ha ha! And how do they expect me to...ohh, wait! It’s obvious!”

Masters were able to log out and log back in at a city’s save point. That didn’t apply to those on wanted lists, of course, but they didn’t deserve consideration. And that was basically it.

“What a predicament for little old me. I can’t go back to any city...oh, woe is me. This means I’ll have to walk through the desert.” Thanks to AGI, crossing deserts in Dendro was faster than it was on Earth, but it would still take a while. “I’ll lose quite a bit of time. It doesn’t look like I’ll make it to those peace talks mentioned in the letter. But I guess it was never certain I would be there anyway!”

He reached into his Inventory and took out a piece of paper.

It was a letter addressed to him from Reinhard—the imperator of Dryfe. It offered him a place in Dryfe’s military and, if possible, asked him to arrive in time for the peace talks that were set to happen soon.

“I would like him to remove me from the wanted list, but I suppose a down payment is a bit too much to ask!” This man had been involved in a rebellion against Dryfe, and that had landed him on every wanted list.

That was why he couldn’t use any save points at all.

However, Reinhard knew how useful he was in battle, and that was exactly the reason he’d extended the invitation.

The man felt that it was a very bold move by the imperator, but nevertheless was thankful for it.

“Very well—I will simply walk there. Traveling on foot is nice every now and then.”

He turned away from the poster and began walking into the desert when...

“Oh no, you’re not traveling anywhere.”

...his legs were blown off.

“Oh?” Having lost everything below the knee, the man collapsed on the floor.

Then, another man came into view, looking down at him—an obese man holding high value coins in both hands.

It was none other than King of Revelry, Moneygold.

After Zhang had buried him under the ship’s debris, Isara had rushed to free him. Then, for his own reasons, Moneygold had decided to stay on the ship.

“Well, well, well. Were you also left behind just like me, Moneygold?” Despite losing his legs, the man showed no worry or distress as he spoke.

“As if. I was just waiting for you,” Moneygold replied.

“Waiting for little old me?”

“Eldridge said that there were three Superiors—me, the Murder Princess, and one other. And since Rascal only showed up later when the whole thing was already underway, it couldn’t be him.”

“Yes, yes. And?”

“I didn’t have time to ask Eldridge who the Superior was, but I had a feeling it was you.”

“Ohh! And why’s that?” The man was excited to know Moneygold’s reasoning...

“Because the people who attacked the ship were the DLG—Curtis Eldona.”

“Hm...hm?” Those words made the man tilt his head in confusion...

“Isn’t that right, Splendida the Evergreen?” And hearing his own name, the man—Splendida—adopted a stumped expression.

“You joined them at one point and participated in their failed plan to assassinate the imperator. That’s why I guessed that if the DLG were going to act now, you—someone connected to them—would act too.”

“Your calculations are a total mess in the middle, but you arrived at the right answer... I’m not sure how to react!” He was indeed Splendida the Evergreen, and he’d once joined forces with the Eldona family, taken part in the assassination plot, and bought time against King of Beasts. That was all true.

However, the reason he was on this ship had nothing to do with the clients from back then. He was here to simply see the sights and run some errands for a different client—Crys Fragment.

Since it was Crys who’d led the DLG here by acting as their cooperator, though, that meant he was a little involved. This situation was very messy from his perspective.

“But I basically had nothing to do with this! Your time is wasted on little old me! You’re a busy man, aren’t you?”

“Even so, there’s value in making you tell me what you do know.” Moneygold’s Truth Discernment hadn’t activated, so he knew Splendida wasn’t lying, but that was a separate matter. He had no reason to let someone go who clearly had information about what had happened here.

“You’re so violent...” Splendida muttered.

“I have a question.”

Splendida let out a sigh. “Well, let’s sit down and talk, then. I don’t have legs, you see.” He pulled himself into a sitting position on the floor and waited for the question.

“So...what did you put on this ship?” Moneygold asked, taking out a single fragment—the Orb piece Isara had found.

“We’ve already interrogated the DLG survivors, so we know that Crys Fragment was the one who led them through a secret part of the ship. But why did Crys cooperate with them? And why did you put a UBM in the cargo area?”

Just as Isara had confirmed, the content of the Orb from the cargo block—the UBM—had killed the soldiers who were there before escaping outside. It didn’t even involve itself in the other battles, so it was unclear why it was even on the scene in the first place.

“Based on the state of the remains in the cargo block, this must’ve been the Orb of frost—which was said to be in Vennsayle. That means this Orb was already on the ship back when we learned about it. And...Vennsayle vanished just a while ago. We were informed that it was blown sky-high right before the talks with Granvaloa. How much of this was your or your group’s doing?”

Moneygold was certain there had to have been something more to this incident than the clash with DLG or IF.

“Heh heh heh...whatever do you mean?”

While Moneygold was convinced Splendida was involved, he acted like he had no idea what Moneygold was talking about...

Going through Splendida’s head right now was I have no idea what Moneygold’s on about.

He really did have no idea at all.

Splendida knew that Crys had brought something to the cargo area, but he didn’t know that the thing inside was a UBM, and this was the first time he heard about Vennsayle’s disappearance at all. He felt like she could’ve just told him about this, but a part of him understood not trusting him with such information.

Splendida’s assistance had been limited. For the most part, he was just a spectator. Still, he had managed to notice a few things.

“If there’s something you can learn from little old me...it’s that I don’t think even my current client has all the information you want,” Splendida said. He found it especially doubtful that she’d been involved in Vennsayle’s disappearance. She’d certainly taken the Orb from there several days ago, but she had no reason to destroy the city afterward. That must’ve been someone else’s work. “This ‘game’ has many ‘players’ making their moves, after all. There’s my current client, my next client, your boss, and the devs,” he said, referencing Crys, the imperator, the president, and the control AI, respectively. “With so many intertwining motives on the board, it’s impossible to predict what will happen—and that’s what makes it interesting.”

Splendida had the same tone as someone looking down on events as they transpired from somewhere far above.

“Anyway, I still have many things to see, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be leaving now,” Splendida continued...as he stood up on his own two feet.

His legs, blown away by Moneygold’s Treasure Cannon, had already returned. His shoes and any clothing below the knee were all gone, but everything else was exactly as it had been before.

“Oh dear. This means I’ll have to walk in the desert barefoot.”

As Splendida laughed about his situation, Moneygold fired his Treasure Cannon once again. Not just once, however—he fired over and over, like a far more destructive Gatling gun.

Splendida’s head, arms, torso, and his entire body was reduced to nothing.

In his battles against Rascal and the DLG, Moneygold had been forced to limit his powers, but now he attacked without caring if the ship was utterly demolished in the process.

With this firepower turned upon him, there was no doubt that every bit of Splendida had been destroyed completely. However, Moneygold’s expression remained serious as he looked around, coins at the ready as though there was still a threat present.

After a few seconds of silence...

“‘I’ll destroy him until there’s nothing left!’ Everyone who’s confident in their firepower tries that kind of thing at least once!”

...Splendida’s voice spread across the area.

“If that was enough to kill me, though,” Splendida’s voice continued, “she would’ve done that too!” he said, referencing his encounter with King of Beasts.

Eventually, a head grew in the place where he’d once stood. Then, the head sprouted a torso and then a set of limbs, spreading out like a tree growing branches or roots.

Eventually, Splendida stood before Moneygold once more, completely unharmed but lacking any of his equipment.

“This is why I can only ever wear cheap clothing. If only my gear were restored as easily as me,” Splendida casually remarked, his face now devoid of makeup. That had been vaporized along with the rest of his head, and his face was now revealed exactly as it appeared on his wanted poster.

“Tch...” Moneygold clicked his tongue and fired Treasure Cannon again.

The last remains of the ship were obliterated, and Splendida’s body vanished once more...only to be recreated yet again.

He seemed completely removed from the very concept of death.

“An Embryo that makes you immortal, huh?” Moneygold said.

“I suppose you could say that. Though it works differently than little Emily’s...it’s more like a combo.”

“How are you coming back from having your HP reduced to 0, stacking up enough injury debuffs to kill you instantly...and even getting completely obliterated?”

“Try and guess. Treat it like a quiz.”

“Tch...”

Splendida was alive even after having his body reduced to nothing. Unlike Emily, he had never transformed into bits of light. That meant he had never even died. While the Murder Princess was immortal because of her inexhaustible extra lives, Splendida was incapable of dying by some other mechanism.

This time, Moneygold fired a low-power Treasure Cannon. Instead of killing Splendida instantly, he tried targeting the heart, the lungs, the brain—parts of the body that, if damaged, would impede the activity of the rest.

However, even those wounds quickly closed.

“Don’t you get it? That won’t work. Right now, little old me is impossible to kill.”

Despite being exposed to this devastating onslaught, Splendida maintained a smile...

“My Tír na nÓg will not fall.”

...and claimed, with certainty, that he was as safe as can be.

“Your defense, though, has a time limit, though,” he added. “You can’t win against little old me right now...but will you still try?”

“I will. I can’t just ignore you.”

“I see... By the way, where is tu’s lady bodyguard?”

“I gave her a job and sent her back. I couldn’t keep her here without knowing what kind of thing you were.” And as it turned out, Splendida was far beyond what Moneygold had expected.

“You made the right choice, then! Continuing this battle might be a mistake, though!”

Splendida then spread his arms and released a cloud of poison from his palms as branch-like wings sprouted from his back and a wooden mask covered his face. “I suppose I’ve got to go on the offensive, as well.”

“So you’re just like Carl in that regard, huh? I guess that’s just how survival-focused builds end up looking.” Moneygold pulverized one of his Inventories, scattering the coins on the floor.

All right, let’s do this, he thought. If I can at least figure out the cards he’s holding, this won’t be a total waste of time.

A battle would help Moneygold discover Splendida’s strengths and weaknesses—perhaps giving him a hint toward eventually defeating him.

With that in mind, Moneygold faced Splendida, who stared back at him. Ready for battle though he was, Moneygold had already considered the possibility of defeat.

Two hours later, only one silhouette rose from the shattered ship. It turned and began walking toward the distant imperium.

◆◆◆

Caldina

In the desert, a good distance away from the ship that had played host to a DLG terrorist attack and a UBM release, there stood a single mobile weapon.

It looked like a crustacean, somewhat reminiscent of the Acra that had appeared in Quartierlatin, and riding it was the one behind this incident—Crys Fragment.

Wearing a mechanical mask, she was examining the surrounding monitors and checking the data they presented. This information had been gathered by the many observation devices she’d installed on Eltram, and everything was related to her objective in causing this incident in the first place.

Crys was silent, but despite that and the mask on her face, it was plainly obvious what her feelings were.

“That isn’t a good look on your face. I can’t blame you, though!”

The one who said that was someone who was riding this mobile weapon with Crys.

She was a woman too, but unlike Crys, she wasn’t wearing the mechanical mask. Instead, she was wearing a forehead covering reminiscent of nineteenth-century central Asian native garb and gloves on both of her hands.

She was the journalist who’d interviewed Hugo, introducing herself as Stal Tune.

“Affirmative. I expected much better results from the Orb you retrieved from Vennsayle.”

Those words had huge implications—they meant that while Crys Fragment had lured the DLG to Eltram, it was Stal Tune who’d placed the Treasurebeast Orb on the ship.

This entire incident was born from their cooperation—they had deemed the results inadequate, though.“The ship’s core, the Over Pilot’s core, and the cores brought in as extras—the ones made by our foolish sister who betrayed us and sided with a lesser Incarnation,” Crys said, thinking of Agate. “I’d anticipated that the energy they provided would have been optimal in resurrecting the calamity...in allowing it to regain the power it had lost during its confinement. And yet...”

“There are two things we didn’t expect! First was Huanglong Renwai’s thoroughness!” Stal spoke the name of the Draconic Emperor before the last one—the one who had sealed away countless UBMs and left them in the world as Orbs.

Her gaze then focused on one of the monitors that showed a recording of the cargo and the surrounding areas. Specifically, it showed the moment the DLG soldiers had all their life and heat sapped away by a UBM.

“I didn’t think he sealed the Irregularity after splitting it in half!” Stal said.

The UBM looked like just a silhouette of a person split straight down the middle. This bizarre creature that only had its left half also only possessed half a name. It was called ■■■■-Pale Death-■■■■, ■■■■■■■-Almera.

It was as though its body, its name, its very being was only half of what it should be.

“Looks like not even six hundred years were enough for us to get a full measure of him!” Stal’s voice sounded cheerful, but it was warped by a slight hint of displeasure. It was as though she was saying, “He’s always caused trouble for us.”

“The second thing we did not expect was that half of the calamity prioritized escape over energy acquisition,” said Crys. “Is it heading toward Huang He, the place it hates more than any other? Or does it seek its other half? Predicting its movements from now on will be difficult.”

“That’s true. Unlike some entities I could name, we can’t see the future. Well, things like this just happen! This victory is all hers, I guess. Not like she is necessarily our enemy, after all.”

“If we take the most optimal path, she will be our enemy. Or our greatest ally, if we focus on our second best option.”

“Her worst enemies are the High-Ends like the imperator and King of Kings. For us, it’s the Incarnations. How we interact with the other players on the board depends entirely on our current stage of progression.”

The conversation they held was incomprehensible to almost everyone in the world. A moment later, Stal clapped her hands as if to signal that it was time to change the subject.

“We should talk about what we’ll do next!” Stal said.

“Indeed. On top of our usual activities in Caldina, we will be tracking that half of the calamity. I propose we separate for now. Do you agree?”

“I can handle Caldina by myself. After what happened today, operating here won’t be easy for you, will it? That’s why you should go support Integra. She’s an Altarian public figure now, so it must be hard for her to do covert operations there.”

“Reasonable.”

“Reconfigure your personality, though. Make it closer to mine. She doesn’t know that we are us.”

Crys nodded in response to Stal’s words, took off the mechanical mask, and put on a bright smile.

“Okay! Is this good?” Crys said. It was as though the mechanical woman from a moment ago had never existed at all—Crys’s words and expression were full of humanity.

However, her face was also now exactly the same as Stal’s.

“Perfect! Anyway, good luck in Altar, Crystal Tuner!”

“Thanks! You have your work cut out for you too, but do your best, Crystal Tuner!” With the same face and the same personality, the two smiled and gave each other a high five.

“All by the will of The First,” they said in perfect unison. Within their foreheads were crystalline structures—the energy cores that powered them as Prism People.

Thus, the Crystal Tuners—the perfected, mass-produced Prism People—made their next move as the representatives of the first Flagman—one of the most ancient players on the board of this world.