Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 21 - Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Tournament Day Six — He Who Lost His Other Half

City of Duels, Gideon, Central Arena

Tournament: Day Six.

Reward: Name Unknown (Presumed Type: Dragon [Eastern]).

Core traits: Tornado, lightning, and explosion generation (Uncontrollable in its Orb form).

◇◆

After Death Period claimed The Tournaments of days one, two, and three, the fourth was taken by Fallen Knight Juliet, who also went on to defeat the UBM she won.

On the fifth day that followed, the reward was a UBM with the core traits of “fatal damage negation followed by time-limited body enhancement,” and the possible MVP reward attracted many powerful individuals to fight for it.

However, one of them was a Superior—Tsukuyo Fuso.

She was a significant obstacle even for the strongest, and in the end she was the one who claimed the popular reward offered on day five.

That marked the halfway point of the ten-day event—and today, day six, was the beginning of the second half.

The way this day’s contest progressed was, in a word, expected.

The reason for that was the involvement of the player who held second place in the duel rankings—The Unsheath Kashimiya.

Indeed—instead of going for the popular Orb offered on day five, this individual, who was among the kingdom’s strongest, went for the sixth day’s unremarkable Orb. This one seemed to have effects based on sky magic like creating flame and lightning.

Anybody who went for this one because they assumed that the strong Masters would avoid a reward this boring turned out to be completely wrong. As a result, Kashimiya cut down each and every opponent he was matched with and, as anybody could have expected, made it to the final battle.

And now, those who bet money on him—and everyone else who was certain he would win—were now waiting for the last duel to begin.

“I thought that Masters had worse technique than tian Superior Jobs, but it looks like there’re exceptions to everything!”

And among this audience, there was someone who wasn’t human.

It was the technician who’d operated in Caldina under the name of Crys Fragment, and whose true identity was that of a mass-produced Prism Person, Crystal Tuner.

After the incident aboard the luxury liner Eltram, she’d separated from her sister-unit and arrived in Altar to support Integra. Now busy with work as a court magician, Integra wasn’t able to leave Altea much, and Crys took it upon herself to act in Integra’s stead and gather information that might be relevant to their activities.

However, there wasn’t much of note so far.

We need to truly understand the powers of the Masters who will side with the kingdom. That will prove invaluable in controlling the situation. Splendida was invited into Dryfe and will look into their side, and I have other...connections besides him. But when it comes to Altar, it would be best to investigate personally.

Crys thought back to the Superior she regularly made deals with—the man who sold various bits of info to her. Apparently, after that incident, he’d headed to Dryfe on foot, but he must’ve arrived by now.

“Ngh...” As she watched the second semifinalists—one of whom would end up as Kashimiya’s victim—Crys downed a concentrated MP potion.

Being Crystal Tuner, she represented an immense success of Prism Person mass production, but there was still something about her that put her at a disadvantage compared to the five made before her.

Specifically, it was the magic shortage caused by lower core quality.

Crystal Tuners were preceded by mass-produced Prism People—if they could even be graced with that name—called Prism Soldiers, who had compensated for their lack of a core by increasing in size and using living beings as parts, a clunky and inelegant solution. And while not as extreme, Crystal Tuners had a similar problem. The magic provided by their cores was less than that provided by those in the original Prism People. If the biological parts of Crystal Tuners didn’t regularly ingest potions, they would be unable to use their weapons to their full potential.

This was a problem caused by the necessary materials being inaccessible, and not even Flagman could ultimately overcome it.

However, the Crystal Tuners themselves believed that this was their only flaw.

Okay, time for the finale. Kashimiya’s opponent had been decided, and day six of The Tournaments would end soon. Crys had been active for nearly two thousand years and had seen many strong individuals—but even to her eye, Kashimiya was clearly a huge step above.

Thus, she was certain that he would instantly claim victory.

Thinking that seemed almost like it would jinx it, but her thoughts had no effect on the expected outcome.

The duel was over in a flash—before even a single second could pass.

Once the commendations and other formalities ended, the audience would be asked to leave for safety reasons while Kashimiya challenged the Orb.

“All right. Now...” This was when Crys’s job for the day truly began.

She had to confirm that today’s reward was what she thought it was. If it was what she expected, their plan would have to be heavily reworked.

It’s not just a matter of combat potential. It’s proof of a history that Huang He wants to erase, she thought. I find it hard to believe that they would present it to another country, but the way they handled the left half makes it likely that they’ve simply lost the knowledge of it.

Soon enough, the ceremony ended. Crys stood up from her seat alongside the rest of the audience.

I wonder what will come out of it... Well, actually, if I’m right, I know exactly what’s going to happen.

In her place, she left a drone so tiny it was little more than a speck. Before The Tournaments, she had gone around placing these drones in various areas of Altar.

I hope I get the information I want.

◇◆

After the audience left the central arena, Kashimiya stood upon its stage.

As he waited for the battle to start, he examined the many blades he employed while fighting. He was surrounded by five K&R members—the volunteers he’d gathered to form a party. Since there were only five available slots, there was an intense conflict in the clan over who would get them, but Kashimiya had no means of knowing this.

This probably didn’t have to be said, but none of the others were after the MVP reward—they simply wanted to be in a party with Kashimiya.

“Darling, why’d ya pick this one, anyway?” Rosa, who had taken her slot as though it were a given, posed that question to Kashimiya.

She had multiple reasons for participating in this fight—venting her anger over losing to B3 on day two, helping Kashimiya in the struggle, and simply getting the UBM battle she’d missed out on, among others.

However, she had no clue why Kashimiya had gone for this Orb rather than any other.

In response...

“Intuition.”

...Kashimiya said just a single word—a reason which did not seem enough of an answer.

“Intuition?”

“Yes. I somehow felt like today’s UBM is the strongest.”

Rosa didn’t know what to say. As far as tiers went, the strongest one was obviously the Mythical on the final day.

However, Kashimiya’s intuition had led him to today’s UBM instead.

“Also, if the situation is right, this one might actually come out too,” he continued as he caressed the red sheath of the odachi—the large sword—at his side.

Not even Rosa knew what that odachi was. It was something he hadn’t had back in Tenchi, and by the time they’d reunited in Altar he’d already acquired it. She believed it was an MVP reward, but it seemed to reject Identification and the like.

However, it was clear that it was one of the aces he kept up his sleeve.

“We have prepared the barrier,” said a worker managing the arena’s barrier function as the optimization concluded. Covering the stage as usual, it had been put up without the setting that restored the combatants once the duel was over. It also had the feature that prevented escape from within while still being tuned for maximum toughness.

And, in case of an emergency, Shu and Hannya—Superiors—were standing at the ready right outside the barrier. If it was broken and the UBM began a rampage in the city, they would do what they could to destroy it. Even if they hadn’t been there, the waiting room contained the Masters who had achieved second place and below in today’s Tournament. Normally, they would have their turns against the monster if Kashimiya failed—but if something happened, they would rush in and destroy the UBM before it caused damage to the city.

The barriers were reliable enough, though, that not a single UBM had escaped thus far.

And at that moment, a pedestal with an Orb on it was brought to the middle of the stage.

This was the reward for winning on day six—the Orb containing a UBM with an unknown name.

“Starting countdown until we destroy it with a remote explosive. Ten, nine...”

At those words, Kashimiya’s party readied themselves.

The supporting jobs already put up their buffs, while Kashimiya assumed an unsheathing stance. Rosa used her Embryo ult to consume bones focused on STR and AGI, then hid herself and prepared to deliver her job ult as Nobushi Princess, A Kill Supreme.

Two pre-Superiors focused on swift strikes—the battle would surely end the moment the UBM was released.

“Three, two, one...ignition!” The pedestal exploded, shattering the Orb on it. Kashimiya and Rosa instantly sprang into action.

The moment he did, Kashimiya’s eyes widened. In his unsheathing stance, the Godlike Unsheathing skill raised his AGI all the way to 500,000.

Because of that, the moment the Orb shattered, he was able to see what appeared out of it.

The UBM’s presumed type was dragon—specifically, the usually serpentine, wyrm-like dragons often associated with the east. However, it certainly didn’t look the part. While its body was covered in black scales, its shape was that of a human.

But it wasn’t a full person—it was only the right half of one.

Above its head, there was text that said Blue-■■■■ ■■■■■-Turn, Heilong-■■■■■■.

That was an awfully odd name for a UBM. It was as though it had somehow lost half of it along with the other half of its body...

But however warped it may have been, a humanoid was easier for Kashimiya to cut than a dragon. He could now simply approach and lop off its head as he always did.

But then, he widened his eyes even further. Kashimiya stopped unsheathing his blade.

It wasn’t the UBM’s appearance that made him stop his approach, but his own instincts.

Rosa, however, did not stop.

“A Kill Supreme!” She left her ambush state and activated her job ult as she jumped behind the UBM.

It was a combination of her Embryo and job ults, and the damage she could deliver with it was so immense it could fell a standard UBM in just a single hit, and this UBM had just appeared from the Orb and didn’t seem to fully grasp the situation, let alone notice or see her coming. The battle would be over in a flash.

And it most certainly was over...

...when Rosa was turned to dust by a bolt of blue lightning that struck her.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” Shu said in shock as he watched all of this happen from outside the barrier.

The lightning was the UBM’s counterattack. While the monster seemed to show no reaction to her, it had retaliated against Rosa’s attack without even turning around.

However, what shocked Shu wasn’t that, but what happened afterward.

Rosa had two means of avoiding fatal damage: the MVP reward she used even in duels, and a Brooch that wasn’t normally allowed in them—and yet she turned to dust despite that. This meant that the retaliation didn’t come in the form of just one attack.

What happened to Rosa could be explained like this.

Rosa had been hit by lightning, but she’d survived thanks to her Brooch breaking and had continued to try and deliver her job ult.

In response, the UBM had instantly fired a second lightning strike. Thanks to her MVP reward, she survived that one as well and went on to teleport herself.

However, as if it had instantly known exactly where she would move, the creature had fired a third lightning bolt that had finally turned her to dust.

Rosa possessed two means of evading fatal attacks, but not even she could do anything against this blue lightning that not only killed her in one hit, but struck multiple times.

Fired with lightning speed that allowed no evasion, the bolts ensured her death the moment she got close.

Blue and Turn. The visible part of the name... I see how it is, Shu thought as he came to understand this UBM’s power.

The creature had most certainly not even noticed Rosa. In fact, it had no idea what was happening and was actually very confused.

But even in this state, that skill had activated and attacked Rosa.

A fully auto counterattack, Shu concluded. The blue lightning wasn’t fired by the UBM consciously, but targeted Rosa automatically. The fact that it struck not just once, but until she was dead meant it repeatedly activated on any hostile that was close enough to it.

That lightning ain’t easy to dodge. It’s gonna be hard to beat this if you’re a vanguard who just fights in melee... I guess it’s specced to specific conditions. But that power level makes it seem like we got a Mythical-tier absurdity on our hands.

Shu readied himself as he analyzed the UBM’s abilities. Although it was humanoid, Kashimiya was woefully badly matched against it. However...

Well, speaking of absurdities, the little guy ain’t far behind, is he?

When the lightning struck, the UBM wasn’t the only thing that surprised Shu. Now that the UBM had instantly killed Rosa, the K&R members were on high alert.

One could even say that they were frightened.

However, Kashimiya was different. He remained calm and didn’t seem to be the least bit perturbed.

At some point, he’d switched from the odachi he’d had initially and now had the one in the red sheath. The moment the Orb was broken and the UBM released, he realized that the other odachi—even the marvelous ones made of Mythical metal—wouldn’t be good enough.

And in his other hand there was the red sheath’s odachi...already unsheathed. This sword that seemed to choose its opponents so carefully was now baring its edge.

And it hadn’t just been drawn.

It had, in fact, already cut something.

There was no blood or flesh sticking to it, however, so what exactly had it cut?

Nothing less than the lightning itself.

The moment Rosa was hit by the auto-counterattack, Kashimiya was struck by lightning too.

This was a lightning strike that the UBM called for manually when its instincts registered him as a threat, and its power surpassed even that of the blasts that had turned Rosa to ash.

And yet, Kashimiya had cut it with the odachi of the red sheath.

On Earth, there were multiple legends of blades being used to cut lightning or the gods that wielded them. But what happened here was no legend—it was done right before everyone’s eyes.

A single slash from this blade was able to nullify the power of a lightning strike that could easily turn people to dust.

Was this truly possible? Yes, it was.

It could be accomplished by combining Kashimiya’s Godlike Unsheathing technique with the power of the red sheath’s odachi—which was a fragment of an SUBM, Prototype Horobimaru-Star Sword.

Kashimiya returned the odachi to its sheath, then put a little power into his fingers to see if he could take it out again—and just like that, with little resistance the sword of the red sheath showed a bit of its blade.

This self-conscious, capricious odachi was awfully obedient today.

This meant that even the sword itself recognized this opponent as one worth cutting.

Kashimiya maintained his unsheathing stance, looking out for the right moment to cut down the UBM. However, before he could, something rather odd was happening with the UBM in front of him.

“...Ah...” This UBM, a creature of just the right half, let out a sound as it reached for its left half.

But as one could clearly see, there was nothing there for it to touch.

“Al...me...ra...” It looked around and spoke a name as it searched for its other half, but needless to say, it was nowhere to be found.

There was nothing here except for the strange UBM with only a right half—Heilong.

“Where...am I...?” As reality began to sink in, Heilong’s consciousness gradually regained focus.

Kashimiya noticed that change, and his expression shifted slightly. “I failed,” he murmured.

Kashimiya understood that he could no longer cut the creature.

It wasn’t because his opponent had suddenly spoken human words—that wouldn’t even slow his blade, let alone stop it.

It was simply because the UBM had grown stronger.

The creature’s presence was now on a different level than it had been when its consciousness was still vague and unfocused.

Kashimiya instantly understood that Heilong possessed fearsome powers that he had barely begun to show. In the back of his mind, he could envision himself being struck down by this opponent’s attacks.

It was possible that whatever trump cards Heilong had could be cut down by Kashimiya’s Prototype-Star Sword—but this would not allow him to claim Heilong’s head.

Perhaps he could prioritize decapitating Heilong even if he was killed in the process? As a Master, Kashimiya could come back from death. Trading one of his countless lives in exchange for the one and only life of a monster or tian could be considered a victory.

But I can’t say the idea is appealing, Kashimiya thought. He didn’t want a victory achieved through something other than his own blade and technique. If he were to cut, to win, to kill, he would pick and choose his methods.

He would cut through head-on, win decisively, and kill absolutely.

Kashimiya was the asura of unsheathing, and this was his line of thinking.

Heilong also understood that it now faced someone who could cut it down.

The odachi of the red sheath that Kashimiya held was able to remove Heilong’s head—something which couldn’t be said about any common blade. The sword had the power, and Kashimiya had the technique needed to make that happen.

The blade hadn’t actually touched Heilong yet, but it wouldn’t be out of the question if its head flew clean off its neck the very next moment.

While neither of them knew what the other was truly capable of, they had already read that their opponent could surely kill them. Each combatant possessed godlike technique that allowed them to understand that much.

That was why Heilong chose not to fight Kashimiya.

“I have...no business...with any of you...” As it said that, Heilong’s body was enveloped in light. Then, it held up its only palm—the right one—above its head.

The next moment, it released a pure-white beam of light.

This attack was reminiscent of Xunyu’s Zhenhuo Zhendeng Baolongba, though it was shining with a heat many times greater than that skill.

It was a light unknown to Kashimiya, and even Shu did not recognize it. Certain other duel rankers like Figaro and Riser, though, would’ve had a certain name spring into their minds.

Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria.

This attack was like the beam of the fearsome dragon—not the one fired by Figaro’s Gloria α, but one that matched the Overdrive possessed by the original Gloria itself. It was akin to the power of the one-horned head that was defeated before Shu had fought the dragon.

The light that carried this immense power struck the arena barrier, and though it had been optimized for toughness, it didn’t even last a full second before it was broken.

If it had been fired horizontally, it would have devastated Gideon. Instead, it formed a pillar of light that rose up into the sky.

The shattering of the barrier was a clear emergency, and a number of people leaped into action. Shu switched to his Godcloth, and Hannya called Sandalphon.

Those watching feared that this was the beginning of a battle that could reduce Gideon to dust.

But that didn’t happen.

Once the pillar of light disappeared a few seconds later, Heilong was no longer there.

It was clear that after breaking the barrier, he’d instantly flown off like the wind.

The UBM inside the Orb that served as the reward for day six had escaped from Gideon.

◇◆

After that, the arena was buzzing with activity—an obvious reaction, seeing that the barrier that had contained every UBM so far had been rendered meaningless and allowed this one to escape. This created a great many problems that needed to be addressed and tasks that needed to be done, such as launching the search for Heilong or figuring out what countermeasures needed to be put in place for the remaining Tournament days.

However, those directly involved—Shu included—understood that this was the optimal choice in the conflict and the best result they could’ve hoped for.

Heilong could have used the light to escape, or it could have used it to destroy Gideon and be decapitated by the others present as a result. The pillar of light meant that it had picked the former option.

Even if Kashimiya hadn’t been there, the forces currently in Gideon were capable of killing Heilong. Thus, the UBM chose to escape, and that was nothing but a blessing to the people of Gideon.

While the prize might have been gone, the city narrowly avoided suffering any damage from a UBM with attacks that seemed to rival those of Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria.

The only problem left was the question of where Heilong had run off to—and that was something that nobody knew.

After all, although he’d escaped, even Heilong itself hadn’t been sure where to go.

Indeed—it knew nothing that awaited it beyond its flight.

◇◆◇

Former Nowest Canyon

This was the land that was once called the “Nowest Canyon.”

Its ecosystem had been thoroughly destroyed in the Big Three’s battle against Gloria, and then its landscape had been ravaged in Shu and Sechs’s fight to the death. There was nothing left here besides a wasteland created by incredible amounts of unfettered energy.

But now, there was also a UBM here—Heilong had landed here from his flight.

He’d only cared about escaping from Gideon, and flew off without thinking about where.

Thus, one could say that his arrival here was a mere coincidence.

If not that, he may have subconsciously thought that this place, so flooded with immense energy, would be where he would find a hint that would help him search for his other half—a being who consumed energy without end.

But Heilong’s other half wasn’t here. There was nothing in this place, and coming here was a complete waste of time.

...No.

“Hm...?”

There was a single person here, seemingly blending with the scenery. Clad in tattered gear and covered in sand and dust, this person looked somewhat like an old scarecrow. However, he was certainly a human male. He just stood in place all by himself, his gaze fixed slightly upward for some unknown reason.

He wasn’t looking at the sky, though.

It was more like he was looking up at something that was once there—an afterimage of the massive, fiendish dragon that had been defeated here.

Heilong looked at the man. Unlike Kashimiya, he didn’t seem to give off a menacing aura.

Instead, what Heilong felt from him was...unease.

The man made Heilong feel as though it were looking at a pit trap or something of the sort—an abyss so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

“Who’s there?” With those words, the man turned to Heilong.

He could now see the man’s face, and the sight of his eyes really made Heilong feel as though he had glimpsed some kind of abyss.

The man’s eyes were fixed on Heilong, but they weren’t looking at him. His brain received the visuals, but he had no thoughts about what he was seeing.

He seemed to care neither about Heilong’s bizarre form, nor about the immense power within his half a body.

The man felt nothing, and Heilong saw the emptiness in his heart.

“A UBM? You look like you might be a tian too, but...not like I care.”

The man wasn’t merely saying that—he truly, from his core, believed that Heilong wasn’t deserving of any regard.

The UBM’s eye widened. It thought back to the time before it—or maybe he—was sealed by the Draconic Emperor, before he became a UBM and was one of the gulong ren—ancient dragon kin—and he couldn’t think of a single instance where anyone had looked at him this way.

The man before him had his eyes fixed on Heilong, yet saw nothing positive or negative. He didn’t run away in fear or attack him for the MVP reward. Unlike those Heilong had faced upon waking up, this man wasn’t even wary of him.

He looked at Heilong as though he were but a strange part of the scenery.

“Why are you looking at me? I clearly don’t look as peculiar as you do. Ha ha...”

As if amused by something, the man cracked a faint smile. Though minor, the change in the man’s expression somehow filled Heilong with dread.

That must’ve been why his eye widened and, before he even realized he was doing it, Heilong had fired a white beam from his right hand—a beam that carried enough heat to easily destroy Gideon’s barrier and enough power to match even the Overdrive skill that had once burned the very ground they stood on now.

It wasn’t something one single man could weather—he too would certainly vanish without a trace when the light struck him.

“Ohhh. Now that brings back a bad memory.”

That was only true, however, if the man were unarmed.

At some point a single sword had appeared in his hand. It was his other half—his Embryo.

“Næġling.”

The core trait of this Embryo was “surpassing.” Going beyond even those who stood above its wielder, it was the embodiment of transcendence.

“End Breaker.” The sword spoke with a girl’s voice as the man swung the blade and cleaved apart the beam of intense heat.

Indeed—that single strike not only split apart a laser as powerful as Overdrive, it also cut straight to the source of the beam and carved a deep wound into Heilong’s body.

“GHA...AGHH...!” For the first time in centuries, Heilong felt pain.

After he’d become human and he and his other half had become a UBM, the only time he felt pain was when they fought the Draconic Emperor.

Almera—the other half that was the heart of their defenses—wasn’t with him right now, but even so, slicing through Heilong’s attack and sinking a blade into him was an inhuman feat.

With the pain of the wound, Heilong realized that the fear he’d felt wasn’t unfounded.

He shouldn’t have gotten involved with this man. He had stepped directly into a pit that would send him to the abyss of death.

The man said nothing, glancing at his own sword. Then, he turned to look at the trajectory of Heilong’s split beam—it had melted everything in its path.

He seemed to have thoughts about both the UBM’s attack and his own retaliation.

“Well. No matter.” With those words, the man began approaching Heilong, sword in hand. Heilong backed away in fear.

He was the half of what was once called an Irregularity, and yet this man had just brought him to the brink with a single hit. That was fearsome even lacking his other half and weakened by his many years sealed away. The beam he’d fired was his most powerful attack, and yet the man dealt with it like it was nothing. There was no chance the automatic lightning strikes would do anything to him.

Heilong imagined himself dying, and the idea of leaving his other half behind terrified him more than his long years of imprisonment or even his own doom.

“Almera... ALMERAAAAAAAAA!” Heilong then found himself shouting his other half’s name. He called out to her, but it was a call that could never reach anyone.

However...that call did stop the man in his tracks.

Still holding the sword in one hand, the man stood in place...and asked a simple question.

“Is that a woman’s name?”

Though perplexed by what was happening, Heilong answered with a nod.

“Is she your beloved?”

In response to this follow-up question, Heilong nodded instantly. There was no hesitation—his very body moved to answer.

“...I see.” Upon seeing Heilong’s reaction, the man took a moment to think...

“Go.”

...and pointed his sword toward the horizon.

The man said that he would let Heilong go.

The UBM was still perplexed, but hoping to survive to meet his other half—Almera—he obeyed the man’s order. He flew off, just as he had when escaping the arena, and disappeared into the distance to search for her...and to never again encounter the man with those terrifying, empty eyes.

The man watched as Heilong vanished.

As he did, his sword left his hand. After turning into sparks of light, it assumed the form of a girl in her late teens, her red hair tied in a ponytail.

“Captain...”

“I’m not ‘Captain’ anymore,” said the man, rejecting the words of Næġling—his own Embryo.

“That was a UBM... Are you sure we should’ve let it go?”

The man he used to be would’ve certainly defeated this UBM—and he wouldn’t have done it solely for the MVP reward. It was a UBM that launched attacks before talking. A creature like that would no doubt endanger tians, and this man would’ve certainly wished to eliminate it.

Yet he’d chosen to let this UBM go.

That was something the man he’d once been would never have done.

“Neither the MVP reward nor the tragedies matter to me now...”

However, he himself had insisted that he was no longer that man.

Næġling understood that too. The shape of her Master’s heart simply wasn’t what it had been before.

And that was exactly why she herself was different too.

After all, Næġling was now a Superior Embryo.

◇◆

Evolution into Superior Embryos was a matter surrounded by a great deal of uncertainty, and the conditions for it to happen were thought to be unknown.

Even the control AI associated with it—the Infinite Embryos—didn’t have a full grasp of it. That was because it seemed like they had things in common, while at the same time shared absolutely nothing.

However, there was a hypothesis that the reason it was a mystery was not because it was caused by some universal factors that people did not yet understand—but because the trigger for each Embryo was different.

Basically, besides the Resource absorption that the Masters would perform through combat and other means, evolution required that an Embryo also undergo some sort of mental catalyst that would act as a trigger—and this mental catalyst was different for every Embryo.

Some achieved it through mortal combat, others through idling about. Some achieved it through vanity, others through self-denial.

This hypothesis wasn’t proven, but it was widely believed that it would explain the differences in Embryo evolution.

That was exactly why the control AI, who believed this hypothesis to be correct, brought about SUBMs and other disasters. They knew that such things would steer emotions in a number of extreme directions, either by making the Masters stand up to protect something important...or by making them lose it.

And for Næġling, the breaking blade, this “trigger” had been despair.

She’d overcome the final wall because of the despair her Master had felt upon losing everything.

Today, the moment he logged in for the first time in a while, she began evolving into a Superior Embryo, and the power she gained because of it was exactly as demonstrated.

With it, he would’ve been able to sever even Gloria’s Overdrive.

The blade he now wielded was capable of repelling the disaster that attacked his town of Claymill. He had gained the power to protect what was dear to him.

But what was dear to him—the one he loved—was already gone.

◇◆

For Næġling’s Master, the fact that he was now a Superior held no meaning. He saw no value in it, nor was he happy she had evolved.

“Cap— I mean, Master, what will you do now?” Claymill’s save point was gone, so when he’d logged in, he appeared in Altea.

From there, instead of going to Gideon where he’d once competed with his friend, he went to the place where the monster that had taken everything from him had met its death.

“I’ll go to Claymill’s ruins. I’ll leave flowers for her...and that’s it.”

He’d go to the now-obliterated city and offer flowers to his late wife. He’d finally gained enough willpower to do at least that much, and it was the only reason he’d logged in today.

He figured it was the last time he’d ever log in.

Næġling was silent. She didn’t say anything to argue.

This was the first time in a while that she’d met her Master, but she couldn’t stop him from leaving again. She believed that it was her fault he’d become a broken man. She hadn’t had enough power to prevent it—all of her strength had arrived too late.

Thus, she and her Master—King of Swords, Foltesla—exchanged no more words and left what remained of the canyon...

“Found one. A Superior who could oppose the Incarnations.”

...and neither of them realized that a minuscule drone was watching them leave.