Ishura - Volume 8 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Northern District of the Old Town

There was a young man named Surug the Double Shield. He shared the eight-person carriage with several other soldiers and was heading out with them to save the people of Aureatia.

Though not technically regular Aureatian soldiers, they felt that they had been preparing for this very day.

The people of Aureatia don’t know. There are those who sacrificed a great number of lives to slay Lucnoca the Winter.

Surug held this sort of pride in him.

They, under the commander of Tuturi the Blue Violet Foam, had killed the strongest of all living creatures, more threatening than the one-and-only Alus the Star Runner, the dragon capable of annihilating Aureatia in a single breath.

Of course, Surug himself hadn’t actually been present for the hellish battle at the Mali Wastes.

Nevertheless, it didn’t change the fact that he belonged to the heroic camp that slayed Lucnoca the Winter. Powerful and prominent figures within Aureatia—Haade the Flashpoint, Iriolde the Atypical Tome—had guaranteed righteousness for them.

Aureatia’s Twenty-Nine Officials, currently holding complete governmental control with Rosclay the Absolute and Jelky the Swift Ink the first and foremost among them, were traitors who schemed to use the Sixways Exhibition’s chosen aberrant freak hero to depose the Queen, and those in Surug’s camp were the only ones who possessed the oppositional power to rectify this plan.

This Sixways Exhibition farce is unnecessary. We’ll be the ones to truly free Aureatia from tyranny and fear.

The series of stories devised by Iriolde the Atypical Tome had manifested the exact results he had wanted.

The madness of this age, left behind by the True Demon King, could occasionally possess directional qualities with its effect.

It was the sudden spate of mass violence. As long as one was within this current flow, they could behave as if this chronic terror had been completely forgotten.

It was the day of the tenth match.

The fungi soldiers that appeared in several places around town signaled thus.

Around one-point-three meters from top to bottom, they didn’t possess arms or any sensory organs, and with their stalks, ramified into three leg-like branches, they creeped along the ground at a walking speed. It was in their nature to perceive all animals with body heat as nutritional sources and ingest them into the structure of their mesh-like cap. A relatively simply construct that even a regular Aureatian soldier could take down.

Still, they were more than enough to induce fear. Fungi were an unknown construct never before seen by any of the residents of Aureatia, and the victims unfortunate enough to be absorbed into the fungi’s bodies, met with a gruesome drowning demise due to its half-liquid internal tissue.

Above all, they had numbers. The constructs Yukis the Ground Colony had made fit for practical usage could be transported in a dormant state, dried out with only one seventh of their normal volume, and would immediately get to work after receiving some water.

Though a self-proclaimed demon king, who tended to seek out individual capability, the fungi soldiers were a mass-produced construct, developed with practicality as the main objective.

“That’s them, huh…”

Arriving as scheduled to the points where fungi soldiers were deployed and witnessing them in the flesh for the first time, even Surug couldn’t help being taken aback by the massive mycological monsters, filling up the whole boulevard as they creeped along.

An incomprehensible and terrifyingly grotesque construct. Surug had trained over and over to kill other minian races, but could his strength do anything to enemies like this?

They hadn’t been informed that it was Iriolde’s own National Defense Research Institute that had deployed these fungi soldiers. In fact, the cause of the fungi outbreak had been spun to say it was an Aureatian conspiracy, to further strengthen the troops’ hostility toward the Aureatia army.

As his anxiety and soaring morale swirled inside him, Surug caught something that wasn’t a fungi moving in the corner of his eye.

“Help! Someone! Eeek…!”

“Ngh!”

The instant he recognized a girl who had failed to evacuate, he flew out of the carriage.

Moving ahead of any of the other soldiers, he plunged straight into the sea of fungi soldiers.

“Hrrrraaaaaaaaaaagh!”

The stance of his opening step and the way he placed his body weight all seemed to line in up perfect harmony.

He severed the head of the fungi soldier chasing the girl and then, without stopping, cut down one more advancing in from the left with the rest of his sideways sweep.

The fungi soldier let out a gurgling noise. He couldn’t tell if this was the fungi’s cry, or simple a noise ringing out from having its body tissue slashed through.

“Behind me!”

He stood to shield the young girl.

The other soldiers, following Surug, rushed out from the carriage and had begun to battle. The grotesque monsters stopped moving one after another, whether vividly severed with a blade or shot through with a rifle bullet.

There was another specification required of the fungi soldiers Yukis had created.

Weakness.

The windups to their attacks were easily read, and the ability to see through their movements and evade, even for the youngest soldiers freshly finished with their training, was natural. Their bodies, constructed from unidirectional hyphae, were easily cleaved through, and gave a great tactile response when cut. With their nature to sense heat and swarm together, they had no ability to avoid danger, making it easy for soldiers to take down as many as they wanted.

This was because these constructs weren’t made to invade Aureatia, but instead made for the soldiers of Iriolde’s camp to defeat. The young, private army Iriolde had taught himself weren’t scared of pointing their blades at Aureatia’s regime. Nevertheless, there was no denying that their lack of actual combat experience was an obstacle against Aureatia’s regular army.

Assuming that the elites of the anti-Aureatian forces, starting with Haade’s camp, were the main force preparing for what came afterward, then these soldiers were nothing more than sacrificial pawns to bring chaos to Aureatia—normally speaking, anyway.

The fungi soldiers were there to send these makeshift soldiers running wild and convert them into a fighting force.

“You lot! Which unit do you belong to?! Don’t stick your neck where it doesn’t belong!”

“Damn Aureatia army! What’re you here to do now?!”

“We’re just protecting the people of the city from Aureatia’s attack on its own citizens!”

“What the hell’re you—hngl?!”

“Hah, I got him! Got him right through the throat! With my very first shot!”

“Nice job!”

“That was impressive! Y’know, these guys ain’t all that, are they?”

The goal of the fungi soldier’s form, inspiring physiological repulsion, was to elevate the confidence the soldiers felt from defeating them.

In addition to this psychological effect, by making them brilliantly slay the fungi soldiers in large numbers, it was possible to collectively instill in them a baseless confidence and exultation.

A single group, moving like raging billows that had forgotten all hesitation and fear, would then become monsters who were capable of upsetting the gap in pure strength and technical prowess.

This grand coup d’état, when broadly divided into political powers, was simply a battle between two factions within the Aureatia Assembly.

Rosclay’s camp, the mainstream reformation faction in Aureatia, versus Haade’s camp, the second, military faction, which possessed a huge influence over the Aureatia army.

However, the actual composition was more complex.

The mastermind who had been supporting Haade’s camp in their opposition to the main faction from the shadows was former Fifth Minister, Iriolde the Atypical Tome. Longing for his political resurgence, Iriolde, with not only Haade’s camp but also the National Defense Research Institute—a construct research facility helmed by self-proclaimed demon kings—under his banner, was for all intents and purposes the greatest political enemy of Aureatia’s main faction.

The fungi soldiers deployed by the National Defense Research Institute across the land were the pretext for Iriolde to invade Aureatia with his rebel army.

Fungi soldiers filling up the city. Iriolde’s private army, arriving on the scene as if the timing had been perfectly planned. As they mowed down the fungi soldiers, they even began to challenge the Aureatia army, arriving late to the scene, to fight.

Amid the chaotic maelstrom of countless intentions entangling together, there were very few who could command a bird’s-eye view over the situation they found themselves in.

Conversely, there was one person who always commanded an overarching outlook of any and all information.

“They’re being set up,” a man whispered quietly from a rooftop.

A leprechaun. Wrapped up in a light brown coat, he had bandages wrapped pell-mell around his face.

I knew it already, but this wasn’t a fight I should’ve had any business with…

Kuuro the Cautious. He too was part of Iriolde’s camp.

Kuuro was originally supposed to deployed on this battlefield as a trump card in their attempt to overthrow Aureatia. He had only defected moments prior, right after the series of operations went into effect.

It had been easy. For the owner of eyes that reigned supreme over any and all perceptional organs in the land, an ability known as Clairvoyance, there were no eyes he couldn’t deceive.

What he had needed was the right timing. Even if Iriolde’s camp realized Kuuro’s desertion, they couldn’t interfere with Mizial or Cuneigh, whom they had taken hostage. He had needed to move when they weren’t able to react immediately. In short, right now, as they put their operation into motion to overthrow Aureatia, activating the whole faction’s forces at once.

The deployment of the anti-fungi soldier units looks random at first glance, but it’s been done intentionally. It’s all purposefully set up so every single squad can surround Iriolde’s private soldiers simply by blockading two or three routes.

A spot that showed a road on the map but was blocked off because of repair work. There were places that seemed to be open with good sight lines, but actually only had a few ways that went in and out of the area. Even a unit that looked to be moving freely, when expanding the view to see the whole picture, was being driven back into a dead-end alley along with another two squads.

Not only that, it’s being done to stop the fighters on the ground, or their frontline commanders from having any chance to realize they’re being driven into a corner… Someone who possesses a strategic eye, who knows the configuration of Aureatia perfectly and is capable of deceiving their own allies… They’re the only ones who could set this up.

The deployment of the fungi soldiers and employing Iriolde’s private forces were all part of the operation planned by Iriolde’s camp themselves. Was there any reason to purposefully move their men in a way that made it easier to become surrounded?

“…Gotta be Haade the Flashpoint.”

After he let out his intuitive answer, Kuuro thought through why he had murmured the name.

Including the National Defense Research Institute first and foremost, Iriolde had brought several illegal organizations under his control and expanded his network. However, if there was this traitorous mastermind concealing themselves, but with complete command of the network itself…the only one capable was the head of the military faction, Haade the Flashpoint.

With the start of this operation, Haade has centralized the chain of command, including the National Defense Research Institute, and gained complete control. If he had been connected with Rosclay’s camp from the start and planning to catch the entirety of Iriolde’s camp at once, it would explain several of my Clairvoyance’s premonitions.

In order to eradicate Iriolde the Atypical Tome’s camp, one that had already been infiltrated but who never made the grand picture clear, Rosclay conspired with Haade and brought about this grand coup. Iriolde thought he had a grip on Haade’s reins, and was using him in his planning, but in reality, it was the complete opposite.

That would then mean that Rosclay and Haade had been in a cooperative relationship from the start of the Sixways Exhibition, too. In the second round, Rosclay fights Soujirou in the tenth match… So that means Rosclay can force Haade’s hero candidate to lose at will, doesn’t it?

Kuuro the Cautious, with just a quick glance at the trend of battle in the city, was able to penetrate through Rosclay the Absolute’s unearthly conspiracy with almost perfect clarity. Not only that, but even before he had abandoned his camp and began to make his move.

Clairvoyance, capable of gathering any and all information under the heavens, beyond the mere five senses, and minutely processing it all, was a supernatural gift of near omnipotence. In much the same way he had figured out his own camps’ movements, if the matter was something Kuuro could theoretically predict using the information he perceived for himself, there were times when it would connect things beyond his own conscience and inform him in the form of nondescript premonitions. It could have been considered a type of pseudo precognition.

This observation is really just verifying what my Clairvoyance’s already pieced together. In any event, if I can just use this confusion to save Mizial and Cuneigh, then I can settle things with Obsidian Eyes worry-free…

Obsidian Eyes, which Kuuro once used to belong to, had not only left him seriously wounded by using Mestelexil to bomb the clinic, they had also indirectly created the reason for Toroa’s death.

The state of affairs had been brought on by Kuuro’s own naïveté.

He had retreated too long from all the killing. Even back when he was wrapped up in the battle against the Particle Storm, he went and chose not to kill anyone. Even as he knew that he and those around him were being embroiled in the conspiracies of the Sixways Exhibition and Obsidian Eyes, he had only thought about how to live a peaceful life.

…I should have killed.

Right now, he had prepared himself to do so.

He planned to finish everything that he needed to do before the day was done. What he needed was the perfect opportunity, and the environment.

In order to deceive countless eyes, he needed to take advantage of the chaos between the two camps to act.

Observing the riot stemming from the fungi assault, he would wait until the time was ripe.

“Awfully disturbing, isn’t it—Kuuro the Cautious?”

There came a voice.

From the very start, his Clairvoyance had perceived the man approaching from inside the building.

If he went away without talking to me, then I would’ve killed him before he had the chance, though.

He knew who the voice belonged to as well, without even needing to turn around to check. Aureatia’s Twelfth Minister, Enu the Distant Mirror.

A man with ever-open eyes like an owl, wearing a bowler hat.

“The battle down below yes, of course, but the same goes for you as well… What exactly are you trying to do?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Enu the Distant Mirror.”

He didn’t have any kind of radzio or communication device. Of course, if Enu’s objective from the start was making contact with Kuuro, he should have already known that cheap tricks like that were entirely meaningless.

“You should be back at the National Defense Research Institute during this operation… But this is the only good opportunity to make a move without the camp finding out. You’re acting with motives that are different from Iriolde’s. Isn’t that right?”

“Your Clairvoyance is supposed to see through to my true intentions no matter how I answer your questions, yes? In which case, it’s better to give you the truth. As you say, I am also planning on leaving this camp.”

“What happened to Obsidian Eyes’ surveillance? That’s what Miluzi the Coffin Edict is for, right?”

“It seems his research is much more interesting than keeping tabs on me. There is little reason at this point for Obsidian Eyes to waste the effort in the first place. That’s why I was fortunate enough to escape their surveillance network, and able to contact you like this.”

Clairvoyance had come up with the answer without Kuuro spending time to doubt if this was the truth or not.

Nothing in Enu’s answer had been a lie. This man was another member of the Twenty-Nine Officials known for his ingenuity. He did indeed possess brilliant abilities that could easily trick Obsidian Eyes’ surveillance.

But it’s unnatural. The fact that Enu is even still alive, if they don’t have any reason to keep him alive anymore. Obsidian Eyes, for some reason, isn’t in perfect form. That’s what produced this delay in the chain of command. There was either a major, unavoidable change in their strategy, or something is ailing the young lady.

“Kuuro the Cautious. You’re almighty, but right now you’re just one person. Don’t you need an ally? I believe we can form a relationship that benefits us both. I don’t wish to let this good fortune go to waste.”

“…Looks like you truly feel that way. What do you want?”

“Linaris the Obsidian.”

Kuuro narrowed his eyes and turned around toward Enu for the first time.

He was met with round, completely unblinking eyes.

“…I want her living cells. Just her skin or finger will be difficult. I’d need at least a limb, or an organ…and I’d like you to share that with me long before their organization’s necrosis. There is no need to kill her.”

“It’s basically the same as killing her. If you’re familiar with the young lady, you should know about her physical constitution, too… Even just cutting off one arm is certain to kill her. That girl’s constitution doesn’t allow her to put any stress on her heart. It’s a real serious request to make as one end of the deal for our collaboration.”

“If you don’t wish to kill, I don’t mind if you take her alive. You are probably the only person who could capture Linaris the Obsidian. Of course, I understand that you have no obligation to accept this, but… that won’t be too much of a burden for you, now will it?” Enu pointed his cane straight out and definitively declared, “You’re trying to get revenge on Obsidian Eyes. That’s why you slipped away from the camp.”

“……”

There wasn’t any reason for anyone else besides Kuuro to know the truth—that he had been attacked by Obsidian Eyes.

However, it was different for this man alone.

“In the sixth match when Zeljirga fought Mestelexil, I was still her sponsor. Once I knew the true objective of Obsidian Eyes in that match… I was able to deduce who could’ve carried out the bombing on the clinic that almost killed you, and who stood to benefit. Will all that in mind, I’ll ask—what do you think?”

Obsidian Eyes weren’t in perfect form.

Kuuro knew that even then, but it didn’t mean he had a perfect chance to succeed.

“You need an ally, don’t you?”

Enu had given Kuuro enough information to elicit an answer, even without using his Clairvoyance, in an orderly sequence.

There was one hurdle that loomed gigantic over any other when it came to defeating Obsidian Eyes.

“In order to defeat Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge. Is that it?”