20 Resonating Together 3

"Edelweiss…?"

Mio's question, tentative, uncertain.

The answer came not in words, but in—

『———!』

A shriek of noise so intense it cracked the speaker.

It sounded like a scream, like a roar—meaningless.

Nothing but the assertion of existence.

To Mio, it seemed utterly devoid of reason.

"Who is it?"

Enemy?

But Harold, facing the same distortion, looked equally disoriented.

『They’ve come. No—yet…』

The black heterochromia fixed its gaze directly on Harold, on Antares Prime.

At least, to Harold, it was not an ally.

"…No."

She had thought it a kin, but the familiar signature was faint.

Rather, this was—

"Like a regular ASID…"

A moment of mutual scrutiny.

Then the black heterochromia moved.

Eyes of different colors gleaming with malice.

The Long Sword vibrates at high speed.

The shockwave alone reduces the interior walls of a Lombardia-class vessel to dust-like fragments.

— Vibration weapon...!

The reason vibration weapons never became widespread lies in their structural integrity.

Vibration weapons capable of shaking space itself concealed power sufficient to overcome etheric disadvantages.

Yet conversely, the weapon itself demanded extreme strength.

To shatter an opponent, one first had to achieve greater strength than the target—by means of ether coating.

A reversal of priorities.

Greater strength than the opponent meant, in most cases, higher output as well.

Too costly for disposable use, they fell out of favor aboard the resource-limited移民 shipyards.

— No sign of breaking, then.

Yet the black heterochromic Long Sword showed no sign of shattering.

Even Edelweiss could not sustain that full output for long.

She released the accumulated ether in a single burst, minimizing damage to herself.

The damage incurred during use was forcibly repaired by their regenerative capabilities.

……Lance-based countermeasures seem unfeasible.

Antares Prime’s lance was designed for disposable use.

A brief spatial oscillation—only ten or so seconds.

That was sufficient to strike back at a superior opponent, and this unit was not built for mass production.

Costs did not matter.

At the moment Harold exhaled.

Coincidence?

For just an instant, motion halted—then it moved.

With the agility of a beast, it swung the Long Sword overhead with one hand.

Harold, naturally, avoided the direct strike.

The spot where it was avoided—there, the palm rested.

As if prearranged, the palm plunged deep.

The sound of armor collapsing.

Antares Prime’s ether coating pierced like paper.

No thought for defense—ether coating diverted only to the extremities.

Then, countering while bearing the attack himself—

anticipated.

The ether dagger thrust at point-blank range.

The flash that traversed the shortest distance cuts emptily through air.

A wide lateral shift of the upper body to evade.

Rotating behind, the summer salt kick.

The tip, precise, targeted only the hilt of the ether dagger—snatching the weapon from Antares Prime’s grip.

"Amazing… fast."

Mio could not help but voice her surprise.

The opponent’s output increased, second by second.

2000 Lamy, 2100 Lamy, 2200 Lamy.

What began at around 1000 Lamy has doubled and continues to rise.

The figure shows no sign of halting.

‘Who are you?’

An opponent never seen before.

An unknown adversary appearing at this critical juncture.

Or perhaps… a hidden ace from the enemy side.

Harold glances briefly at Mio.

From his eyes, Mio appears confused.

A pity, Harold thinks.

He would have liked to observe more carefully, if only the time remaining were greater—but there is no time.

The main force is still concealed.

He cannot afford to waste time here.

‘I didn’t want to waste it, but…’

He releases the reserve lance.

Simultaneous deployment of two units—the main and the reserve—was something he himself had hoped to avoid.

The lance formations spread fan-like, darting in all directions, relentlessly pursuing the black heterochromia.

Avoiding them at impossible speed, leaving only the glow of twin eyes behind.

Sometimes with the Long Sword.

Sometimes with a fist.

Sometimes with the tip of a toe.

Using every part of her body, deflecting the lance attacks, deflecting the Antares Prime assault.

Forward, forward.

Her advance never ceases.

……What?

Mio suddenly noticed.

Occasional movements that were pointless.

Obvious waste—something even a novice like Mio could see.

These movements were increasing.

It should have been only forward motion, but now lateral shifts were more frequent.

Why?

Before Mio could process the thought—a lance cut across her line of sight.

……Huh?

She still had a role in operating the Reactor.

Unlike the previous encounter with Jin, this time it was someone unknown.

She serves no function as a hostage.

Therefore, she should not be killed—nor even feign an attack—so he had assumed. Yet perhaps that assumption was wrong.

At the precise moment a shot was fired from the lance before him.

A scream, distorted by noise, reached Mio’s ears.

Like instantaneous teleportation—no, not quite, but within the blink of an eye—the black heterochromia appeared before Mio’s eyes.

Back turned, vulnerable, she raised the Long Sword to block the lance’s fire.

She struck it down with her blade, then stepped forward.

But the lances targeting her increased in number.

Each time, the black heterochromia darted about, attempting to crush them—but they evaded, light and fluid, like fluttering leaves.

Forced into retreat, she had advanced not at all since earlier.

Now, at this point, even Mio could see the truth behind the movements she had observed as futile moments before.

“Are you protecting me?”

A disbelief too sudden to accept.

Perhaps this is kinship after all—yet a question lingers.

But the movements are too linear, too direct.

As if driven solely by instinct.

Like the beasts seen in a zoo.

Mio, for some reason.

"……Oto-san?"

A glimpse of her father’s form.

◆ ◆ ◆

Her consciousness teeters on collapse.

Even a moment’s lapse, and she would vanish—no return.

Jin understood only this: to become kindling in a blazing furnace.

"Listen—there's nothing… Edelweiss…!"

The instant he was swallowed by the expanding Edelweiss.

More precisely, the moment she released control over her body, he had been here.

A place where he no longer felt his own flesh.

He wondered if he were dead.

Yet, tormented by a single emotion too intense to be death itself.

What’s so wrong with this thing, huh!?

— Vanish.

— Disappear.

— Become dust and ash, all things.

— Final cosmos, perish.

— Accept your end.

End.

That voice echoes endlessly.

If this is truly Edelweiss’s true self, even Jin would find it too deep in darkness.

But it becomes clear it’s not like that.

Because, like Jin, she too was being manipulated.

He could feel her glow, close beside him, as if clinging.

A fragile light, on the verge of extinguishing.

Jin remains here, guarding it.

“What am I supposed to do about this…?”

Utterly bewildered by a situation so far beyond his normal understanding.

Strong against problems that can be solved by force, but utterly helpless against anything else—Jin is at a loss.

Even worse, the situation was such that one might vanish if they let their guard down.

Recalling Edelweiss's words while firmly recognizing one's own existence.

He picks up on the words that catch his attention.

The sensation of accidentally losing one's own legs passed through mind—now ignored.

They weren't useful here, no matter how many limbs one had.

……The End

Edelweiss had said so.

Sevens also listed it among the formidable opponents.

"Is this the end?"

Something akin to the denial of the world's existence.

A resolute will to utterly annihilate everything.

A being that leads the cosmos to its end.

It was an excessively mechanical system.