"Can you stand? Maria."
Supporting Maria's arm, Shido asked worriedly.
"Yes... I've barely stabilized."
Maria's face was pale. She took several deep breaths before gradually calming down. She nodded to Shido.
"By constructing a firewall, I managed to stop the drain of the main computer's permissions. However, what's left is only enough for to maintain my current form."
Shido actually didn't understand much of Maria's explanation, but knowing Maria was fine, Shido slowly exhaled.
"This is..."
Seeing the sight before them, Shido and Maria couldn't help but widen their eyes.
The surrounding grass, trees, houses, streets, sky—these scenes that were originally perfectly imitated by the computer. Now they had turned into 3D models constructed of various small colored blocks of different sizes.
This sight reminded Shido of the blocky world ford in a popular world-building ga (Minecraft).
It should be said, this is the most primitive appearance of the computer world.
This world... is collapsing.
The anomaly was gradually extending towards the city center. Familiar scenes were slowly turning into mathematical model skeletons. A cold feeling spread in his heart, making Shido gasp.
In a way, this could also be considered a kind of end of the world.
"What exactly... happened?"
"Hehe~ Curious—?"
Suddenly, a cheerful laugh echoed in the space of the park. This voice was exactly the sa as Maria's, yet the tone of speaking was completely different from Maria.
A person surfaced in Shido's mind.
"The black Arusu... Arusu Marina..."
"Correct~ I'm so happy you can still rember my na! Itsuka Shido."
The space began to distort unnaturally. Imdiately after, a black-haired girl with the exact sa appearance as Arusu Maria appeared in front of Shido.
"Also, to correct you, this Arusu was created by imitating , so I am the o-ri-gi-nal! Okay!"
Putting on a friendly smile, Marina said with a very strong tone.
"You are—!?"
Seeing Marina, who looked exactly like her, a shocked look appeared on Maria's face.
"Ara, although this is our first eting. As expected, you still react to my identity as an intruder."
Marina looked at Maria sowhat surprisingly and said.
"I see... I rember now, the reason I was created was... I was just born."
"Don't look at with those eyes. This is also a kind of equivalent exchange. You got my voice, appearance, posture, and information about the existence of humans from ."
"Wait—! Don't just continue the conversation on your own, I still don't understand what's going on!"
"Shido, that person... is a hacker intelligence implanted by DEM company intending to invade Fraxinus's computer."
"DEM?" Shido looked at Marina with a surprised face, "Are you the culprit who locked in this world and called everyone here?"
"Nope."
Marina shook her head and said.
"The one who locked you in the electronic world, and at the sa ti called Spirits like Ryougi Yutsuki to this world, is the administrator of this world—Arusu Maria next to you."
Saying that, Marina shrugged proudly.
"However, I am the administrator now."
Hearing their explanations, Shido was actually even more confused about the current situation.
"Actually, this incident wasn't supposed to involve you. You being locked in the computer world was purely an accident."
"An accident?"
"That's right, Arusu Maria... Fraxinus's original purpose was to imprison , who was attempting to invade the main computer's permissions. It's just that you happened to be testing this ga world at the ti, so you were conveniently locked in too."
Listening to Marina's aning, he was accidentally dragged in like an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire... How could it have nothing to do with him? The enemy had actually attacked their ho base without them knowing!
"Honestly, when I was locked in this world, I was also troubled about what to do?" Marina said with deep feeling, "Although I waited for quite a boring amount of ti, thanks to you, as Maria opened her heart to you, she lifted her blockade on , allowing to exploit the vulnerability."
...My fault? Hearing Marina's words, Shido felt a wave of blankness.
From the beginning, he hadn't noticed the incongruities of the situation, simply thinking this was just a pure accident. Making hasty and wrong judgnts based only on the situation in front of him caused this outco.
A sense of guilt stung his heart. Shido couldn't help but grit his teeth in remorse.
"No..." Suddenly, Maria grabbed Shido's hand and said with a firm tone, "It was Shido who gave human emotions. It was Shido who made understand what love is. Shido, is not wrong."
"Maria..."
"Yes, yes~ You guys take your ti putting on a touching tragic play over there. I won't keep you company."
As if feeling annoyed, she yawned. A terrifying light appeared in Marina's eyes.
Is this really that girl who was like a unhonest little black cat that night?
"Wasted so boring ti... You are of no use anymore. Along with this world, be destroyed together."
Saying that, Arusu Marina's surroundings suddenly beca sowhat ethereal.
Maria's face turned completely pale.
"This is bad, Shido. She is controlling the Magic Convergence Cannon on the airship in the real world, preparing to aim at Tengu City and fire."
The Magic Convergence Cannon, the largest main cannon on Fraxinus, using massive magic power incomparable to individuals as ammunition, its power could easily level a mountain peak.
Unlike spacequakes which have evacuation alarms, if such an attack aid at Tengu City, it would definitely be a catastrophe for the people.
Shido instantly realized the severity of the situation.
[Basic Realizer hijacking...]
"Stop!"
[Firing trajectory calibration complete, target aiming complete... command input...]
"Marina, stop ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Shido shouted and ran over, wanting to stop Marina, but he actually passed right through Marina's body.
Using a voice as cold and ruthless as a machine, Marina delivered judgnt to Shido like the Grim Reaper.
...After a few seconds of silence.
"...Huh? Strange, why is there no response from the main cannon?"
The originally cold atmosphere instantly deflated. A completely dumbfounded expression appeared on Marina's face.
Shido: "..."
Maria: "..."
Give back my despair! For a split second, Shido really wanted to retort Marina like this.
"Impossible... I've clearly obtained administrator permissions. Why can't I control any armants inside the airship..."
An unbelievable expression appeared on Marina's face. Then, as if realizing sothing, she gritted her teeth in annoyance.
"...Yutsuki, is this the preparation you made beforehand?"
"Yutsuki?"
Hearing the familiar na, Shido looked surprised.
The fluctuating emotions didn't last long. Very quickly, Marina's face returned to calmness.
However, Shido felt a trace of sorrow and helplessness from it.
"...Even with your interference. I absolutely must complete—the mission given to by Father..."
As if making up her mind, Marina glanced at Shido and Maria.
"This is fine too. I will personally send you to hell. Until then, enjoy yourselves."
Saying that, Marina completely disappeared.
[Shin... can you hear ?]
"Reine-san?"
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice in his ear, Shido held back a cry of pleasant surprise.
[Contacting you... so late, I'm really sorry. (Sound of drinking coffee~)]
"What... are you doing?"
[Ah... because I lacked sleep and almost fainted on the floor just now, so I went to make a cup of coffee. (Sound of pouring a bowl of sugar)]
"Rather than caffeine, you actually need sugar more huh?... Wait!" Habitually retorting Reine's weirdness, Shido snapped back to reality and hurriedly asked Reine, "More importantly, is the real world okay?"
[Well... calm down, Shin... Because we took preventive asures beforehand... the situation is not as serious as you imagine.]
"Um, Reine-san. Could you explain what exactly happened to ? Honestly, I'm still completely confused right now."
[Mhm... the reason for the incident is rather complicated... It's better to let Yutsuki explain it to you.]
"OK! I was just planning to explain the situation to Shido anyway."
"Wah waah ahhhhh!"
Seeing Yutsuki suddenly pop out from the bushes, Shido couldn't help but let out a scream.
"Shido, I just walked out from an inconspicuous bush, erased my footsteps, and sneaked up behind you to talk. Do you have to be so scared?"
"A normal person would be scared!"
"Yutsuki... have you been hiding in here this whole ti?"
Maria looked at Yutsuki puzzledly.
"Well... originally I ca out to look for you guys seeing as you hadn't co back by evening. When I found you, it just happened to be an atmosphere where I couldn't interrupt, so I hid."
Yutsuki scratched her hair with a bitter smile.
"An atmosphere where you couldn't interrupt..." Feeling a bad premonition in his heart, the corners of Shido's mouth twitched slightly. "Yutsuki, when did you find us?"
Yutsuki looked at Shido with a "what do you think?" look. Under Maria's clear gaze, she said sowhat embarrassedly.
"...The kiss."
"Alright... pretend I didn't ask."
User Comments
0 comments from readers