The pitch-black dragon's sharp fangs bit deep into the throat of the giant that held a burning magic sword. It tore the throat out. Ink-like black light burst from the wound at point-blank range. After the horrifyingly primitive violence, the enemy Material vanished. Azalea, who had been held inside the protective circle, and Fractal, her vessel, rolled along the floor after being hit by the shock that had killed a god. They were nearly zombies in the original sense of the word. After controlling the gods and losing, they were ironically made to dumbly obey any instructions. To prevent any unnecessary injuries as Azalea crawled slowly off, Kyousuke lightly pushed on the back of her head with his Blood-Sign so she would lie down where she was.
He had won.
He had achieved victory.
(No…)
He pulled out his smartphone during the few dozen seconds of their Chain state. The screen indicated they had less than an hour until the limit.
Higan said something, but Kyousuke did not respond.
(Unless we defeat the White Queen who Guard of Honor worshipped, we can't remove the three thousand or more thorns from Higan's body. And they'll definitely take her life once enough time passes. …What should I do now? It would be very bad if the White Queen showed up, but I can't save Higan without someone summoning her!!)
That was when he heard air bubbles bursting so loudly he felt it in his gut.
He looked up at the Repliglass water purification system. Its core was an artificial bacteria pool made from silicon. The contents of the transparent hundred-meter sphere had grown and were bubbling madly. When Kyousuke saw that, he felt sweat pouring down his body.
The equipment was meant to change seawater into fresh water in order to mass produce fresh water.
Pure water welled up from within, so it symbolized a spring.
Azalea…no, Guard of Honor had rethought the existing summoning ceremony from the ground up and attempted to build a new system to eternally control a Material.
Yes.
That meant the normal process was unnecessary. There was a chance they could overwrite the rules that required summoning one hundred Regulation-class and fifty Divine-class or to accurately hit the Petals in the Spots in just the right order if you wished to summon an Unexplored-class.
"Don't tell me…"
In a way, this was what he had most wanted.
In a way, this was what he had most feared.
"Is that it…? Oh, no!! Higan, get ready. No, maybe it would be best to tear through the bacteria pool before it's complete!!"
"She's coming!!"
His warning proved meaningless as it happened before Higan could react.
The spherical container burst from within and stained the entire golden palace with its living soup.
It was like a white downpour.
It was a similar phenomenon to the red tide where an excess of plankton gave the seawater a rusty color. In this case, the world was dyed white rather than red. It covered up the colors of Golden Luxury in the blink of an eye. All of the decorations and artworks were thoroughly stained to display their master's color: white.
That was the color of the Queen who ruled this bloodthirsty world that reeked of rust.
"It's been too long, brother."
"She" floated calmly in the spot the giant crystal ball of a container had been.
There was no real reason for it, but since she preferred to stand in the same place as him, she floated down to the palace floor so slowly that gravity did not seem to apply.
He had seen his new enemy.
The Chain state changed to something else and the enemy was taken into the Artificial Sacred Ground.
"Hmm. I have a feeling you met a different me a little ahead of time, but every day away from you feels like a thousand years…no, a trillion years. …So I'm glad everything advanced as planned. If you made me wait any longer, I might just have been angry enough to split apart an earth or two☆"
She had loose pure white clothing and a silver coloration.
Her waist-length twintails were closer to white than silver.
"..................…"
Shiroyama Kyousuke was forced into silence.
He had toyed with the summoners of Guard of Honor who were powerful enough for a direct war with the aces of Government, Illegal, and Freedom and he had coolly defeated Azalea Magentarain who had ruled over them, but one look at the Queen's face was enough to silence him.
It was best to view her as just that great an opponent.
She was not controlled by a summoner or bound by a vessel. She was not restricted to the Artificial Sacred Ground or to the ten minute time limit.
The White Queen had been released upon the world.
Just like the mistake a young Kyousuke had once made in his ignorance.
"There is no need to tremble like that. Heh heh. But I kind of like it when you act like a cute little animal, brother."
The White Queen laughed gently yet insanely as she spoke.
"Everything Guard of Honor had to offer just wasn't nearly enough to reach your intellect, brother. They failed to control me with their Sewn Realm summoning and there are countless weaknesses all throughout their methodology, but that has not affected my specs all that much. I seem to be restricted to about the same level of power as with the Blood-Sign method you usually use."
"…"
"But not to worry. The 'things that crawl from the sea' won't appear unless I'm exposed for 180 seconds in a row. Right now I'm bound to your Artificial Sacred Ground, so you just have to throw a new Incense Grenade once the time limit arrives. Of course, that will mean building up your own Material from scratch."
Their work had come to nothing. Their efforts had been wasted. The White Queen had indeed appeared in this world, but she was still contained to a smaller frame no different from the Blood-Sign method.
But she felt no frustration or anger over that.
That had been Guard of Honor's desire, not the White Queen's. Plus, she was already the strongest. It did not matter if some details had changed a little, if she was not at 100% purity, or if she was only the mere remnants of what she could be. Her position at the top would not be shaken.
"Now, brother."
She spoke calmly, like a songstress speaking to the audience from a large stage.
"I have failed just as you wanted. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you. Not taking advantage of this perfect setup would be a disgrace to your masculinity. Now, now. You can start whenever you like. Or if you want, you can stay on the run to delay things until I run out of time."
(Like I can do that…)
He spat out the words in his heart without speaking them aloud.
The White Queen was not relying on an Incense Grenade this time, so she likely had no ten minute time limit. It might be a minute and it might be an hour. He knew Guard of Honor's Fairy of the Spring style of Sewn Realm summoning had failed, but he had not analyzed how exactly it had failed. Going for a lengthy battle now would be like running full speed in an endurance race without actually knowing where the goal was. He would be unable to pace himself.
(No, it's also wrong to think I could fight a defensive battle against someone with firepower as extraordinarily high as the White Queen. Whether it's just a minute or just thirty seconds, we'd be worn down and killed. I'll have to look for a way to attack, no matter how dangerous it might be. As she said, this is my best chance at this since Guard of Honor's method failed.)
It may have been like taking a dose of poison one hundred times the lethal limit after diluting it one hundred times.
It may have been like getting hit by a three hundred kilometer per second bullet train after slowing it down three hundred times.
Either way, it was a threat. Either way, it was fatal.
But…
His vessel's voice slipped into his mind.
Her words could be seen as naïve, but it gave the push his frozen heart needed.
The summoner slowly inhaled and gave a shout.
"Higan, let's go for it all at once! She isn't at her best now, so we can defeat a foe we could never normally-…!!"
He was unable to finish.
A brilliant band of white light instantly slammed Higan into the wall in her gigantic black dragon form.
"Wha-…?"
The strike had pierced straight through her torso. Knowing where the Silhouette that held Higan's mind was stored, the sight was enough to feel his throat dry up.
But Kyousuke could not even watch the Material's giant body slide down to the ground.
There was a flash of light.
The pure white laser beam of an attack burned a seemingly permanent afterimage into the air. No…
(Did she tear away the world itself to make it pure white!?)
The standard theories no longer applied. Even the Petals and Spots that no one could normally touch were swallowed up and vanished. Everything from this world and the other world was torn away and deleted.
After a lag of a few seconds, the pure white remnant receded. The world returned with some static.
That compressed power was meant to kill a summoner and the Material.
No master plan was needed to destroy the world. If she lost control of her power and it scattered outward, that single attack might have caused the planet to crumble like a biscuit.
"Ahh, brother. …How could you speak another girl's name during our date? What the hell are you thinking?"
The White Queen was not bothered that she had only temporarily deleted space-time.
The naturally regenerating rifts in the world must not have been worthy of surprise.
She did not bother running around or approaching. A portion of the white clothing loosely wrapped around her transformed in silence. It took the form of a hammer, flew through the air on its own, and dropped toward Kyousuke like a shooting star.
The summoner was contained within a protective circle that defended against any physical phenomenon and Material attack.
The impact that rattled his brain easily overturned that assumption.
It was not an issue of any actual injury. He could clearly sense "the presence of death" approaching.
He gasped, his mind grew muddy, and his vision twisted as he worked desperately to grasp the situation.
"Bh…gah!? Im…possible…"
Fresh blood dripped to the floor from his forehead.
The next one came before the confusion faded. The protective circle might as well have been a plastic balloon as the corner of a shield thrust up into his jaw and a club knocked him back down before his toes could leave the ground. His mind was shaken as he rolled away from the scorching light of the scene.
The damage of the white rampage was clearly arriving within the protective circle. That circle protected the summoner…or rather, the ceremony itself from any external attacks, internal illness, or anything else that might get in the way. But that assumption was rejected by the approaching chill of death.
"Ah hah hah!! Even in this state, I am still the extraordinary Queen that stands at the top of the Unexplored-class☆ The circle that protects the summoner…or rather, the ceremony is generally made from the excess energy of the Material. That small fry can't hold a candle to me even if it goes all out, so did you really think the life support environment created from its dregs would be enough to block my lethality?"
She was insane.
Her actions completely ignored the laws of the world.
No other Material could replicate this.
Did the Queen's clothing physically exist or was she just manipulating light to make it look that way? Before even judging her power, he had more fundamental doubts. And on that note, what was she herself? Could something like that really exist?
(Was I…wrong?)
More than the pain, it was the absurdity of what was happening that nearly robbed Shiroyama Kyousuke of his consciousness. He nearly forgot what he needed to do and lost sight of his very first assumption.
He wavered. He wobbled.
The extreme confusion turned that ever-composed boy into a mere human.
(No matter what happened, should I not have faced this monster using the rules of a summoner? Should I not have placed Meinokawa Higan in front of her?)
A gigantic being collapsed atop several crushed pieces of artwork by the wall, but now it began to move.
It was the pitch-black dragon. The will inside it was sent to Kyousuke via their contract.
Her rebuke may have been misguided.
She may have had the wrong objective in mind as they had intentionally kept information from her.
But…
Those words saved him, even if just a little.
That nickname had actually been given to him by the nemesis before his eyes.
If he looked back on this later, it might seem like a traumatic mistake.
But at the time, Shiroyama Kyousuke was definitely saved by those words.
That nickname had been forced on him from above as he sank into humiliation and defeat.
But now he felt like it had been given new meaning.
Meinokawa Higan knew nothing.
She had not noticed the true meaning behind the original job at the harbor, she had mistaken Government for Guard of Honor at the school, she did not know the White Queen held her life in her hands, and she did not know Renge, Kyousuke, and the others had risked their lives to free her from that. She knew nothing from beginning to end.
But despite that, she was the one who had reached the most correct answer.
"Higan."
He spoke her name again.
Just one of the White Queen's eyelids twitched, but Kyousuke continued regardless.
"We're about to defeat the White Queen, the peak of the Unexplored-class. Let's end this farce as soon as possible and fix everything that was twisted! So lend me your strength, Meinokawa Higan!!"
In truth, what was there that they could still do?
"Ah☆"
The Queen had destroyed the small kingdom made just for her. She spun around and around at the center so that her loose white clothing and long twintails fluttered around her.
The cloth on her back instantly changed form and burst out like giant wings or a bed of spikes.
A total of 256 spikes wholly tore apart the opposite walls.
One of the black dragon's wings was torn off and the rest was cruelly pinned down.
One of them flew toward Kyousuke. It easily penetrated the protective circle, so the boy himself used all his strength to swing his upper body out of the way.
A single line of blood appeared on his right cheek.
Kyousuke did not overestimate his ability by thinking he had dodged it. If a Divine-class Material had been unable to dodge or defend against the attack, a mere human never could have.
The White Queen was clearly toying with him.
"Oh, dear. What seems to be the matter, brother?"
The white light that seemed to have been burned into the air by the attack was proof that it had damaged the world itself.
"If you were going the futile resistance route, you could have jumped a little further than that. Why, it almost looks like you were using the protective circle to protect your enemy lying on the floor there."
Kyousuke clicked his tongue.
Azalea and her elderly butler were still crawling around behind him. If he had not slightly diverted the white spike's trajectory by intentionally letting it pierce the protective circle, one of them would have died.
"Did they speak the cursed words of 'help me'?"
"This isn't about that. I decide what happens to the enemies I defeat. These days, Alice (with) Rabbit doesn't just apply to allies. Times have changed, Queen."
"But it's too bad."
The twintailed Queen giggled as if to reward him for a perfect answer.
"That means you can no longer move from that spot, brother."
Higan's thoughts cut in.
When and how to attack was left up to the Material's own desires and the vessel only forced it all to work out by determining "who" to attack.
That meant the vessel could not continue fighting if the Material itself lost the will to attack. The pitch-black dragon's crimson eyes were filled with the frightened light of a helpless prey.
This too ignored the usual way of things. A Material was normally a cruel creature that destroyed anything and everything it set eyes on.
"Didn't I tell you, brother?"
The metal wings vanished and elegant fabric covered the White Queen's back once more.
This time, she gave a quick wave of a hand.
Most of the clothing on her right half formed a giant fist and slammed into the black dragon from the side.
"I stand at the peak of all Materials. Opposing me is simply out of the question. Everything in the other world serves me. If you would just become mine, I would be willing to give you half of them, though☆"
It sounded like a full-speed bullet train crashing into a truck stopped on the tracks. The Queen's clothing transformed further. Metal balls, metal rods, hatchets, and other pure white weapons rushed out to torment the giant black dragon from countless angles. All the while, the world itself was carved away into whiteness.
"Kh!!"
Kyousuke used his Blood-Sign to launch a White Thorn. It hit various Petals into the Spots and the Material changed form. A dance of crimson light and a broken song swept over that small world.
He had already reached the Divine-class. That meant these were the gods of mythology. He searched for something with even the slightest will to oppose the White Queen.
"Didn't…"
——A pure white spear pierced through a great man with golden eyes who summoned lightning with a vajra.
"…I tell you…"
——Three red-eyed sisters known as goddesses of revenge were crushed one after another by a massive maw.
"…it's useless☆?"
——A violent dance of white arrows rained down on a golden-eyed god of death known as the smoky mirror.
The incredible destruction was entirely one-sided, the very structure of the world crumbled, a portion of the scene filled with the color white, and the palace that Guard of Honor had decorated with treasures old and new from around the world finally collapsed. Decorations and works of art that had untold historical value were cruelly crushed. This was the greatest way for that master of violence to enjoy them. The White Queen looked like a lovely girl, but a portion of her true nature could be seen here.
Higan's screams echoed directly in Kyousuke's head.
He just barely managed switched her to a new Material right before she was annihilated, but they all refused to fight the Queen. They stepped down from the stage before doing so.
"The Divine and Unexplored-classes are entirely different categories. This is like racing a normal luxury car against a custom drag racer that can reach half the speed of sound using the rocket engine forcefully strapped to it. Ah☆ I made an effort to learn about this world so I could speak with you, brother. I think that's worth at least one head pat."
"…"
If the White Queen's mischievous-sounding comment was correct, he at least needed to push their Material up to the Unexplored-class.
"So I'll give you a chance, brother."
The White Queen clapped her hands in front of her chest and gave him a beaming smile.
"Hurry up and raise your Material up to the Unexplored-class. With your skill, that shouldn't be difficult, should it? …If I don't get in your way, that is☆"
The White Queen walked slowly closer like she was strolling around an art museum and enjoying the exhibits. But hers was truly the royal road. No one could stop her advance.
Kyousuke clenched his teeth, but he had no choice but to go along with her suggestion. In fact, the summoning ceremony battles were all about changing from one Material to the next, so the White Queen was the odd one for never changing and ignoring the sound range and cost.
"Goddammit!!"
Solid sounds rang out again and again as Kyousuke built up the Material containing Higan. The mad dance of red light and the broken song were so quick and accurate that they could only be perceived after the fact. She became a giant bird that produced all the world's winds and she became a hero who had fished up an island in the southern sea. Each one was a power great enough to influence the outcome of a war, but Kyousuke continued using his Blood-Sign as even those gods were only midway points.
That soon crossed a certain line.
With a brilliant light, the design of the Material greatly changed.
It became a short-haired girl in a wheelchair who wore purple cloth that only covered the bare minimum. But perhaps due to how very skinny she was, she looked more sickly than alluring. Her head lolled weakly and her limbs dangled limply, but her right hand alone rose up to express her will.
She was one of the Unexplored-class.
She was the Lady of "Purple Lightning" that Separates Good from Evil (iu – ao – eu – ei – kub – miq – a – ci – pl).
Higan honestly thought that. Even with her green-glowing eyes lowered and covered by her bangs, the Lady of Purple Lightning extended her one slender hand that wriggled like a living creature as she pointed the index finger at the White Queen. A purple light glowed at the tip of that finger. She was not afraid. She knew her opponent was the White Queen, but she still demonstrated the will to fight.
Higan remembered this Unexplored-class slicing apart a giant metal bridge and artificial waterway at the end of that battle at the harbor, so fear of it had permeated her bones.
And Kyousuke had once said that it did not matter if you were a rookie or an expert, everyone had the same chance at any strategy and any Material.
So for the first time, she decided to fight back.
A moment later, a deafening sound of destruction burst from the Lady of Purple Lightning's body.
Meinokawa Higan was appropriately dumbfounded.
It had happened just after the White Queen's skirt had fluttered.
As soon as she thought the entire large piece of cloth had transformed, there had been countless thick chains with anchor-like three-pronged hooks at the ends. The Queen had spun around, creating a steel tornado for several dozen meters around her. The world itself was wiped away and that massive white light also pursued her target.
A hook lodged itself in the Lady of Purple Lightning's left shoulder and tore all the way into her chest. For better or for worse, the rapidly rotating hook launched the Lady of Purple Lightning's body so she rolled along the floor rather than having her heart torn out. The heart had to be where the Silhouette storing Higan's mind was.
One attack.
All of this was just one attack.
"If you build your Material up past the Divine-class and to the Unexplored-class, it is true you can oppose me to an extent."
The White Queen laughed as she returned her skirt to normal.
She was completely unchanged.
"But so what if you can oppose me? Even if you have the #2 or #3 of the Unexplored-class or even one of the Three that support Government, Illegal, and Freedom, they are no match for me at the top. #1 is known as #1 because there is no one else there. Do you understand now?"
"Goddammit…"
"Of course, that's assuming a one-on-one structure."
The White Queen smiled as she placed her index finger on her jaw and slightly lifted her gaze as if recalling something.
"I am in an imperfect state at the moment, so you might have a chance if you make a saturation attack using several dozen Unexplored-classes. Yes, just like when your theory succeeded but your equipment lacked the strength to hold onto my reins and you could not send me back to the other world. If only you had about 10% of the fighting force sent to that largely unknown war where so many summoners and vessels died to clean your mess."
"Goddammiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
Kyousuke finally cast everything aside and shouted at the top of his lungs.
This was not the veteran summoner or Alice (with) Rabbit. It was the remaining child within him that could not stand how hopelessly unreasonable this was.
He had thought he would have a chance when she had her guard down. He had thought he could stab her in the side if he could slip away from her playful attempt to suppress his actions.
But this was all he had managed.
She had given him that chance just to provide all the more despair by taking it away. It had all progressed according to her plan and he had not moved even a millimeter outside of it. And the resulting suffering had been placed on Meinokawa Higan. Kyousuke was the underlying reason why her life was at risk.
"Now, brother."
The White Queen smiled.
The strong did not change and were not shaken. She was the most extreme example of that.
"Now, now, brother! What shall we do now? Is it time to entertain me by begging for your life? Using a hostage to make you my servant might be nice. …Oh, but I know what to do. I love you more than anyone else in the world, so wouldn't it be a lovely symbol of our love to enjoy your tearful face as I wreak havoc around you? Eh heh. Eh heh heh heh heh heh."
Shiroyama Kyousuke gasped for breath while desperately working his mind.
——Was there really nothing he could do?
There was not. The Regulation and Divine-classes could not even fight. And while the Unexplored-class could choose to oppose the White Queen, the difference in strength was simply overwhelming. Not even the #2, the #3, or the Three that protected the three major powers could defeat the White Queen who reigned at the top.
He could not make a saturation attack with several dozen Unexplored-class. A summoner could switch between Materials, but they could not summon multiple at the same time.
——Could he just give up?
He could not. But what realistic action could he take? No matter which of the three sound ranges his Material belonged to, he could never defeat the White Queen. She existed outside the rules of the summoning ceremony, so he could not defeat her as a summoner fighting according to those rules.
——Then what had he resolved himself to do before coming here?
........................
After thinking that far, Shiroyama Kyousuke smiled a little.
He realized he had yet to use everything available to him. No, he realized something in his heart was still holding him back.
He needed to remember what he had told Meinokawa Higan when she had been cornered at the school.
Don't reject the fear.
Accept the fear and smile at the fact that a method like that even exists.
"Oh, what a lovely expression… Of course, any expression of yours is perfect. By the way, what are you thinking to put such a photo-worthy look on your face?"
"Oh, I just remembered a bit of a promise is all."
Kyousuke used both hands to lightly spin his Blood-Sign around.
"The thing is, Queen, I made a promise. It isn't about money and I didn't sign a strange contract on parchment, but it was still a promise."
The White Queen continued smiling as she tilted her head a little.
Alice (with) Rabbit stood there, but that name meant something different from when she had given it to him.
"I promised to save a strange set of twins named Meinokawa Renge and Meinokawa Higan. I promised to do whatever it took to accomplish that. Yes – ha ha – what could be more basic? I can't believe I didn't realize this until the very end. I was fighting yet I'd forgotten the promise I made, so I must have gotten careless. So it's time I remembered Alice (with) Rabbit."
"You dare speak not one but two girl's names in front of me, brother? That is worthy of quite a few deaths. Yes, perhaps I should kill you about ten times for it…"
"Weren't you listening?" said Shiroyama Kyousuke as he raised his Blood-Sign in both hands. "I said I would do whatever it takes, didn't I? I announced I would use whatever dirty trick necessary to save the Meinokawa Sisters. That means I'll even place my allies in danger to utterly defeat you."
"Oh, dear. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear."
An ominous shadow fell over the White Queen's smile.
This was not a woman catching her beloved boyfriend in the act of cheating. This was not that sort of appropriate anger. This was the look of someone who had yet again caught their beloved dog tearing up the sofa and cushions while they were out and were now pondering whether they should beat it to death with a bat and stuff it in a garbage bag.
"Are you so angry that some boyish power blossomed inside you? Or are you the type whose latent talent (ha ha) comes to the surface when your life is in danger? I don't care if your hair turns gold or you become a savior in full-body tights, but what can you actually do?"
"You'll see."
"Then you might not make it in time."
The cloth on the White Queen's arms turned to particles of light. They became primitive and giant scissors that resembled a stag beetle and would crush its target from either side.
This was a method of providing the greatest suffering without killing the target too easily.
"After all, brother, I've lost just a bit of my patience."
As soon as Shiroyama Kyousuke made a pointless strike with his Blood-Sign, great cruelty rushed back at him.
It was said a mother cat would sometimes get so worked up protecting her kitten from an external threat that she herself would kill that very kitten.
The boy's fate was sealed.
Low, middle, and high sounds. Regulation, Divine, and Unexplored-class. The White Queen could easily ignore all of those categories and she was, in all seriousness, coming to kill Shiroyama Kyousuke. The protective circle meant to defend the ceremony more than the summoner had already been proven entirely useless against her fierce attacks and they could not be dodged with human reflexes and kinetic vision.
That meant the boy's fate should have been sealed.
Even with the supernatural power of the summoning ceremony and a Material, he could not stop the White Queen. She would twist the world's destiny and the natural laws to fulfill her personal objective and at the moment that objective was to kill Shiroyama Kyousuke. That was nothing more than data entered so it could be fulfilled.
And yet.
And yet.
And yet!!!!!
A moment later, "something" deflected the giant stag beetle scissors.
"..................…What?"
For a brief moment and likely for the very first time, the White Queen's smile froze on her face. Her ever-confident thoughts had momentarily come to a stop.
No Material could stop her.
That meant there was no one in this world or the other world that could reach her level.
Nevertheless, Shiroyama Kyousuke was still alive.
The Lady of Purple Lightning had grown dark and discolored as her arms forcibly pushed at the giant stag beetle scissors from within!!
"What is this…?"
"Didn't I tell you I'd use any dirty trick!? Using the standard rules of summoning, isn't there one really, really bad plan that can actually defeat you!?"
Taboo 1: A summoner must not knock in an equal number of low, middle, and high noises.
Taboo 3: When a summoner runs out of White Thorns, none of their White Thorns remaining on the field must be knocked into a Spot.
Something like amorphous black mud rose up like a tornado. The top spread out like a trumpet mouth and would be packed full of sharp and disturbingly uneven fangs that could be seen as organic or inorganic.
It was a symbol of execution.
It was every summoner's greatest fear.
"And in battles between Materials, the strict numbers matter most. Even if the difference only amounts to a scratch or the slightest bit of exhaustion, if the exact same Material is summoned on both sides, the one summoned first will be at a disadvantage!! Normally a summoner would use their Blood-Sign to swap it out for a different Material, but you can't even do that right now, Queen!!"
"Impossible… Brother, do you really understand what this means? That Black Maw is punishment from the gods. It attacks the one who summoned it, not their enemy. That means you will be the first one it attacks!!"
"Perhaps," bluntly admitted Shiroyama Kyousuke. "But won't you save me? After all, you love me. Even if it's still you, can you really just sit idly by and watch a different version of yourself kill me and steal everything from you?"
He ignored her and continued.
"You wanted to fight alongside me and you wanted me to rely on, right? In that case, aren't you yourself your greatest rival since you're the only one that can put up a fight against you?"
The White Queen's face had nearly melted and Kyousuke shuddered as he realized what that meant.
" 'I haven't the slightest interest in anything except you, brother.' Who said that?"
Some thin thread within the White Queen's head seemed to snap from immense joy.
"Heh…heh hah…heh hah….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!"
At the same time, a dull sound rang out as the giant black tornado-like jaws burst from within. The pieces splattered around with a sticky noise and something squirmed at the center. It had black skin, black clothes, and black hair tied in waist-length twintails. And it had pure white eyes that stood eerily out from the rest.
It had revealed its true identity.
As if she had been provoked, this alternate form of the same individual destroyed her own expression.
"Brother! Oh, brother!! Hee hee hee heh heh heh heh ha ha!! F-finally, the day has come when I get to chew apart my beloved brother's body from head to toe. Heh heh heh. Ah ha ha. Ee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!"
Two voices rang with laughter.
Two gazes intertwined.
Two faces lost all expression.
Two thoughts made a single decision.
"She's in the way. I can't have brother to myself with her here."
"She's in the way. I can't have brother to myself with her here."
Immediately, the end of the world played out before Shiroyama Kyousuke's eyes.
He had never seen more destruction.
The boy had said he would use any dirty trick if it meant saving that girl.
Cut, bite, crush, pierce, shoot, squeeze, scrape, repel, soak, burn, sever, uproot, freeze, beat, squash, strangle, split, break, throw, twist, gouge, rip, absorb, and smash.
It only lasted a few seconds, but after the light and darkness caused enough destruction and catastrophe for the world itself to crumble around them, only one of the white and black remained.
"Heh…heh hah."
It had come down to a hint of exhaustion or a slight scratch.
That had determined this battle between Materials with identical specs.
Just as Kyousuke had expected.
"Ah hah…ah hah hah… Brother. Oh, brother…"
It had been cannibalistic. It had been the slaughter of one's own. It was amazing that the black-dyed Queen could even stand. In fact, she did not even have all four limbs anymore.
She may have been standing and she may have been floating, but she slowly approached all the same.
"Now, that nuisance is gone… No one in the world can stop me. Ah ha, ah ha ha. It's time to chew you apart…from head to toe…"
"That's one idea."
Kyousuke smiled a little as he spoke.
The Black Maw was a symbol of the taboo. Once she devoured the offending summoner, she would vanish on her own. To save Meinokawa Higan, he needed to have the Black Maw leave as soon as possible. Her actions were restricted by a clear objective and set rules, so there was a lot more hope than with the White Queen who had gone on an indiscriminate rampage with the power of the "spring".
A sticky sound spread as what had once been the beautiful Queen approached.
If she devoured him, it would all be over.
In exchange for Shiroyama Kyousuke's life, Meinokawa Higan's life would be saved.
"Yes."
But a certain thought came to his mind.
He considered what that meant He wanted to live and see what happened afterwards, but what was it he wanted to see?
"Your idea…"
"?"
"Wouldn't count as saving them…"
He had told Meinokawa Renge that sacrificing someone would not truly save her sister Higan.
Meinokawa Higan had said they were both Alice (with) Rabbit and that she could support him.
So in that moment…
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Shiroyama Kyousuke fought back. He raised his Repliglass Blood-Sign and used his one and only chance by forcefully launching a White Thorn.
The black Queen did not even bother looking that way.
She bit at the feast before her eyes. The protective circle was meaningless. Kyousuke kept his eyes on the White Thorn while ignoring the intense pain and disturbing chewing noise coming from his shoulder.
It was a simple method listed even in Government's strict textbooks.
The White Thorn flew straight out and hit a low sound Petal. That Petal was absorbed by a nearby Spot and a single pure sound rang out.
Yes.
This abnormal Material had been created from the even number of low, middle, and high sounds, so this shot broke that balance.
"Ah."
"Th-this might be a first. Normally, the Black Maw kills the summoner as soon as it appears, so they don't have time to try this."
"Ahhh, ah."
"Farewell, Black Maw. …I don't need to cheat, so I'll defeat you within the rules. You're still a Material. And even if I lost control as a penalty for the Taboo, you're still a Material under my command!!"
The balance had been broken.
She shifted to another Material.
"Brother. Oh, I can still taste you, brotherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"
That catastrophic love was swallowed by a vortex of transformation and erased from this world.
The Material became one of the Unexplored-class, but once the ninety seconds of the Chain waiting period passed, it too would be released. The enemy was gone. With no one left to fight, the summoning ceremony could not continue.
Still covered in blood, Shiroyama Kyousuke watched as the strange monster transformed into a certain girl.
"…Uuh…?"
As the girl collapsed from extreme exhaustion, she groaned and that told him she had been freed before her heart was entirely eaten away.
He determined he had fulfilled both sisters' requests to save the other.
"Now, then."
He slowly breathed out.
He grabbed the Blood-Sign with a hand that had nearly been torn to pieces, used his unharmed hand to place Meinokawa Higan over his shoulder, and slowly looked up at the ceiling.
He heard quite a few hurrying footsteps. He had taken the shortest route here while avoiding as much combat as possible. He had defeated the White Queen at the center of it all, but Guard of Honor's elites were still active.
And his goal had not been to save the world or defeat the Queen.
It had been to bring Meinokawa Higan safely back to her sister Renge.
"It isn't over until we're back home."
The door was thrown open from outside.
Kyousuke looked over.
He could no longer use the summoning ceremony that used the Blood-Sign.
They would have put together a countermeasure for his surprise attack using eye drops and darkness.
But he had not given up.
After all, he was Alice (with) Rabbit.
Facts The size of the Artificial Sacred Ground grows or shrinks based on the size of the Materials.Regulation and Divine-classes lose their will to fight in front of the White Queen. Even other Unexplored-classes have little hope of putting up a fight.The White Queen's attacks can destroy the basic components that make up both worlds. If her concentrated and controlled power were to disperse outwards, it could destroy the entire planet.The Unexplored-class Lady of Purple Lightning looks like a normal person and her Silhouette is in her heart.When the White Queen once appeared in this world with a Sewn Realm summoning, a great number of summoners summoned hundreds of Unexplored-classes and somehow managed to settle matters with a saturation attack. This is known as the Secret War.The Black Maw that appears to punish those who violate the taboos is actually a girl who looks just like the White Queen.As she was summoned by a new system, the White Queen should not have had the weakness of a Silhouette, but since the Black Maw had identical specs, it is thought she had a temporary weakness to take its place.Hit a Petal into a Spot after the Black Maw appears and it will turn into a different Material. …But that's only if you have a chance to.Shiroyama Kyousuke became the first to earn the Award named White Slayer on one's own.Despite being at a disadvantage, Shiroyama Kyousuke took control of every battle facing him and kept his promises to the Meinokawa Sisters.