Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Someone says

They want to do something

Point Allocation (Smile)

Toori and the others ran.

Mikawa’s general land port was a vast field bordering the ocean.

To the west were some hills, to the east was the bay, and to the south…

“The enemy, their ships…and Horizon-dono!”

As Musashi’s group entered the land port from the north, Tenzou ran out front.

Toori nodded in agreement from behind him and peered into the distance.

“Oh, Tenzou’s right! Horizon’s finally in sight.”

As Toori spoke, he faced the Tres Españan interrogation ship visible in the distance. The bottom portion of its bow contained a facility known as the Andamio de la Ejecución and Horizon was within it.

“Let’s go!”

They all continued on with Tenzou the ninja at the lead because he could tell where on the battlefield was safe.

They were all exhausted. They were out of breath, sweaty, and their defensive charms were running out, but the bullets did not stop.

Occasionally, the person running alongside someone would suddenly double over and not continue on.

Once they pa.s.sed through the rain of bullets, the enemy’s pike unit would come out. And once they forced pa.s.sed them, the bullets would arrive once more.

They ran in a line. Adele took the lead while Persona-kun held her and those with some protective charms left or those with defensive divine protection would follow in a rotation.

But…

“Sorry. I’m already out of internal Blessings!”

Everyone was running out of charms or of the internal Blessings stored inside them that were needed to activate divine protection. They had already made as many dedications as they could and requested as many subst.i.tute divine protections as they could.

“s.h.i.t. I’ll be eating nothing but grains for a week after this battle.”

“Yeah. After the battle, I have three days to dedicate twenty divine figurines at the shrine.”

“I’m banned from all s.e.xual acts for a week afterwards. I’m already regretting that decision.”

“Wow…”

As they all sympathized with that one student, Toori nodded deeply and spoke while maintaining his running speed.

“Whether we win or lose, you guys have raised some serious death flags.”

“Ah! I don’t want to hear that from him of all people!!”

They clashed, overcame, and were slowed down, but they never forgot to continue forward.

A white ship was about three hundred meters ahead. It was K.P.A. Italia’s Regno Unito.

Once they pa.s.sed it, they would be almost to the interrogation ship.

“Hurry!”

Everyone felt this was the last spurt, but something changed that.

A K.P.A. Italia pike unit appeared from behind the white ship in enough numbers to resemble a wave.

A red demon stood at the head of the K.P.A. Italia unit. He was Galileo and he spoke on behalf of the pike unit behind him.

“Now, these are K.P.A. Italia’s official troops. I suppose you could call them the Papa-Schola’s elite guards. Those previous troops were promising youths, but these have experience and have proven their ability,” he said. “So there is little chance you can stand up to them.”

As if to defy his words, Musashi’s guard unit dashed toward and clashed with K.P.A. Italia’s experienced troops.

Their opponent formed a st.u.r.dy wall, so Musashi’s youths created a spear-like formation and charged.

When the two sides collided, a cascade of metallic noises and sounds of impact rose into the air.

And Musashi’s group pushed. They tried to push through. Their opponent’s heels slid backwards and their gathered bodies fell back as well, but a voice came from one point.

“Don’t underestimate us, you kids!”

The enemy pulled back and used the slight s.p.a.ce to take a running start while lowering their bodies.

When they clashed once more, Musashi’s front line was pushed upwards.

“Kh!”

As Musashi’s side groaned, the enemy’s front line let out a shout and gathered strength in their shoulders as they pushed upwards.

“You don’t stand a chance! Our many years of experience give us the edge!”

A new voice joined the shouts of the army.

“That is exactly right. How do you plan to overcome that difference in history, hm?”

Someone looked down on them from the deck of the white ship seventy meters up.

Toori looked up at the man in a white cloak while he pushed in on the scrum from behind, copped a feel of a girl’s b.u.t.t, and got kicked away.

“Old man!”

“Call me ‘your holiness’, boy.”

As he spoke, Innocentius raised his right hand. That hand contained what looked like a long scythe or a hammer.

“This is St.i.thos p.o.r.neia, the Logismoi Óplo of l.u.s.t. I will now show you what happens when its rightful owner uses it.”

A low, thick noise came from the hammer Logismoi Óplo.

It shook the air much like a bell.

All of the weapons the Musashi side was using in the clash came apart in no time at all.

Their weapons had been defanged.

The fasteners, screws, and glued parts all came off, so they could not be fixed.

Some frantically caught the blades that fell into the air, but the blades did not injure their hands. The blades had been dulled. They had become nothing more than thin pieces of metal with angled edges.

Innocentius spoke from above, where the noise had come from.

“My St.i.thos p.o.r.neia is a Logismoi Óplo without an offensive ability. Its overdrive completely defangs the weapons of all enemies that this battaglia martello can see within about three kilometers.”

His words meant one very important thing.

K.P.A. Italia and Tres España’s weapons would not be defanged. Which meant…

“Victory is ours!!”

The wall of enemies suddenly pushed back against Musashi’s charge.

The people had vanished from the open pa.s.sageways within the Musashi.

Everyone had evacuated to the long blocks that functioned as underground residential s.p.a.ce or the wide blocks that connected them as a central floor. The wide blocks had stairways up and down and open s.p.a.ces used for the cargo lift hatches, so the families with children, pregnant women, the sick, and the aged had gathered in them.

A stir ran through the people as they listened to the words of the battlefield being broadcast there.

“Calm down.”

Someone stood up within the group and stopped them from talking.

It was Azuma. He walked between them and spoke to crying children and those who looked worried.

…This is the best I can do right now.

He spoke as he thought.

“I think you will be faced with many decisions from now on. Whether you will choose to oppose my and my friends’ decisions or whatever else you might choose, it is your thoughts, your destinies, and the general flow of events that will lead you to embrace whatever decisions you will make.”

But…

“But for now, please just watch. I will not ask you not to worry. I will not ask you to escape reality by thinking about enjoyable things. All I ask is that you watch this through to its conclusion.”

He felt he was being horribly conceited.

…That sounds like something Miriam would say.

Saying it before he apologized made it seem even more that way.

The people exchanged glances.

“Well, if the crown prince says so…”

They nodded but also tilted their heads. From their postures, it was clear they did not all agree and Azuma was certain some of them would eventually split off.

That was when a large door behind him opened and bright colors entered.

A food cart was being pulled in.

“h.e.l.lo, everyone. This is an overpriced food cart from the Ohiroshiki family’s line of ‘Fatty’s Foods’ snack shops!”

“Today’s dish is curry. It has spices to calm you down.”

“Um… Th-this is volunteer work, right? You aren’t charging for it, right?” asked Azuma. “And you didn’t put any weird drugs in there?”

Ohiroshiki nodded.

“Of course not! I swiped this food cart from my money-hungry father so I could bring a storm of charity to the Musashi! Now, line up! Little girls first! …Ah, why are filthy old men the only ones lining up!? Wait! Don’t take off your shirts! Please don’t! Ah, that looks really salty!”

Further back in the ship where the families with children had gathered, Itoken and Nenji stood in front of a Broadcast Committee film crew. They spoke to the film crew and the children gathered around them.

“Are you listening, good children of Musashi!? To say goodbye to our worries, Brother Itoken and Mr. Nenji have a special lesson at a special time today!”

“Heh. Are you ready to get all sticky and messy, children?”

One of the children sitting nearby raised his hand.

“Brother Itoken! Why aren’t you two fighting!? Are you useless!?”

“Ha ha ha. What are you talking about? If Mr. Nenji and I got serious, we could easily contaminate and bring down an aerial warship, but our friends are doing all the work this time! Make sure to cheer for them!” Itoken raised a hand toward the film crew and gave a glittering smile. “Okay, everyone! Let’s say goodbye to our worries with some exercise! Just follow my lead! Time for incubus exercising!”

“Get ready!”

“Okay… One, two! One, two! Stand behind your neighbor and move up with a gouging motion!”

That scene worried Azuma, so he raised the volume of the four-screened divine monitor in the center of the area.

“W-well, everyone. The chancellor and the others are doing their best, so let’s keep that in mind.”

The instant he set the volume, voices burst from the sign frame. They belonged to Toori and the others with him.

“Waaaah! We’re gonna die! We’re totally gonna die!!”

The dumbfounded people tilted their heads quizzically.

…Wh-what is going on?

On the vast battlefield near the ocean, two armies clashed.

But one side’s destruction had sent that clash in a new direction.

To the north, Musashi’s troops were trying to pa.s.s by the large white ship, but they had lost their weapons and they had begun to collapse.

There was a simple reason for this: the pope-chancellor’s Logismoi Óplo ‘St.i.thos p.o.r.neia’ had defanged their weapons.

Whether it was a punch, a kick, or a throw, any action taken with the intention to attack would lose all force the instant it touched their enemy.

They would simply be pushed back or blown away by a counterattack.

Their shields and armor had not been defanged. They were thankful for that, but they had still lost their weapons after building up fatigue. Their numbers were being carved away and someone cried out to oppose this turn of events.

“Can’t we do something!?”

The boy knew they could not, but someone suddenly answered his request.

“Do you want to do something about this?”

It was Toori. While doing whatever he could to support the others, he spoke with a sweaty, smiling face as the entire guard unit turned back toward him.

“Do you want to rescue Horizon?”

Even in this unfavorable situation in which they were beginning to crumble, his question received a shouted answer.

“Of course!”

It was unclear who had given it. It might have been one person, it might have been multiple, and it might have been all of them, but someone did respond.

“No matter what happens or what reasons people give, I believe any Far Easterner would want to rescue someone facing an unreasonable death!”

After all…

“I don’t remember living a life in which I could believe that someone being given an unreasonable death should just die!!”

“I see.” Toori gave a loose smile covering his entire mouth and he looked down at the ground while still smiling. “Then… you all think that way, don’t you?”

When he raised his head, he continued on to look up into the sky and into the distance. And he opened his mouth wide to shout.

“Okay, Asama. …I’m really gonna ask for it!! Please approve my contract!!”

Asama stood atop a derrick mast while the sounds of sh.e.l.lfire and the wind washed over her.

She still aimed her bow in the general direction of the guard ships as the wind whipped her hair about.

“Are you sure? Are you sure you aren’t just choosing an extreme method to get through a difficult situation?”

She had to ask, but the response was simple.

“Do it.”

She could not refuse. Thinking “that’s right” was the most resistance she could muster.

She sighed.

…Honestly, that boy and his sister always cause me so much trouble.

As she thought, her shoulders lowered, but she did not hang her head. She simply nodded to Hanami on her shoulder and opened a torii-style sign frame in front of her hand. She checked to make sure the guard ship’s ether cannon was not producing any light and got to work.

“Toori-kun, please do not forget that responsibility will lie with the Asama Shrine, so we guarantee to provide as much support as possible if something happens.”

“Are you upset?”

“Of course I am. But…I know you won’t listen now that you’ve made up your mind.”

As she spoke, Asama touched a point on the sign frame.

“This is Asama Tomo, supervisor of Asama Shrine contract signatory Aoi Toori. …I am sending the shrine Aoi Toori’s request for a superior contract and the approval for the contract.”

“Clap.”

To confirm the contents of the contract’s divine protection, Asama spoke it aloud.

“The divine protection requested by the contract is to transmit and distribute the full abilities of the signatory as an alteration of the emotion transmission divine protection provided by Mitsuba of the Uzume-style G.o.ds of performing arts. In exchange, the signatory agrees to continually carry the emotion of joy as a performing arts dedication. And…if the signatory ever gains the emotion of sadness, his dedication will have failed and he will be tainted.”

She spoke.

“As a reaction to the divine protection, his tainted abilities will be purified and eliminated.”

Meaning…

“If you ever feel sad from now on, you will die, Toori-kun.”

But in exchange…

“You can now transmit and distribute all of yourself!”

“What!? Mr. Impossible can transmit all of himself!? So what!?”

The battlefield reacted to Asama’s voice over the divine transmission.

The K.P.A. Italia students began jeering as they attempted to crush the Musashi students.

“Transmitting all of Mr. Impossible won’t make victory any more possible!”

With loud voices and great momentum, the black uniforms and armor of K.P.A. Italia charged forward with weapons in hand.

The Musashi group was unable to argue back and could only prepare to defend.

They groaned and their balance was already shifted backwards. They would be unable to endure this clash and they would be forced back and crushed.

But someone shouted out. It was Mr. Impossible himself, Aoi Toori.

“Prepare yourselves, everyone!”

His voice contained a bright smile that some might have called shrill, but his shout caused everyone to move.

They were taken aback as they used all of their powerless bodies to defend. An instant later, the K.P.A. Italia warriors arrived with an upward stabbing motion.

“Be crushed, Far East!!”

With a great rumbling sound, the result quickly showed itself.

The sounds and result of the clash on the battlefield were quite clear.

As they crashed into the Musashi guard unit, K.P.A. Italia’s warriors were knocked flying through the air.

“Eh?”

The Musashi youths’ eyes opened wide, but they were still standing.

Meanwhile, K.P.A. Italia’s front lines were either collapsed on the ground or their armor could be heard landing.

The exhausted Musashi side remained and the K.P.A. Italia side had been defeated.

The remaining K.P.A. Italia warriors and the Musashi guard unit that stood still in confusion both realized what had happened at the same moment.

“Why can we use the defense spells that need Blessings?”

As they stood defensively, the spells on their arms and bodies were emitting light despite supposedly having been used up.

They all asked what had happened and finally turned toward a certain boy: Aoi Toori.

At some point, bluish-white ether light had appeared in his arms and decorative chains.

It was bright enough to see with the naked eye. However, he was not using a spell or anything else. That glow of pure ether told them the meaning of the contract Asama had described.

“Is that what it means for Mr. Impossible to transmit all of himself?”

Someone shouted out when they heard what those on the battlefield were saying.

It was Yoshinao as he drank tea at the table on Musashino’s bow. He lowered his head as if peering into the teacup in his hand.

“Transmitting his full abilities? Is this why that idiot wanted to be king!?”

“Honey? What do you mean?” asked his wife.

He turned toward her with raised eyebrows.

“That idiot… He now has the power to transmit his abilities! He can distribute ‘his entire self’ to others! And he is now Musashi’s viceroy! He holds one quarter of Musashi’s authority. And that means…”

He said it.

“Ether!! By risking his life, Aoi Toori can now take one quarter of the ether fuel held in the Musashi and use his transmission divine protection to send it to others via Ley Lines!”

And what did that mean?

…Regardless of age, those fighting alongside him can become monsters who can use their spells without end!

But, he also thought. How much resolution does it take to bear a death sentence for feeling sad?

Yoshinao nodded toward his wife and spoke to the surrounding students.

“Support your king.”

They all slowly but surely nodded and then the entirety of Musashi suddenly shook.

It could be called a vertical shaking, a horizontal shaking, or even a vibration.

“Is he going to use the ether supply his authority as viceroy gives him!?”

Amid all the people on the battlefield who were unsure what to do, Toori raised both his arms.

“Relax! I, Aoi Toori, am here with my power of impossibility!”

He swung down his arms and made a loud announcement as ether light scattered around him.

“I will bear your impossibilities, so you all take the power of possibility!”

The Musashi group exchanged a glance but they all nodded while baring their teeth.

“Judge!”

They all took in a breath and threw themselves forward.

“Judgment! Yes, we are those receiving holy punishment!

“We are the punished who continue on by devouring our king’s possibility!!”

“But we are also those who will not bring sadness to our king!!”

As they endured and let out roars, they repeatedly used defensive spells and crashed into their enemy’s front line.

The used all sorts of spells while no longer worrying about the usage time: purifications, shields, raised evasion speed, fatigue recovery.

“Go, chancellor!”

“C’mon, guys. Just because you can withstand it doesn’t mean you should be reckless.”

“But we have no other choice. We know how to stop the pope-chancellor, but we can’t do it.”

That method was based in the academy rules. If a chancellor, Student Council president, or an officer with the right to act on their behalf opposed him, he would be restricted to single combat.

If Toori wished to battle Innocentius, Toori would be the only one the man could use the Logismoi Óplo’s power on.

But Toori had to go to Horizon.

“We’ve taken your possibilities! We’ll do what we can here to repay you, so…”

Before they could tell him to go, a shout cut through the battlefield.

“I am here!”

Someone in a male uniform stood by the exit from the western plain to the north.

“I am Honda Masazumi, Vice President of Musashi Ariadust Academy! I challenge K.P.A. Italia Papa-Schola Innocentius to single combat!!”

After her shout, Masazumi gasped for breath, but she quickly stood back up and ignored the sweat on her brow.

“As a representative of the Testament Union, you will not try to escape this single combat, will you!?”

Atop Regno Unito, Innocentius took in a breath and looked toward Masazumi.

…Oh?

If she was challenging him to single combat, she had to have some hope of victory. She was about a kilometer away and she had likely been waiting ever since arriving through the mountain pa.s.s after the others.

She had run up as the aerial ships had moved back to the south.

The fact that she was separated from Musashi’s formation meant she had some kind of plan.

And so Innocentius reached into his pocket.

In his pocket were holy spell charms. Cla.s.sica Firma were single-use, but they had great power.

They could do anything: summon lightning, fire bullets, explode on impact, etc. More than one could be used together to increase their power.

He clearly had the advantage.

But he saw a smile on the corner of her mouth and he saw her hands in the pocket binders at her waist.

…Has she brought some Shinto spell charms?

While reminding himself to remain cautious, he looked down below.

The experienced warriors and the Musashi warriors were clashing again and again with neither making any real headway. If he accepted the challenge to single combat, the enemy would be able to use their weapons and the experienced warriors below would be in danger.

But he saw Galileo and the others turn sharp gazes his way.

“Your holiness! Show her what we’re made of!!”

Hearing their request, he nodded.

…Either way, the representative of the Testament Union cannot escape the academy rules.

“I accept.”

The air was dyed by a loud low-pitched noise coming from St.i.thos p.o.r.neia.

That was the sound of St.i.thos p.o.r.neia deactivating.

Down below, angry yells and roars were mixed in with the sounds of clashing metal. With Galileo on their side, Innocentius was fairly certain they would win, but he knew not to let his guard down. He had to hurry.

He reached into his pocket to activate a bundle of charms toward Masazumi.

“Your holiness!” shouted Masazumi.

…What is it now?

She was pointing toward the ground with her right hand. The dirt had crumbled due to the battle.

She took a step and confirmed that her foot sank down to the ankle.

“I apologize, but I want as fair a battle as possible! Could we move to a different battlefield!? If possible, I would like to use the western plain behind me!”

“No! If you do not wish to fight there, then come here! You only need to cross those battle scars, right!?”

“Judge. In that case… Please wait a moment!”

“Yes, hurry it up!”

Innocentius sighed, pulled his hand from his pocket, and prepared to end this with the charms in that hand the instant Masazumi arrived.

But then he looked up.

Masazumi was beginning to cross the five meter wide crumbled portion of ground.

“There.”

She raised her right leg high and lowered it. She took a firm step forward.

But despite how much time the step had taken her, she had only advanced about three centimeters.

She was walking slowly to buy time.

“d.a.m.n you!!”

Masazumi shrugged and ignored Innocentius’s shout.

She once more slowly raised her leg up high yet lowered it extremely close by.

“You will wait for me to arrive there, won’t you? You were the one that told me to come to you after all,” she said. “Surely the representative of the Testament Union isn’t going to break his promise to fight in single combat.”

Innocentius and the others gasped at Masazumi’s casual comment.

But meanwhile, the battlefield continued to change.

The Musashi students let out a cry and split apart. One group held back K.P.A. Italia’s experienced warriors and the other group continued on with Toori.

“Galileo! Stop them!!” shouted Innocentius when he saw it.

He also jumped down from Regno Unito. As he watched Masazumi raise her leg high, he activated a charm and kicked at the air to accelerate forward. He hurried on as if running down an invisible flight of stairs.

“If I have the same footing as you, it will be an equal battlefield! I do not need to wait and you do not need to come to me! Galileo, hold them there! Do not let Musashi’s chancellor reach the interrogation ship!”

But he saw a boy standing before the demon who had attempted to rush out in pursuit.

…That is the boy who Galileo defeated only this afternoon.

His name was Noriki.

After experiencing defeat, the boy now stood before the one who had defeated him.

He struck Toori’s hand as the other boy ran by him and he spoke.

“Go on. I have a job to take care of here.”