abcAn egg-shaped aircraft descended slowly under the moonlight. The aircraft wasn"t too big, just about 2 meters in diameter.
Its destination, a small island with no illumination. A lost island that didn"t appear in any maps, either. It was the Tentacle G.o.d"s Island: the headquarters of the Tentacle Group, those who had obtained the power of Irukinuf.
Without making a sound, the aircraft slipped through between the huge stone buildings buried in the jungle of tropical plants, then landed in front of the temple located in the center of the island.
An egg-shaped shadow stretched on the stone paving. Making a small vibrating buzz, a crack ran from the top to the bottom of the aircraft. When the crack reached the bottom, the aircraft broke with a snap, and a redheaded girl holding a jar and a spear-like metal bar made her appearance from within.
"Nyufufu, I safely made iit."[1]
The singing-like voice echoed through the temple illuminated by the moonlight. She was Lynn, the Irukinuf"s Songstress that had fought at the Book Building of St. Label"s Academy against Alice and the others.
Making a coy face like a cat[2], she stroked the surface of the aircraft with the tentacles that extended from her waist. Making a clacking sound, the aircraft quickly folded up into a size enough for it to fit in her pocket.
Using this portable ultra high-speed aircraft, Lynn was able to freely jump to any place around the world. No matter if she had to go to the Tentacle G.o.d"s Island from Moscow, or from the island to St. Label"s Academy, those kinds of travels around the globe were no trouble thanks to this aircraft.
"Nyufufuh."
Laughing contentedly, she looked up at the temple, and quietly inhaled a deep breath.
"Lord Tentacle Kiing? I retrieved Lord Irukinuf"s treasure."
Being in the middle of the night as it was, the redhead"s voice could be heard throughout the temple.
"The jar and the laance. Both of theem! Quite the achievemeent."
Lynn touted about the treasures she was holding, and ran up the stairs that extended towards the centre of the temple. In one go, she leapt into the central part, where 12 entasis pillars stood in a row.
"Nyufufufufu."
Feeling the gaze of many directed towards the treasures she held, Lynn"s face broke into a superiority smug.
The Dorchester Pot and the Kushiro Spear. She had s.n.a.t.c.hed both away from Alice and company, and right in front of their noses. There was no precedent of someone in the Tentacle Group bringing back 3 treasures from Irukinuf"s fission in such a short time.[3]
The Tentacle King Swodar should now acknowledge her more than ever. Just thinking of the power she might receive in exchange for the treasures, Lynn lightly jiggled her chest as she walked.
"Nyafuh!?"
Suddenly, Lynn tripped, and as she almost fell down, the treasures rolled down from her hands.
"Aah!"
In a panic, Lynn extended her tentacles, trying to grab the treasures. But, beyond a certain point, the tentacles stopped as if they were being repelled.
"Tentacle... King?"
Lynn turned her gaze towards the throne, puzzled.
There was a distance of 10 meters from where she was standing now to the throne, the same position she was asked to remain at on the last audience.
In front of Lynn, the Tentacle King remained in silence, sitting on the temple"s throne, not even bothering to look at the girl. On the contrary; he seemed to be indifferent even towards the treasures that rolled down before the throne.
So far, whenever someone managed to bring back treasures, they would carry out the actions to insert them into Irukinuf at once. But, neither the Tentacle King nor Irukinuf at his hand showed any intentions of doing that.
"Tentacle King, here are the treasuures. They"re what we need to complete Lord Irukinuf"s bodyy."
Lynn raised her voice deliberately. And yet, the Tentacle King didn"t even open his eyelids.
"Tentacle King?"
She was shouting now. In order for her voice to get through, Lynn shouted with all her strength.
"Songstress. Whatever happened with inviting those guests?"
Blocking out Lynn"s shouts, a throaty man"s voice sounded from an entasis pillar, taking over for the Tentacle King.
"I won"t let you say you forgot."
The Great Tentacle Leonidas, who took care of the island"s defense, showed up from the darkness, flexing his strong pectorals.
"What "guests" are you talking abouut?"
Lynn feigned ignorance.
"It"s high time you quit deceiving us, Songstress!"
Leonidas thrust the iron spear in his hand at Lynn"s chest.
"Hiih!?"
Affected by Leonidas" outburst, Lynn let out a short shriek.
As if on cue, a bonfire was lit on each of the 12 big pillars, and the remaining of the 12 Apostles appeared.
Naturally, that didn"t mean they all had a.s.sembled there. Several of the bodies looked transparent under the moonlight, and didn"t they cast a shadow over the stone pavement either; they were stereoscopic images.
"The Songstress has the seed of rebellion in her!"
"The Songstress goes against the wishes of the Tentacle King!"
"She did bring the treasures, but even so, opposing the Tentacle King is a serious crime!"
"It"s clear she tried to kill the Gate Opener using Hikita Bungoro, if I may be so bold to suggest!"
Lynn groaned softly before the pressure emanated by the tentacles of the 12 Apostles.
Being as they were the Apostles, they had power enough to intimidate underlings, no matter if those were stereoscopic images with no substance. If this was one who wasn"t a follower of Irukinuf, wielding the same tentacles, they"d faint before that heavy pressure; people with a weak heart would probably even get a heart attack.
"Now, would you answer!"
Leonidas" eyes shone gold, filled with bloodl.u.s.t.
"T-Thaat"s..."
Lynn"s knees shook in panic. Her face stiffened, her throat dried. Should she tell them, or should she deceive them?
An Irukinuf Priestess[4] was an existence that even surpa.s.sed the Tentacle King, an immortal figure united with Irukinuf. Lynn believed that she had the qualifications to become a priestess herself. That was the reason why she had been collecting treasures.
"Do you think we wouldn"t be able to see through the ambitions of a la.s.s like yourself?"
As if piercing through Lynn"s chest, Leonidas" spearhead jolted her solar plexus.
"In the 2500 years I"ve been a follower of Irukinuf, I"ve seen my fair share of people of your ilk!"[5]
His spearhead bit into her. If he added a bit more strength, the iron spear would break through her chest and pierce her heart.
Lynn tightly closed her eyes in fear.
"Can you leave it at this? Sir Leonidas."[6]
That unexpected, timely help made Lynn"s face shine brightly.
"Mh?"
A long and narrow tentacle twined around Leonidas" iron spear. For someone to stop the movements of one of the 12 Apostles, it could only be one amongst their midst, or the Tentacle King.
"Do you intend to interfere?"
"No, that is not my intention."
Yue Ying had been silently watching over the situation with the other Apostles and Lynn, but now took action and pulled back Leonidas" spear with the long tentacle that extended from her shoulder.
"The visitors the Tentacle King called for are approaching. I think we should give priority to welcoming those girls here, what do you think?"
Hearing Yue Ying"s words, Leonidas looked up at the night sky.
One of the various benefits provided by the tentacles was a strengthening of the physical capabilities. If it was a Great Tentacle, their body entrusted with eight tentacles, it was no trouble to stare at the flapping wings of a mosquito flying under the moonlight.
And Leonidas" eyes noticed well enough the reverse cone-like object approaching the island. It was the mobile device Twister, one of the heritages the Baum house owned.
"Hmm... luck"s on your side, Songstress."
"We"ll leave it to you to meet the visitors, Sir Leonidas, so how about we order the Songstress to undergo punishment for a while?"
The 12 Apostles looked at each other. Yue Ying"s proposal was reasonable, but should they be deciding how to treat the Songstress by themselves? At a loss, they turned their eyes to the Tentacle King, who was calmly watching them on his throne.
"King, your decision!"
Hearing the 12 Apostles" voice, a rainbow-colored eye slowly appeared from the tip of the staff in the Tentacle King"s hands.
Irukinuf"s voice reverberated inside the mind of all the followers present in the island.
"Your judgment!"
In one voice, the 12 Apostles asked for the Tentacle King"s reply.
"We do agree she should receive a punishment. Thus, We respect Yue Ying"s decision."
The Tentacle King finally replied to their request, his voice reverberating. The eyes of both the Tentacle King Swodar Nyarmain and Irukinuf stared at Lynn as if they intended to bore a hole through her.
The 12 Apostles waited with bated breath for the Tentacle King to continue.
"Spending the night in the Room of Meandering Beasts should be good."
The Tentacle King announced the Songstress" punishment in a tone devoid of emotion, only declaring the decision aloud.
"Hih!"
Hearing the name of the very punishment chamber that made the beings with tentacles feel like h.e.l.l on earth, Lynn couldn"t help but give a short whine.
"Cool down for a while, Songstress."
The moment the Tentacle King moved his finger, a huge hole appeared under Lynn"s feet. Lynn"s body floated in midair, becoming weightless.
"Eh?"
But it was just for an instant. Faster than a blink, Lynn was sucked into the hole.
Her destination, the Room of Meandering Beasts.
"Hyaaaaaaaaaah!"
All that remained from her were her screams from deep inside the hole.
"My Apostles. Go meet the two priestesses... Do treat them politely."
Both the Tentacle King and Irukinuf closed their eyes.
And so, 12 Apostles spread out soundlessly, in order to carry out the orders from the Tentacle King.
***
Alt.i.tude: 300,000 meters. The Vimana was flying under suborbital flight at a height similar to a man-made satellite. With this way of flying using the Earth"s gravity, the Vimana could reach anywhere on Earth within an hour.
Alice and Hatter were at the gondola-shaped bridge installed in the Vimana"s lower part. As a result of the free fall, the aircraft was in a weightless state, and so Alice"s hair floated in an unnatural form.
"Caught up with them yet?"
Alice, sitting down on the commander"s seat placed in the backward center of the bridge, called out to Hatter, sitting on the forward c.o.c.kpit.
"We accurately pinpointed the Twister"s location. We"ll be able to overtake them 290 seconds from now."
Hatter answered Alice"s question dispa.s.sionately, pointing at the luminous points on the screen, that displayed the Vimana"s and the Twister"s current positions, as a visual cue.
"Ookay, despite our late start, we caught up real quick."
"If you consider both ships" fuselage specs, you"ll realize we"re going over their maximum speed. Besides, since Lady Dorothy is on board, the Twister is prioritizing safety rather than speed."
Alice nodded at Hatter"s remark. Unlike the Baum house and their esteemed Milady, Hatter and the others didn"t adjust their speed even with Alice riding along. Alice was quite comfortable with such a professional, even if slightly cold, arrangement.
"Kishishishishi, that Mudhead intended to jump the gun on me; I"ll have her realize things seldom go as one wishes."
With these words, Alice gazed at the screen in front of her. It displayed a red luminous point, their target, the Twister.
It overlapped with the reaction of the transmitters Alice had attached to Dorothy. All the presents Alice had given Dorothy, like uniform"s cuff links and pendants, were fitted with transmitters without exception.
They were actually friends at school, but since she was a rival Treasure Hunter, Alice could show no openings.
Take advantage of the time of peace to make your preparations.
That was one of the teachings Alice"s mother had left her.
"Say, Hatter, did you find anything new about the Gate?"
Alice asked, turning her eyes from the screen to Hatter.
"Yes. I found that the Gates can be broadly divided into 3 types of variations."
"3 types?"
"Gates that let you travel through s.p.a.ce; Gates that let you travel through time; and, the existence called "Queen"s Gate" that oversees them all. I still don"t know all the details, only that most of the ones Lady Lewis discovered were the s.p.a.ce-Gate type."
Hearing Hatter"s words, something flared up in Alice"s mind.
"Travel through s.p.a.ce, you say? Would you be able to do that by keeping things in a different s.p.a.ce without moving them...?"
Wasn"t the multi-dimension storage system offered by Dorothy already complete? That would mean...
"There is a high chance the Baum house owns technology related to s.p.a.ce Gates. However, what Lady Lewis seeked wasn"t such an incomplete item. She was looking for the Queen"s Gate, the all-purpose gate connected to all Gates, transcending s.p.a.ce and time."
After Hatter addressed her doubts, Alice turned her sight back to the Vimana"s control panel.
"I see. Then, did Mom have an educated guess of where the Queen"s Gate could be?"
"Do you want to see the list?"
"Display it."
Hatter slightly moved her finger, and a list was projected in a screen floating in front of Alice.
"Lewis" List" could be called the crib notes of the Dodgson Foundation, the doc.u.ment that detailed all the records and traditions that existed on Earth and the investigations about the treasures" whereabouts.
Though Alice scanned the list with expectation, her expression soon lost its brightness.
"I already saw this the other day, at the mansion"s underground."
Alice told Hatter with a sigh.
"The list concerning the Gates is the only thing we have left."
Hatter"s words were deprived of emotion. Her words only informed of the truth, indifferently.
Oh well...
Alice swallowed up her frustration. They should be able to catch up with the Twister soon. The discussions regarding the list could be left for later.
Antic.i.p.ating the moment the weightlessness would be cancelled, the girl checked the seatbelts on the commander"s seat.
"When we get close, I"ll leave in the Attack Device."
***
On board the Twister and its perfect inertial control, no unpleasant acceleration could be felt, regardless of what kind of speeds it reached or sharp turns it took.
Three silhouettes were inside the Twister"s control room. The floor surface there consisted of a large screen panel.
"It"s been a while since I was able to forestall Allie this much."
Looking at the image of the current situation projected under her eyes, Dorothy smiled, seemingly satisfied.
The giant Lumberjack, reminiscent of a silver armor, and the beast girl Löwe, moving her ears with a blip blop, both waited their turn behind Dorothy.
"Milady, please pay attention, we"ll project the image of our survey of the whole island."
Following Scarecrow"s voice, a monochromatic stereoscopic vision imitating the island"s shape rose from under Dorothy.
"Though it"s visible with the naked eye, that island has a strange camouflage that prevents it from being reflected through lens. That"s why, even though I managed to create an image somehow through various means, there is no color; do forgive me."
"This is..."
Dorothy"s breath was taken away.
The form of the island was too geometrical.
"Even if this is just me talking from the scan results, this would be a man-made island, that also floats over the sea. The entire island is composed of a huge stone arrangement, which made it gain buoyancy by some method I can"t quite figure out."
"Somehow, it"s like an amazing version of Nan Madol, right?"[7]
Nan Madol, a gigantic stone structure submerged by the Pohnpei Island"s coast. The islands of Micronesia had countless structures of unknown origin. This was now the proof that an extinct megalithic civilization had indeed existed. Though all those others were genuine, compared to this under their eyes, those structures didn"t go beyond mere rockwork.
"Perhaps, this might be the original."
Scarecrow"s musings about history"s mysteries were cut off by the emergency siren.
"What"s that!?"
The moment Dorothy half-rose from the sofa, the video and lighting in the room were killed, and her body was hurled up into the air.
"Eh?"
Right after the unexpected gravity-free state registered in their minds, they noticed a large hole that had been suddenly created on the control room"s wall.
The jet-black night sky was visible on the other side of the hole. The alt.i.tude of Twister"s flight was currently 6000 meters. So, if a hole opened up...
Before she could even perish the thought, Dorothy"s body was sucked out into the empty sky due to the difference in atmospheric pressure.[8]
At once, Twister"s silhouette faded away in the distance.
"Hiiyaaaaaaaaah!"
Dorothy screamt, on a free-dive without a parachute.
With no time to lose, she spread her body to gain air resistance and reduce her fall velocity, but the change was but a drop in a bucket.
Lumberjack didn"t hesitate. Engaging the Air Booster on her back at full throttle, she chased after Dorothy.
"Lumberjack! Come! Hurryyy-!"
Dorothy shouted for Lumberjack, who was going towards her at a breakneck speed.
Free-diving from an alt.i.tude of 6000 meters, her body temperature was rapidly dropping. In a corner of her eye, she saw the Twister descend as its airframe bent from the attacks it was receiving.
"LET"S GO!"
In an instant, Löwe jumped at Lumberjack"s leg, went around her shoulder, then used her as a scaffold to leap vigorously at Dorothy.
Diving head first, she went past Dorothy then turned around.Lumberjack opened up her armored chest to catch Dorothy. The air resistance rapidly increased, and the difference in alt.i.tude between Dorothy and Lumberjack increased.
"TEIYAAH!!"
Löwe kicked Dorothy up to fill the gap between Lumberjack and the girl.
"Gyafuh!"
Due to the intense shock, the air in the blonde girl"s lungs was expelled out.
Lumberjack, with her extended armored chest, spread both arms to hug Dorothy tightly.
"I LEAVE HER TO YOU NOW!"
As a result, Löwe"s fall velocity accelerated further. She was at an alt.i.tude of around 3000 meters now. Generally, that"d be a height where one would get helplessly smashed against the ground, but if it was Löwe, the human beast, she should be able to make it just barely.
"I GO AHEAD."
Seeing Lumberjack catching up with Dorothy, Löwe gave a smile, and fell into the sea.
Lumberjack called out to the almost fainting Dorothy, to make her keep her consciousness.
After being kicked by Löwe, Dorothy"s falling speed became zero just for a moment, and aligned herself with Lumberjack, who nosedived at her with a momentum that made one think they"d crash against each other.
Catching Dorothy in midair, Lumberjack closed the armor. Even if worse came to worst, she"d be safe there. Hugging Dorothy"s body inside her, Lumberjack gave a sigh of relief as she activated a reverse thrust.
"What happened, Scarecrow!?"
Having completed the combination with Lumberjack, Dorothy asked Scarecrow through her communication device.
An intense noise in the middle of the communication made it impossible to hear all the words, and then a dazzling light spread in the night sky.
With that flash of light reminiscent of a nuclear explosion, Lumberjack"s sensors whited out. The feed from the outside stopped, her field of vision became now pure white, and her body stopped moving.
"Scarecrow!"
Dorothy shouted inside Lumberjack, who had stopped functioning. They"d soon crash into the sea. It didn"t matter if Lumberjack was made of Roswell Metal, she wouldn"t be able to absorb the whole shock.
Dorothy closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and braced for the impact.
***
The dazzling light that changed the night sky into midday"s disappeared, plunging the island back into silence.
"You"re playing around too much, Rama."
The Tentacle King muttered under his breath, and turned his gaze from the night sky to the ground again.
Before his eyes, there was a young beauty wearing a Chinese dress. It was the Apostle Yue Ying, the woman tasked with adjusting the Gate.
"Since he"s a Prince, he wants to show off with those techniques every once in a while."
Among the 12 Apostles, Rama was the leader, also called the oldest in the Tentacle Group.
As he had lived in the golden age of civilization before the modern one formed, he was one of the precious long-lived beings amongst their ranks.
"That ability of his, it"s so difficult to use..."
The light bullet Rama had released was one kind of nuclear fusion. If he so wished, he could level a city on his own. Because it was too powerful, it was known amongst the Apostles as a power not to be used.
"Still, from all the attacks he could have used, that seemed to be one which would weaken them the most."
"He was being considerate as a Prince."
The Tentacle King was astonished at how skillfully he controlled a technique that could evaporate the whole island if misused.
"However, he"s not supposed to injure our important Priestess."
"Sir Leonidas is on his way. Do not fret."
The Tentacle King calmly nodded at Yue Ying"s words.
"Then, Yue Ying. You"re to go underground, hurry and prepare the Gate. The "Gate Opener" shall arrive soon. The time to save the world from the crisis has finally come."
As he gave his commands, the Tentacle King stroked Irukinuf in his hand. After taking in the Jar and the Spear, Irukinuf was one step closer to its perfect body. Then it"d only need a Priestess to guard it.
***
"What is... that?"
Alice had well begun to prepare the attack device "White Rabbit" in the Vimana"s lower hangar, when she saw the feed from outside and groaned involuntarily.
20% of the Twister had disappeared abruptly, and huge flashing lights were attacking it continuously.
The Twister"s surface was coated with an unknown material: it wouldn"t melt even at a temperature of 3000 degrees, and it was said to be able to withstand any and all shocks.
So, for an attack to damage it to that extent--
Alice stopped pondering about it, quickly got into the White Rabbit, and affixed her harness.
"Hatter, impact-resistant position, now!"
The shockwave reached not long after, the Vimana swinging around like a leaf fluttering in a storm.
If it was a normal aircraft, there was no way they could have avoided crashing. The Vimana made full of the inertial control system installed in various parts of its fuselage, and kept its horizontality automatically.
Although it didn"t compare to the perfect inertial control of the Twister, that emphasized comfort on the rides, it was thanks to this system that Vimana had a mobile performance several orders of magnitude above that of a normal aircraft.
Hatter"s voice sounded via the White Rabbit"s communication device.
"I"m fine over here. What about the Twister?"
"Can you identify the weapons that damaged the Twister?"
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Hatter casually a.s.serted.
"Is such a thing even possible?"
[9]"In other words, there are people in that island who can use such weapons."
Alice got excited. Over there, there were enemies who were making full use of legendary prehistory civilization technology.
The Queen"s Gate my mother pursued might also be there as well. And above all else, it"s very likely that I"ll find there Swodar Nyarmain, who was in contact with her, and is now involved with the Gate. It"s a worthy challenge.
"Wait here with the Vimana. I"ll make a sortie with the White Rabbit."
The 3 Queens had granted them permission to investigate the Twister"s remains.
Without hesitation, Alice loaded all her available equipment into the White Rabbit. Namely, her inertial control system, the Angra Mainyu, the Aeshma and her whip. And it went without saying, she didn"t forget spare protective solution, in case of an emergency. She stuffed all this equipment, along with her combat uniform, into the hypers.p.a.ce storage system.
This system from the Baum Foundation, that reduced the weight of up to 200 kilograms to zero, had proved to be quite useful. Though she also wanted to bring 54 full sets of Trump soldiers if she could, unfortunately she had overused them lately and didn"t have the time to refill them.
Her whole body now clad into a diver suit to protect her bodily functions of her whole body, Alice straddled the White Rabbit.
"Start the countdown."
For the strategy this time, the White Rabbit was equipped with a rocket booster and a controllable thruster. In its ultra high-speed setting, it could reach the island they could now see on the horizon in 3 minutes.
March Hare wedged herself into the transmission. Yet, Alice had finished her preparations to leave with the Attack Device already.
"Denied!"
Alice rejected March Hare"s request in a flash.
"You"re the trump card if push comes to shove! If you don"t hear from me in 30 minutes, you head straight to my transmitter"s location, no questions asked, understand?"
"Hatter, start countdown! From five!"
At the same time the countdown ended, the hangar"s floor opened up, and the White Rabbit was released into the black void.
Alice expertly directed the White Rabbit"s nose towards the island and switched the rocket booster on. With a deafening roar, it flew her towards the island like a white bullet.
***
The island was back in silence.
On one of its edges were the burly body of a great hero and a slender body of a young man with a darkish skin.
The features of the young man made him handsome, from his manners drifted a graceful elegance. The youth had an overwhelming presence about him different than the intimidating air from the great hero.
At their feet, there were two people who none of that imposing presence, that they had pulled up from the sea: a fainted reddish-brown haired girl, and a silvery giant who had stopped functioning. In other words, Dorothy"s subordinates, Löwe and Lumberjack. Though they had fallen into the sea from an alt.i.tude of 600 m, they were somehow still alive.
"Did you see that, Leonidas?"
Asking so, the youth with dark skin brought back into his body the tentacles that extended from his shoulder. Once he fully retracted his tentacles, there was no way to tell he belonged to the Tentacle Group.
"I did see, Prince Rama."
After prying open the chest part of the giant, and pulling over his shoulders the defenseless, knocked out blonde girl with the exposed lower half, Leonidas looked beyond the sea.
The eyes of those two, watching under the moonlight, caught the figure of the aircraft flying around the island near the horizon.
"A Vimana... there are still some that can fly."
Rama muttered, overcome with nostalgia.
"Do we shoot it down?"
Leonidas asked Rama courteously. For Leonidas, who held the hierarchy in high regard, Rama was the one he respected after the Tentacle King; he wasn"t considered the oldest in the Tentacle Group for nothing.
"Let"s refrain from doing so."
Rama smiled graciously.
"It made Us get nostalgic, We can"t bring ourselves to damage such a beautiful aircraft."[10]
The same man who had just shot down the Twister as it approached the island now shook his hands, that remained flickering after shooting light for the first time in a while, and put on the jacket he had tied to his waist.
"Besides... one should pay respect to those who live in the "Golden Age"."[11]
As Rama and Leonidas stared, a small light separated from the Vimana, and turned towards them.
"It appears they"re coming from over there."
Leonidas stared intently at the luminous point. It approached low so as to graze the sea surface.
"We shall withdraw. Do as you see fit."
"Leave it to me."
Leonidas sank one knee into the ground and hang down his head.
"Take it easy. After all, they"re the Tentacle King"s guests."
Putting both hands into his pockets, Rama disappeared deep inside the jungle.
***
The White Rabbit Alice was riding on accelerated due to the rocket booster, at a super-low alt.i.tude close to the sea surface.
"Remaining flight ti