Chapter Forty: A narcissistic attack
Thursday,
9:23 A.M.
Morgan and Kurumi halted mid-air.
Neryl Island was just below.
Yet Kurumi's attention wasn't on it at all, instead, she slowly turned her gaze toward Morgan.
"Now that I think of it, my dear Clair didn't mention anything about the deal."
Indeed, Morgan hadn't explained their arrangement even once.
Was he deliberately keeping it from her?
Kurumi found that displeasing.
"Ah, right. Now that you talk about it. I never actually explained, did I?"
In truth, he could save
But this was also an opportunity.
Kurumi wanted information about the First Spirit from
And he hoped he'd be able to borrow the 'abilities of Time' power when the time came.
Right now, however, to put it simply, he was setting both of them up.
"
"I already knew that. What I want to know is: if I help rescue her and get what I'm after, what exactly do you want?"
Kurumi also came to that conclusion.
It was as if he wanted her to owe him, and she saw straight through it.
Morgan chuckled.
"Then later. Afterall..."
His eyes drifted downward.
Numerous anti-aircraft weapons built into the island all aimed their barrels toward them.
Despite this however,
"Come out, the other me~"
Kurumi raised her hand high dramatically.
Shadows pooled beneath her as more than twenty duplicates emerged.
Each and every one of them wearing their iconic twisted grin.
"Kihihihi!"
Every one of them stared down at the island with anticipation.
Morgan reached into his pocket, pulled out a small object, and tossed it to Kurumi.
"Catch."
She snatched it easily and opened her hand to see a single earbud resting in her palm.
"I'll use that to communicate with you."
As she fixed the earbud to her ear, she glanced over.
Following her, all her clones also turned their attention to Morgan.
"What about you then?"
"Yes, yes, what about you?"
Morgan shook his head. "I'll keep guard just in case, I have a feeling the AST back then were tracking us when we left..."
Wrong.
No, a part of it was right.
Indeed, Beta reported that a radio scan was made when they crossed Tengu's borders.
But it wasn't the full truth either.
He knew they couldn't pursue further. Without a means of dealing with him, further pursuit would be meaningless.
To put it simply, he wanted to test how far he could push his power.
Naturally, he couldn't do something like that in Tengu City.
Since he had no idea how far the effects might spread.
…Or whether the people hiding belowground would be caught up in it.
That was also another reason he came to this island.
But there was no way he'd say that aloud.
"Very well~ if you don't mind me then~"
With that, Kurumi and all of her shadow selves, following her, lunged towards the island.
Krrtack!
Vrrrrrrrr!
The anti-aircraft weapons on land slowly raised their muzzles, motioning their cannons towards Kurumi.
But–
'Do you really think I'll let that happen?'
Morgan mused, followed by a snap of his fingers.
«Laser Circus»
Orbs of light materialized across his Territory, firing in rapid succession at every cannon below.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled as the bright red light slowly dissipated into black smoke that curled into the sky.
"Mm~"
Kurumi, watching the mass cacophony of explosions, hummed, forcing her way through the forest without pause.
Right in front.
There was a warehouse-like building, as well as a runway for an air carrier.
However, she suspected that the main facility might be down below.
Sure enough, by the back of the warehouse building, from which there was another sprawling forest, there was metal plating on the ground.
"Hm, it seems like this is oke entrance to the facility below."
One of Kurumi's shadows touched the ground, lightly knocking on the door with her delicate fingers.
"My, my~ they certainly came prepared."
That was all she heard through the comms before she and her clones immediately jumped back, and—
Whirrrrrr!
A ridiculously thin, focused beam slammed into the wall.
Sssssssshhhhhhh!
[Mana Burst] + [Laser Heating]
"How aggressive~"
One clone placed a hand on her thigh and another on her cheek, squirming with amusement.
However, the rest shot her flat, unimpressed exasperated look.
Well, her clones shenanigans aside.
Kurumi could see the titanium melt.
'Really...'
Her thoughts drifted as the beam finally thinned and faded.
The door looked as if molten metal had been poured over it.
"Sa~ let us press forward, other me's~"
Shaking off her musings, Kurumi dove in with her clones, through the opening.
Meanwhile—
The command center was in chaos.
"Report: over seventy percent of our weaponry has been destroyed!"
"Our second entrance has been breached!"
"T-this is confirmed! It's 'Nightmare'! X and Nightmare are cooperating!"
Jennifer Bryce clenched her teeth.
This wasn't what the intel had stated!
X had said he wasn't allied with Spirits—so why were two of them acting together now?
It made no sense.
And the ease with which they tore open the front…
Did Kyo lie?
No…
Kyo might represent every foul word Jennifer knew, but her reports were never false.
"Damn it! Deploy the Wizards! Intercept her!"
"Not good, they're being overwhelmed!"
One of the staff members frantically pulled up the internal comm lines and security feeds.
What appeared on the screens drained the color from everyone's faces.
AST units were already strewn across the ground, incapacitated.
And amongst them were multiple identical girls battling their teams.
Through the communication channels, they could hear words like.
That alone was enough to freeze the room in terror.
But what made it worse was…
On another feed.
The
Jennifer Bryce felt her head spin.
Why were they here? What could they want?
And then,
Could it be…
"Material A!"
She guessed just right.
She hit the mark.
Normally, she would have ordered an all-out effort to block them.
But against
Was that even remotely possible?
Grinding her teeth, she barked out a command.
"Activate the bulkheads! Seal the lower floors!"
Even though their primary titanium bulkhead had already been melted through, she still tried to buy time.
Yet reality was always different from expectations.
Reaching the lower floors couldn't be done through normal means.
There was only one path in and out.
It is through an elevator accessible solely to the scientists and the base commander.
Locking it down would normally make intruders' progress nearly impossible.
But for Kurumi,
"My, my~ they should already know it's pointless."
"Kihihihi~ they really have no clue."
"Yes, yes~ let's show them what we can do~"
Inside the dimly lit steel corridor.
She and her other selves stood in front of the bulkhead with an eery smile.
In the first place, unlike Morgan, she didn't need to brute force her way through.
Indeed, it was simple.
From beneath her, shadows rippled, spreading out.
Her body and the bodies of her clones were dragged into it.
It was as though the floor had become liquid.
And from there, it was nothing short of a massacre.
Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang!
Several rounds of gunfire erupted inside the enclosed space.
"Kihihihi!"
"Backup! Where's backup!?"
Some researchers attempted to fire back, only to be gunned down instantly, one after another.
"What are the Wizards doing!? Why isn't anyone responding from command!?"
One particular researcher, hid behind a wall, peeking out nervously.
Bang!
Another shot resounded, followed by a pig-like squeal with liquid spurting out in the dark.
"Mmh… I have to get out of here."
He muttered taking a step when—
"My~ my~ look who we caught."
"A very interesting prey indeed~"
Sweat dropped from his features as he took a trembling step back.
But even then, the girl with ominous red and golden eyes had completely surrounded him.
"I'll—I'll do whatever you want please spare me!"
Realizing escape was futile, close to being impossible, he could only take one course of action.
An action that might very much spare his life. Or so he thought.
"Kihihihi~"
But the response was a cold, haunting giggle that froze the blood in his veins.
Meanwhile—
In the airspace above Neryl Island.
Morgan watched everything happening from the sky.
Transparent screens floated before him, showing live feeds from the security cameras and the comm channels below.
And honestly…
When he looked at it.
Isn't Beta a little bit too overpowered?
While she did feed off some data from Maria and other AIs, her growth was still stunning.
Even hacking into a semi-military base like this was easy.
Shaking his head, he glanced at another panel.
And the scene displayed there was nothing short of a macabre.
As expected of Kurumi.
That was all he could think.
And truly, how much sympathy could he spare for people involved in human experimentation?
Perhaps not the worst of crimes.
But they were far from innocent.
«Master, detecting a connection attempt from Neryl Command Center. Shall Beta allow and trace it?»
Just as he was deep in thought,
Beta's figure slowly drifted beside him, her hands clasped behind her, leaning forward slightly.
On her face was that mechanic and curious expression of hers.
"Mhm. It's probably from their Headquarters. Cut it off. I can't make a judgment on Westcott yet."
He could afford to take Fraxinus lightly. He could even take the AST lightly.
But… he absolutely could not take Westcott lightly.
If he was honest, Isaac Westcott was the one person he could never quite read.
Strangely enough, once he understood the First Spirit's true motives, all fear of her had faded.
She was strong, yes.
One could even call her a god. But that was all she had going for her: her strength.
But then, comparing that to someone who had the knowledge of how to create a god,
…it is more apparent who he should be most wary of.
And that was why, for now, he held Beta back from digging deeper into DEM's systems.
«Master's reasons are reasonable. But perhaps, isn't this the best time for Master to strike DEM?»
Yet, in the end, Beta didn't understand.
She knew he positioned himself as DEM's enemy. But it wasn't out of resentment or hatred or anything.
It was like a child looking for someone to throw a tantrum on.
A valid crashout.
That is how her master was.
"You still don't get it, Beta. Ever heard of the butterfly effect?"
«Butterfly effect?»
Beta's holographic eyes glowed a deeper teal in color.
[Searching..]
[Retrieving…]
An illustration showing how a small change in a system can create vast, unpredictable consequences.
«Flap of butterfly wings.»
Beta judged, prompting Morgan to nod his head.
Many things have begun changing ever since he probably came into this world.
Who were Kumiyo Kyo and Jennifer Bryce?
None of these people appeared in anything he remembered about this world.
So how had someone like Aunt risen to such a position?
Even Mana appearance this early was clearly also a consequence of the Butterfly Effect.
«Then what about now?»
"I need
And he also wanted to know if he could monitor this butterfly effect.
Following his words—
Beta accessed her database and immediately came to a conclusion.
That world he's referring to was the Neighboring World.
Morgan believed that studying the cause and effect of that world could lead to uncovering more mysteries.
After all, her master himself had called that place "the border between two universes."
«Beta understands»
She went silent after that.
Despite approaching quantum-computing levels of processing, she still couldn't predict her Master's moves.
And each time she failed to forecast him, her respect only deepened.
«Notice: Tokisaki Kurumi has safely secured [Material A]»
Morgan blinked.
Then, he slightly raised his head.
"Alright, what about what I asked for?"
«Yes, it's possible to execute it»
"Very well then."
It didn't take long.
A Kurumi clone rose from the island's edge, followed by dozens more.
One of them carried a girl in her arms as they approached, stopping right before Morgan.
"So that's
"Indeed~ she was in such a miserable condition when we found her. Who knows what terrible things they did."
With that being said,
Kurumi nudged her head to her clone holding
Platinum silver hair, wrapped in pure black clothes, black bandages covering her eyes.
Disheveled hair, dried skin, along with several marks.
Her overall features were in a worse situation, to say the least.
"Well then, now that we're done here, how about we finish up?"
"…Finish up?"
Kurumi tilted her head, puzzled.
"Stand behind me."
Morgan gave no further explanation.
Curious, Kurumi obeyed, her clones drifting behind him as well.
Shiiiiiing!
A sword materialized at his right side, slowly unwrapping itself before he grasped it.
"Kurumi, Beta, did you know?"
Both of them blinked.
"There was once an ordinary boy who sought strength."
[But no matter how hard he trained.]
[he realized that if an atomic bomb were fired at him, he would never survive.]
[No human could.]
[So what was his answer? Simple. To withstand a nuclear blast—]
[He must surpass human limits and become a 'nuclear power' himself.]
"And so, I intend to pursue my own selfish answer."
Morgan raised the sword high.
Kurumi and her clones stared, bewildered.
They'd heard some absurd talk about nuclear explosions and whatnot; at first, she thought he was joking.
But then she felt it.
Her head rose when she felt it. Her skin crawled, and that oppressive feeling..
Her lips parted in utter bewilderment.
Tiny greenish‑yellow motes of light were gathering around.
From the seas to the atmosphere, to even the island below, even the blades of grass there.
It moved towards the raised sword Morgan was holding.
Then everything converged—
Bthum!
A thin column of golden light shot into the clouds, whirling violently overhead.
The brilliance swelled, a shrill sound cutting through the air.
Violent winds bellowed, sending a gust of air tearing across.
Her dress flapped as she held down its edges.
Even down below, droplets of water were beginning to rise from the sea.
It was a bizarre sight to behold.
Tzzttt!
"This is the 'strongest' I can manage right now. So take this—!"
Excalibur Morgan!
A radiant white light engulfed the world.
In a single instant, the beam fell upon the island below.
Rumble!
What happened wasn't a loud explosion, but if one were to compare it.
It was the sound of a large earthquake or a massive tectonic plate shift.
When the glow faded, what was left was a deep scar.
A deep gorge that tore the body of waters along with the island, which was now cleaved in half.
Yet, at this moment—
'..Excalibur Morgan he says… what a narcissistic attack.'
—was what Kurumi was thinking about.