The plant factory containers were piled up, and twenty meters above, Kihara Kagun and Kihara Byouri clashed. Kihara Byouri was the first one to make a move, and she shot out the iron nails. Her skyfish-shaped right arm construct shot them out like sniper bullets, and they unmistakably pierced through Kihara Kagun's brain and heart.
Or at least, that should have been the case.
However, he had no wounds. He wasn't bleeding either. Kihara Kagun landed back hard, but he didn't look injured at all. It wasn't that his body had recovered from its injuries, it was that he wasn't hurt at all. He casually walked over, extended his index and middle fingers, and swung his right arm like he was trying to rip the air apart.
A blunt sound rang out.
Kihara Byouri couldn't understand what happened at all.
However, it was obvious. Her right arm had been sliced off from the shoulder. After that, Kihara Kagun's fingers showed a bluish-white laser blade that was several meters long. As if his two fingers were holding onto a huge razor blade.
"Ha… Haha…!!"
Kihara Byouri laughed.
The right arm that had been sliced off wasn't bleeding at all. Then something started to emerge from that unnatural cross-section with a burbling sound.
"Form Change. Reference: Yeti!!"
A large and furry arm that didn't match Kihara Byouri's silhouette at all flew out. Kihara Kagun grew slightly wary. His thoughts stopped for a moment as something unexpected happened. Kihara Byouri used that chance to slam a fist over Kihara Kagun.
The containers were crushed.
With the sound of an impact, Kihara Kagun was smashed together with the containers he was standing on.
He was definitely dead.
Whether it was from his flesh, his bones, or his internal organs, the grating sensation she felt confirmed that much.
Or rather, that should have been the case.
"Is that all you've got?"
A voice slipped into her ears.
After that, all the voices vanished.
Several bluish-white lights danced around, and the crushed plant factory containers were sliced into different parts, removing the many restraints on his body. Appearing there was Kihara Kagun standing below. He looked up at Kihara Byouri from below as he said that.
Without a single injury on him.
And without bleeding even a single drop.
"What… the…?"
"Are you still lost in the euphory of having acquired the trademark power of the #2? No matter what material you use, if the final overall rating is that low, then it looks like I'll be able to achieve my goal without any trouble"
"Then what sort of power did you acquire…? I can't see what kind of Kihara you are! To begin with, as a researcher of near-death experiences, your specialty should have been something along the lines of sleep-induced hallucinations. It shouldn't have any connection with this power of yours!!"
Kihara Kagun didn't answer.
Kihara Byouri turned her right arm into a skyfish and continued to shoot out large nails more than three times. However, she couldn't deal any damage to Kihara Kagun. He hadn't used his mysterious power to parry them. And he hadn't used super speed to evade them either.
He was hit directly.
His head, heart, stomach. All his critical vital points were hit. And yet, he was fine.
In fact, Kihara Kagun himself slightly adjusted the position of his body so his vitals would be hit.
And then...
Kihara Kagun took action while Kihara Byouri was confused. Without moving up from below, he continued to swing his blade of pale light and slice the plant factory containers around him. He forcefully pulled Kihara Byouri down from those positions as he sliced those mountains.
Kihara Byouri continued to close in on Kihara Kagun cautiously as she fell together with the metal remains of the containers, and thought.
(That's strange. I can tell because I'm a Kihara. Kiharas all have a strong connection to science. On the other hand, those who have studied every scientific domain should be able to make some guesses about the Kiharas' science-bound tactics, and yet…!)
She promptly mowed down on Kihara Kagun with her yeti-structured right arm, but the man, who didn't even take a single damage, was completely unperturbed by it. He continued to move forward in large steps without even bothering to dodge, with his right index and middle fingers glued together, and the bluish-white laser blade coming out from them before he started to swing it casually.
(I can't… give up…!! That guy's…! Kihara Kagun's power…! What form of science is it based o-…!!?)
Her thoughts were cut off.
Kihara Byouri's face was cleaved diagonally.
It slipped off.
Whether it was the skull or the brain, they all slid down gracefully like a bamboo tube.
The brain was destroyed.
It was death.
Immediately after that decisive moment, a new development suddenly occurred.
"Form Change. Reference: Little Gray."
The half part of her lips that was left on the upper part of her body articulated those words.
The tips of the five fingers on Kihara Byouri's left hand swelled up. They were now about the size of an orange. Or, to use another metaphor, an infant's skull.
That was the ability to manufacture brains.
If so, then any resident of Academy City would probably consider further possibilities.
Right after that, that inexplicable power was activated, and Kihara Kagun was caught in a tremendous explosion.
After turning her right arm into a giant's arm, the monster with five brains in her left hand smirked slowly.
The gray dust spread in the middle of the snowstorm as she said, "Originally, this was the side effect of an experiment to see if it was possible to manufacture brains and have them use powers. The experiment itself was a failure. So in the end, the theory that the brain is but one part of the body is indeed correct. Simply put, the brain can't function as a brain unless it goes through a human body."
Her broken smile would reconstruct her amiable face over time.
"Well, I can only use this power at Level 2 or Level 3. But even a rudimentary telekinesis would be enough to dispose of five people if their bodies are bundled together efficiently. In the form of a wave attack that peels off flesh and blood from the bones, that is. It would make for quite an effective surprise attack, wouldn't it?"
Ripping out her heart wouldn't stop her.
Severing her brain wouldn't stop her.
If they could be manufactured, they could be replaced. If they could be replaced, losing them wasn't a problem. Kihara Byouri had become an existence that was more than why humans were humans.
"…This is what it means to be a Kihara. One who uses the common ground of mankind known as science to exceed the limits of human imagination. Do you understand the essence of what I'm saying?"
"Of course, I knew that."
Kihara Byouri's smile froze as she suddenly heard a man's voice.
Then, she noticed.
The gray dust was blown away. Kihara Kagun, who should have been blown to bits, was standing with all his limbs intact. His coat and shirt had all been blown away as he stood in the -20 degrees region with his upper body naked. However, his upper body wasn't even bleeding a single drop of blood, as if he was the same as before.
"…When did you restore your body?"
"It was never damaged in the first place. It can't be damaged. That's the way my body has been modified."
Kihara Byouri's legs trembled.
What made Kihara Byouri more uneasy than the fighting power of her opponent was her inability to understand what it was based on. Even amongst the Kiharas, she was a Kihara who belonged in the upper group. Even if it was in a field she didn't specialize in, she could tell with one look what sort of science was employed. But despite that, she couldn't understand his power at all. Even though she was witnessing the inexplicable phenomenon, she couldn't understand the trick behind it one bit.
Kihara Byouri herself was an existence that could mass-produce as many brains and hearts as she wanted, but this followed different laws. Even after comparing it with all the scientific facts she knew, she couldn't come up with a hypothesis that would explain Kihara Kagun's current ability.
What was it then?
Was it possible to create such a phenomenon that twisted the Human Order without the aid of any power or law?
"No…"
Kihara Byouri muttered.
There were such things—rules that even she, who was well-versed in all sorts of science, couldn't understand. Something that existed outside the wide category of science. Kihara Byouri herself should have witnessed it. Here in Baggage City, she had even been cornered by it once.
Indeed.
"Don't tell me… you're… a member of Gremlin…!?"
Even among the Kiharas, who were said to have mastered every supernatural law in the world of science by pushing forward with all sorts of unorthodox activities, there was still a realm unknown to them.
Magic.
Or rather, the magician controlling it.
"What are you talking about?"
Kihara Kagun, on the other hand, stretched his right index and middle fingers, and the bluish-white blade extended once again.
"I'm a Kihara, remember? Why shouldn't I do something my opponent would never imagine?"
"You… goddamn heretic…!!"
Kihara Byouri couldn't help but blurt out words that had been said by so many dejected losers until now. But at the same time, she was thinking. She began to analyze the phenomenon before her anew, taking into account the possibility that it was something beyond her awareness.
(If he really had the ability to nullify all damage, he wouldn't have specifically chosen this day to attack me. He could've invaded Academy City head-on and killed all the Kiharas. There must be some special characteristics to Kihara Kagun's defense. It should be possible to deduce that from his actions.)
Kihara Byouri assumed that magic itself was a different kind of supernatural power than the ones made in Academy City, and built up her thought patterns as if she were facing an esper from Academy City.
(Kihara Kagun deliberately took my attacks with his vitals. In that case…)
"…"
Kihara Byouri restructured her right arm into a skyfish, and shot out a thick iron nail.
However, this wasn't aimed at Kihara Kagun's vitals, but his shoulder. She used it to precisely scrape away nothing but Kihara Kagun's skin at a very high speed in order to leave a little graze that would normally be overlooked.
It was just as she expected.
This time, he was injured. Blood came out of his shoulders.
"I may not know the mechanism behind it, but you can only nullify deadly attacks. That's the nature of your defense! If that's the case…!!"
"You'll try to kill me by inflicting lots of non-fatal wounds on me before letting me bleed out a lot, won't you?"
Even as he disclosed his own weakness, Kihara Kagun's expression remained unchanged.
"In Norse mythology, gemstones were often inserted in the hilt of swords. It seemed that they could become some sorts of amulets, with the effect of healing the damage sustained in battle… However, due to my inexperience with them, I was only able to recreate the effect of avoiding fatal wounds."
As he knew that an incarnation of science wouldn't comprehend that, Kihara Kagun proceeded with his explanation.
"But it can still be used in some ways. Let me tell you about this sword called Whitting. It's a sword used for dueling, when the owner finds themself at a disadvantage, the blade breaks down, and the flying shards bring about its comeback… A technique that ensures the avoidance of fatal wounds, and a technique that increases the sharpness of the blade as the owner takes damage. When both are combined, the sword's destructive power will increase exponentially."
He pointed his right index and middle finger, and raised that several meter long sword slowly and horizontally.
"…If you want to kill me with non-fatal attacks, you will need at least twelve minutes for that. Which is plenty enough for me. I can kill you 52 times with that. And now that I've fought you once, it's not just a guess, it's a certainty. Why don't you use that power of yours on a regular basis? Or rather, is it that despite all the freedom it gives you, you have to remain in the form of the woman named Kihara Byouri? You're simply frightened. Even now, you're rapidly losing sight of your original form, aren't you?"
"…!?"
"This proves that you can't fully control the #2's power. You may be trying to control it by force using electrical signals, but the #2's presence still remains in the things his power creates. And just like a transplant rejection following a surgery, it's trying to drive Kihara Byouri's consciousness out of her artificial body. What's your time limit? A hundred seconds? Five hundred seconds? It's probably not that long. If I continue to kill you during that time, you will be forced to rely on the #2's power, in spite of knowing the danger of it. If the disintegration of your body exceeds a certain level over time, you will be rolling down the path of self-destruction on your own. I may not be able to kill your physical body, but your spirit will disappear."
"…Form change. Reference: Loch Ness."
She transformed.
Kihara Byouri's entire silhouette wriggled ominously.
It looked like she was transforming into something big. As foreboding, all sorts of reconstructions occurred in her body.
"You and I are practically immortal. Even so, there is a clear distinction between us. It's whether one can recover from damage or defend against it. It may seem trivial, but it's a huge difference, especially in a battle of attrition where we wear each other down."
"…"
"If I win, I can still restore my body! But even if you win, you'll remain injured! In that case, I don't even need to think about winning. It will be a draw. We'll destroy each other! Which is fine by me. It'll be the end! Victory is the only possible outcome against you. Whether you win or not, you can't chose the outcome of this match!! This difference between us decides everything. Simply put, this is a situation similar to a game of rock-paper-scissors where my victory and a tie are the only possible outcomes!!"
Kihara Byouri's body continued to expand.
The evil dragon and the knight.
This was a common depiction in many legends, and Norse Mythology favored such stories, but she probably didn't realize she had recreated it, as she wasn't familiar with magic.
"…That's where you're wrong, Kihara Byouri."
And then, the magician who embodied the dueling sword Whitting turned his head slightly and muttered those few words.
Or rather, it was the hero in Norse mythology.
The man who bore the name of Bersi.
"I believe I told you from the beginning. I came here to avenge that boy who was turned into a murderer by your hands. In that case, there is no winning or losing. You, who created that murderer, and I, who killed that murderer. Only the mutual destruction of those two will serve my purpose."
"Don't tell me…"
As Kihara Byouri groaned, the man lifted his head.
There he was, the man Kihara Byouri had once wanted to change with all her might.
The teacher.
"Thank you, Kihara Byouri. I didn't expect you to have the #2's power, but even if that wasn't the case, you would have still used some other means to strengthen your body. I knew that if we opposed the special traits of our powers, we would end up in a battle of attrition like this. That unorthodox doctrine of yours has led me to my one and only victory, just as I predicted."
A loud noise was ringing out.
The knight and the evil dragon clashed, and both sides were headed for death together.
This was a story with no salvation.
At the same time, it was about a murderous boy who couldn't be saved and was killed.
And how a little revenge was fulfilled.