Chapter 691: Echo Upon the Mirror's Surface, Roar From the Skyscrapers - Part 9
Author's Preface
I made it back alive from the Ancient Battlefield.
Now then, next up is Fire...... I want a Gold Bar, I need a Gold Bar.
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Some say that the true essence of Sunraku's strength lies in his "speed of adaptation to UI."
Others say that Sunraku's strength is his "ability to bring in techniques from completely different games."
And yet others have theorized that Sunraku's greatest advantage is his "skill build designed to draw out 100% of his potential, coupled with an equipment build that reinforces it to 120%."
Undeniably, those are all crucial pillars that construct the foundation of Sunraku's strength. But at the end of the day, those are merely supporting struts. The central pillar holding up the very core is far simpler.
———Namely, his speed of reflecting information gained from a single experience, and his inexhaustible motivation. That is the central pillar supporting the core of Hizutome Rakuro.
The sheer number of stains etched into the walls and ground of Rabituza's colosseum represents the number of his challenges and improvements. An unquenchable flame constantly drives the furnace, and therefore, "Sunraku" is strong.
"The memory is fresh! Everything from the initial start of the preparatory motion to the exact timing of the delay is burned right into my head!!"
Peerless Golden Crystal Scorpion "Imperial Gold Generation". The Golden Sovereign that exercises a completely shape-shifting combat style across three distinct ranges, utilizing grotesque sword techniques that seamlessly combine the flashes of a Sword Saint with the sheer sharpness of a wild beast.
It was a bizarre spectacle where a scorpion—whose sheer resource allocation of killing intent in every single movement could be felt even through the screen—somehow couldn't manage to catch a single human being.
At times, he evaded with the absolute minimum necessary movement. At times, he escaped with maximum speed. And at times, he deflected with optimal motion. The scene being broadcast in real-time was simultaneously a proof declaring "This is what a player is capable of," and a pronouncement asserting "Only when you can do this are you finally capable of soloing a Unique Monster."
Strictly speaking, Sunraku had actually never successfully subjugated a Unique Monster entirely solo, but there were very few who knew that fact.
"I'll snap them as many times as it takes!!"
The pitch-black flame sword danced, and the golden blades swarmed in a chaotic flurry. For Sunraku, who was actively fighting, this was his second time facing it, but to any third-party observer, it looked exactly like a blind, first-encounter death struggle.
The entity known as "Sunraku," which until now had only been ballooning outwardly in terms of naming, was finally having a skeleton called "actual ability" and the flesh and blood of "actual visual proof" injected into it.
Lingering shadows of something flew through the air, and a cracked holy sword was smashed to pieces. Taking that as a signal, three newly deployed blades of light scorched the air of the theater, lunging at Sunraku with even greater ferocity.
Yet even still, they could not reach him. A mere reproduction of the past "Golden Age" could never match the Sunraku who had already defeated the real one and taken several steps further forward.
The final radiance, three brilliant flashes capable of cleaving the world itself. Yet even that was nothing more than a re-run. Even a light meant to vertically split the world in two only managed to elicit a moment's hesitation of "Wait, was the angle like this again?" from the person facing it.
"Ah, right. Since this is a reproduction of the past, I just deflected it, but it's actually safer to just dodge it with guts. If you take the hit, your legs will get completely vaporized in a single strike."
Right as he raised his shield, and the blooming mirror reflected the light to cut down the Golden Sovereign............ Sunraku, who had only turned his neck to send a glance directly into the Meteor Iron Mirror, offered that final conclusion, successfully crushing the formidable foe of the fourth battle.
◆→◇
"Alright...... that wraps up the Fourth Movement. Next up is the main event, the Final Movement."
Speaking toward the Meteor Iron Mirror, I adjusted my equipment.
From here on out, it's a battle against a mirror reflection. In other words, Sunraku has to formulate countermeasures against "Sunraku," and "Sunraku" will be formulating countermeasures against Sunraku.
"I remember hearing that the Apocrypha version fights you with the full orchestra, but the Canon version is a pure solo performance by the 'Diva' alone."
"The orchestra will vanish until only one member is left, and when the 'Diva' hands over her mask, that remaining member transforms into a copy of the player. It perfectly copies the contents of your inventory too, so be careful. Due to the nature of Orchestra, artificially limiting your own equipment is a terrible idea."
"As for the copy's actual specs...... you can basically consider it a player who uses the exact same character as you, but is stronger. I get the feeling its stats are permanently boosted by around 1.2 times as well."
"However, if there's a Conquista Doll present on the field, the exact details are unclear, but its behavior patterns start getting scrambled. It drops down to about the level of running into an equally skilled player in a ranked match, though there's nothing you can do about the sheer stat gap."
"Well, considering Library is watching, I guess I don't really need to worry about spoilers or anything......... Ahー, the reason for that is probably because members of Sternenblume are mixed in among Orchestra's historical owners. I looked into it inside Behemoth, and ownership authority was apparently transferred between all the members of Sternenblume in a very short time span. They were probably passing it around to each other."
"So my theory is that when a Conquista Doll...... a being explicitly designed in the likeness of Sternenblume, is present, it causes some sort of interference. It's not that the Conquista Doll itself is actively getting in the way, but rather a crossing of wires regarding the leadership hierarchy inside Orchestra."
"The real problem starts here. If you try to defeat it normally, Orchestra throws up an arbitrary plot-armor guard right at the very end. Meaning, you need something else besides just beating it normally."
"Thinking about it calmly, there's no way a contract with a Conquista Doll being the absolute prerequisite for triggering Orchestra's Unique encounter is completely unrelated."
"......And so, with all that being said. I don't have the patience to pull some tedious stunt like challenging this multiple times while operating on the assumption of failing the first run. I'm going to focus my full effort purely on clearing the scenario."
"So I'll be having her take the stage. Our very own Saina-san."
The Meteor Iron Mirror projected the silhouette appearing in the area.
An outfit completely displaying the creator's personal tastes...... yet clad in a new, black-themed outfit that even her contractor had never seen before, a single doll harboring a gaze filled with absolute resolve descended into the present world from an otherworldly storage dimension.
"Condition?"
"Optimal."
"Glad to hear it."
Alright, the orchestra is starting to disappear. The Final Movement...... The audience is a bit larger than usual this time around, but I can't afford to care about that from here on out.
◆
The ensemble was fading away. One by one, the woven melodies vanished, growing thinner and thinner. But now I understand. The ensemble didn't just cease to exist; they merely set down their instruments and moved to the audience seats.
Divine Age, Divine Age. The era marking the rise and fall of humanity from the past, who attempted to lay down roots and live upon this planet before perishing...... I see. From the perspective of humanity today, that truly must seem like an age of great gods and creators.
"Now then............ Here we go, Saina. It's the Final Movement."
"Understood: For this unit, this battle is a farewell...... a declaration, and,"
"If you think too deeply about it, your intelligence is going to bug out again."
"Heh............ How foolish it is to tremble in fear at the thought of the heavens falling to the earth."
"You sure talk big."
An unnecessary worry, huh? You better not take those words back later.
Author's Afterword
While spectacularly dumping spoilers everywhere, Orchestra finally enters the Final Movement......!
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