Chapter 698: Echo Upon the Mirror's Surface, Roar From the Skyscrapers - Part 16
"Whittle away and grind yourself down to nothing, oraa!!"
There's a term called "turning to the offensive," but something like that wouldn't cut it here. Constant offense, offense from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. If I shifted to anything else even for a second, I wouldn't win. Putting that much spirit into it, I accelerated my attacks against "Sunraku" even further.
Slash, thrust, dodge, sweep, shoot, dodge, dodge, strike, smash, slash, punch, dodge, throw.
I battered my replica using every conceivable method of attack. Moving to take the initiative, but forcing him to use his skills first, then closing in reactively. The initiative constantly flew back and forth between me and "me," fiercer than a tennis rally. But the most troublesome part was that the initiative wasn't the only thing flying around.
The plot-armor guard stopped his movements too, but it was like slamming a full-power attack into a guard that absolutely couldn't be broken. Slashing or shooting was one thing, but if a thrust was deflected, I suffered a knockback that was by no means short. This was what made it so troublesome; shooting was fine... but if I thrusted into the plot-armor guard and took the knockback, he would recover before I did.
"But still!"
Even accepting the risk of losing the initiative, I pushed the attack. Attacking, attacking, and attacking again and again. The "Sunraku" right in front of me was still going strong, but my fierce assault up until now definitely hadn't been in vain.
「───Reaching out, reaching out, reaching out. Even if the stars in the sky are beyond this hand's reach, if I stand atop a pavilion that scrapes the heavens......!!」
The high-density battle between me and "me" was far too small when viewed from a broader perspective.
A head-on collision between a highway and skyscrapers. The asphalt road constricted and crushed the concrete buildings, while the reinforced concrete buildings thrusted upward from below to shatter the pillars supporting the highway.
A cycle of destruction and regeneration so intense that, if the game didn't have a mechanic where collapsed objects vanished, the world would have probably been buried in rubble a long time ago.
As expected, the singing battle between the two "Elmas" resulted in the skyscraper domain occupying seventy percent of the total area. The battle situation was in our favor; with every instance of plot-armor intervention, they were being driven further into a corner......!!
I deployed the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King and immediately stored it away. Operating the window, I blocked two attacks in the brief moment before the item storage executed, and counterattacked with the Blue Predator gripped in my other hand. Plot-armor guard. What's flying in this time? A sign? A traffic light?
Bwooooooooon!!!
"A Decotora!!?"
No, wait, wait, wait! No matter how much ShanFro is a sci-fi game rooted in Earth's history, hasn't the era slipped back a few hundred—no, a few thousand years!? A Decotora? Not a normal truck!? And it's a whole fleet of them! It's a massive fleet of Decotoras!!
Looking closely, they seemed to be moving via levitation using some kind of power rather than tires. Regardless of how they looked, they were apparently one of the "sights Elma dreamed of"......... Decotoras!?
"Gnuah!!"
I couldn't just stand there like an idiot. If I got caught in a stampede of Decotoras, my body would be easily crushed to pieces. Leaping up with a skill, I landed on the cargo bed of one of the dozens of Decotoras filling all four lanes, catching sight of "Sunraku" leaping onto a cargo bed as well......... I see, so it's a stage change? You're really doing it, Orchestra. Leaving the Reproduction as is, but reflecting your learning through the main body, huh.
With this, my "Collector" had been sealed. Fortunately, I doubt any of my weapons got crushed by the Decotoras...... but it was impossible to retrieve equipment that had been left far, far behind.
"However, it looks like you're finally backed into a corner."
Even though seventy percent had been occupied, conversely, the domain that the "Elma" side had fiercely maintained at thirty percent was now rapidly shrinking. Did Saina corner her? No, she changed the method of deploying the world. Sharper, like a single arrow. This four-lane road, the pillars supporting it, and the vehicles running on it...... She poured all of Orchestra's world-deploying power into just these elements. The proof was that the highway, transforming into a single serpent, was constructing a circuit while smashing buildings at a terrifying speed. The course went up and down, making it more like a roller coaster than a highway. If it weren't for Grace of Zero Gravity, I would have fallen a long time ago.
Somehow, I had solved the "mystery" of Orchestra. Now it was just a matter of how to reach the answer............ Now that everything had been poured into the construction of the highway, could I consider this the climax? No, let's stop thinking...... The truth of any game is always the same.
"Bring it on. If I beat you until you die, you'll die."
『……………』
The wind was strong. A battle on top of a moving train wasn't a rare development in movies or games, but using a fleet of Decotoras as the ground for a fight was a first for me. The glaring, sparkling decorations reminded me of the Crystal Nest Cliff, but no sudden gusts like this ever blew in that area.
Mutual silence. This was the brief moment of absolute stillness generated when a human brain and an artificial Brain simultaneously tried to decide their opening moves. I was sure it wouldn't last much longer from here on out. In other words, a short, decisive battle......... And the methods available to both me and him were exactly the same. To think it would come down to playing Rock-Paper-Scissors against myself at a time like this. Leave it to me. I'm used to beating Paper and Scissors to death with a Rock-punch.
"Here we go, oraa!!"
『…………！！！！』
I plunged the crystal dagger into my heart. A crimson beast skull enveloped his head. That meant the final decisive battle. Nullifying the Scars via Shakkotsu Saishin and the subsequent unsealing of my armor VS pure, simple violence fueled by the rampage of the Violent Blood Crimson-Clad Skull Crown!!
The moment a red viscosity completely covered "Sunraku's" entire body aligned almost perfectly with the timing of my completed window operation. And the weapon we both deployed was, ironically enough, the exact same Halberd......!!
"【Overload Mechanism】!!"
Through the effect of Liberato, the Centipede's Poison circulated through both of our bodies. His overall specs were higher......... If we exchanged blows head-on, I'd get pushed back. But if I kept retreating on this narrow field, the only thing waiting for me was becoming minced meat or a bloodstain. If that was the case, I just had to do it! Be careful of inertia! If I jumped carelessly, I'd just fall right off!!
Author's Afterword
Q. Why Decotoras?
A. Elma: "Decotoras...... Decorating large commercial vehicles is a wonderful culture......"
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