Kasou Ryouiki No Elysion

Volume 1: Chapter 5

Area of the Fastest and the Strongest

Part 1

"Unh..."
Awaiting Taiga's return to the real world was his little sister who rolled around groaning, he wasn't sure if it couldn't be classified as cute——probably. He guessed.
"...just when did this place turn into demon world?"
If it had to be explained why he said that, it was because the room's appearance changed completely from how it was in the morning.
The number of windows floating in mid-air could already be counted in hundreds. Holograms were deployed in every direction, on every wall, and even on the ceiling.
Reality and cyber intermingled, it looked quite chaotic.
"Fuyuki〜, are you alright—?"
He hesitated to get closer to the motionless Fuyuki, and called out to her. He wa s afraid of compromising and causing holograms to disappear in response to his movement. She was lying down on the floor fatigued and her glossy black hair was scattered on it, the pretty girl feeling she usually had was ruined because of that.
When he placed a hand on her forehead but it was considerably hot, but she seemed alright. It wasn't a cold, it was something like intelligence heat, caused by overworking her brain.
"...seriously, so reckless."
He sighed, then he crouched and picked up Fuyuki's body.
After that, he carried her to bedroom surprised about how small and light she was, and laid her down on the huge bed. Fuyuki curled up like a cat.
"Unyaa..."
She was in a state where she would need to keep her eyes open with small sticks. But she somehow shook off sleepiness and rubbed her eyes.
"My head......it's so heavy..."
"Keep lying down like you are now, I'll bring you something to drink."
Taiga was familiar with how it felt to use the brain to its limit. Although he wanted to let her go sleep as soon as possible, it couldn't be helped this time.
He passed her a cup of coffee he brewed as a cure for drowsiness, he also added milk and gum syrup to it. Although it should still be quite bitter, bitterness should increase the effect and wake her up.
"Uuhh... it's been a while since I did my best like this..."
Fuyuki continued to process vast amounts of information in her head ever since yesterday, except for a moment she took to eat and take a shower. Also, she was thinking at an exceptionally fast rate.
While Taiga's weapon was physical speed, Fuyuki's weapon was the speed she was thinking at.
A capability of processing many things in parallel, ability to deal with multiple events that was far beyond a normal person's, and an intuition, a sixth sense when it came to cyber-related things.
On par with Taiga's 『Eye』 in reality, she had a 『Eye』 for the Elysion."
It wasn't some kind of supernatural power, it was just using the human brain to its very limits.
But it didn't change the fact that it was quite absurd.
If her brain was used for a long time, she could collapse and wake up only three day after.
"Good job, Fuyuki. Thanks."
Taiga knew just how tired she was, so he stroked her head.
Funya〜, she enjoyed the feeling with a charming expression on her face for a moment, and shortly after she corrected her posture. The look in her eyes became serious.
"...well then, let's get down to the main issue."
Taiga retracted his hand and looked at her, Fuyuki operated the terminal, opening a window that projected a crystal.
The mysterious crystal changed its colour depending on his viewing angle as it floated in front of Taiga's eyes, and a small window emerged from its body.
《"Submit permission to install program 《 Synchro Infinity 》 sent from Tenryo Fuyuki. 『 YES 』 or 『 NO 』?"》
"Let me say this first. This program will definitely be of help to Brother during his fight with the Reaper. It perfectly fixes the malfunctions with Brother's body."
Even though fatigue obscured her thinking as she spoke. Fuyuki had to tell that much, she formed words while forcing her own mind.
"The studies Little Sister was involved in while at Karasuba was 『Synchronization of virtual and real body』 and she helped to make this application. But because of the high risk research has been frozen. 《Synchro Infinity》 is without a doubt a dangerous program a researcher should never create."
"...dangerous, and more specifically?"
"Life-threatening level dangerous."
His little sister answered instantly as she stared right at him.
——It was not a domain he should step into with half-assed determination.
"When it comes to risk, it probably exceeds 《Jail》. One wrong move and you will become a cripple."
Fuyuki looked completely serious, and it seemed like she was not exaggerating.
"This program, 《Synchro Infinity》 is a high risk no return for a normal person, completely pointless for them to use. But Elysion specific mechanism works in a way that has a negative effect on Brother."
"Specific mechanism?"
"Half of Elysion was made for entertainment purposes, factors that induce negative feelings have been eliminated as much as possible. They are either cut off or restricted, pain is a prime example."
"Well, no one would like to feel pain in a structure like 《Aries》 ."
You can get cut, crushed, burned, and so on. If those feelings were left unchanged people would not be able to stand pain.
"《Aries》 provides physical ability assistance according to rank, although it's a system original to the structure that helps you enjoy it, at the same time it tunes the virtual body making it deviate from original."
It wasn't reality, so they dropped what was unnecessary.
That's why it was impossible to tune a virtual body to be exactly same as a real one.
"In the first place, a normal person doesn't use their body's full performance, so a slight difference does not affect them... but it's different when it comes to Brother's physical ability that was trained to the limit, and when it comes to our 『Eyes』."
For someone who has reflexes and dynamic vision far beyond a normal person, extra processing is nothing but an obstruction. An error appears when the movement intended and actual movement of the body differ, expanding little by little and eventually ends up disconnecting them.
"So that's why I lost feeling in my arm."
"Yes. That's how it is, the effect this program has is simple. In order to disable the program that creates that difference, it will continue to hack you."
"Hack... me?"
"Full explanation would take three hours, but I'll omit that. There are two main risks. One, the blocked pain is released and the damage dealt to the electronic body is transferred to you. If your arm is cut off, you will receive mental damage as if it really was cut off. If you receive a horrible amount of damage, your spirit might collapse."
Even though it has no effect on his real body if his virtual body is damaged, the pain itself will still damage his spirit.
A wound someone received in the past and the phantom pain unexpectedly appearing afterwards is a perfect example.
"Also the other one. Because it continues to hack so that it can trigger the effect, the burden on the brain is tremendous. Little Sister tried it but only withstood five minutes——that was as long as it went on until my brain started overheating. In Brother's and Little Sister's case, because of our 『Eyes』 the time limit is shorter than usual."
"Another thing that's restricting in various ways, huh."
Receiving attacks is bad on the time limit, and the time is further shortened if it goes through.
"...I'm sorry, Brother."
Fuyuki apologized and bowed her head.
"I tried to reduce the risk somehow, but in the end I couldn't do it. Having Brother fight while using such a flawed program, Little Sister is the worst. I am really sorry..."
Painfully aware of her own shortcoming, Fuyuki continued with her head bowed down.
If she was the one who used the defective crystal, it wouldn't matter because she would only risk herself.
However, this time the one who will be using the program was Taiga. The one risks and the one who is exposed to danger is the person was front of her.
That's why, she had to say it.
"...whether you accept it or not, I leave the decision to Brother. If you don't trust this program, and decide it's too risky——"
*click* ——he interrupted his little sister's speech by tapping 『 YES 』. Fuyuki was surprised, but Taiga didn't hesitate.
"I swore. That I would definitely save her. Life-threatening? I am here thanks to Rui, I won't hesitate with just this much."
If he was unable to save her, Tenryo Taiga wouldn't be able to ever forgive himself. If he broke his promise, he wouldn't be able to live anymore. It was no different from dying.
"Also, I believe in Fuyuki."
"...haa, geez, Brother is really hard to handle."
Fuyuki sighed, but she continued somewhat happily.
The crystal shattered turning into small particles and was sucked into Taiga's terminal.
《Install started. Three minutes left.》
That's what was displayed in the window, it switched into a status screen that displayed progress. They could only wait.
And, Fuyuki's body suddenly tilted. He wondered if it was because she has done everything she had to do. It looked like she could no longer fight back against fatigue, and it surged all at once. Her eyelids started to close.
Thanking his little sister for the hard work she has done, he gently pat her head.
"...leave the rest to me. I will definitely save Rui."
Calmed down by his words, her drowsiness increased as he pat her head——and Fuyuki smiled faintly before she entered the dream world.
"I believe in you. Brother."
Saying just that much, Fuyuki closed her eyes, and started to breathe sleepily a few seconds later. He covered her looking at her relieved expression, and left the bedroom.
He entered the dive room again, and contacted Haya through the terminal as he prepared to log in.
"I'm prepared on this side."
〈"Okay. Then please come to the school's structure at once. The place will be that classroom. I'm going to break the locks so you can come from the front."〉
All of his senses gradually switched over as he signalized the dive start.
After logging in safely, he confirmed the school's structure as his target and——he stepped into the compartment that was as deserted as in reality.
Come to think of it, the first time I met Iora was here.
At that time, on a whim he just turned on a hologram projector. She didn't appear properly back then and her figure only flashed for a moment.
...if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be acquainted with Haya now.
If he didn't meet Iora back then, he wondered what would be happening now——useless thoughts filled his head as he tried to escape from reality.
Maybe nothing would be happening now. Such a convenient illusion came to him, but it faded away soon after.
"You came."
The privatized classroom has become a weird space where a lot of windows floated all over.
Haya was immersed in work while sitting on the sofa like usual, she still wore the suit he saw the other day.
Because she had the appearance of a Japanese-style beauty, it didn't fit her.
"A little longer and I'll be done. Just wait for a moment."
Haya continued to work while operating at dozens of windows at once, at an incredible pace without looking his way. The fact that she completely concentrated on her work was obvious.
He sat on an edge of the sofa as to not to get in the way. Taiga looked around daydreaming as he had nothing to do in particular. And, as he looked around he saw something that made him feel uncomfortable.
"...nn?"
A lot of windows repeatedly appeared and disappeared——between them, he noticed that one didn't change. He leaned towards it curiously, for some reason it wasn't operated.
It was a picture. And on it, there were two girls.
Haya and... Iora? No, but why is she wearing Kiritou uniform?
It looked like Haya was younger, he wondered if it was taken one or two years ago. But it didn't matter. What he was curious about, was what they were wearing.
Haya aside, it was weird that Iora was wearing a uniform. Also the quality of Iora who was captured in this photo, felt like she wasn't a hologram. It was as if, she was a living human.
What did that mean——he wanted to look closer, but the photo suddenly disappeared.
"Peeping is not good."
Haya was staring at him. Apparently she finished her work, all the windows she used for development disappeared the same way.
"Did you finish?"
"We don't have time to test it, there's no choice but to check if during the battle. Theoretically it should delete Iora's 《Jail》 if she's damaged enough."
As opposed to blood-like crimson, the crystal she had was sky blue.
Though Taiga received it on reflex, it was sucked into his body the instant he touched the crystal. And with that, the installation was complete.
"I see. Then... next, is my job."
With that, everything was ready.
Taiga manipulated the inventory window of 《Aries》 and changed into a long coat, at the same time he checked if his nodachi showed up by his waist.
"...about the picture, don't you want to know?"
Haya asked cautiously as he was preparing for battle. After looking back at her, Taiga honestly answered.
"I won't say I'm not curious about it, but it seems that even if I asked, I wouldn't get an answer."
Just by looking at her, he could tell that she was depressed and in a bad state. He wasn't that insensitive to probe any further in that direction.
"You too are suffering because of something. I think you want to help Iora no matter what... that's enough for you to cooperate with us. So both of us have something we want from the other."
They are partners who had just met a few days earlier. There was no reason to trust each other.
"One of us uses the other. That's the relationship between us right now, right?'
He simplified it, no, he simplified it too much, even Haya was surprised by what he said.
"...that's surprising. Looking at you your relationship with your little sister and Saionji-san , I thought you easily trust people and pushing an idea on you would be piss easy. You're more of a realistic person than I thought you were."
"If it's to save Rui, I won't care about what you are really thinking."
In these words, Haya noticed a glimpse of a similar nature to hers.
Probably, in order to save Saionji Rui, this boy will act without hesitation. Just like her, who didn't care if she was to make the entire company into her enemy if it was to save Iora.
Both of them had similar thoughts and determination.
...why is she that attached to Iora, I think I can understand a little.
Part of the wall changed as Haya snapped her fingers, it changed into a shining white door. It was big enough for one person to pass through it, and he couldn't see what's inside.
"This place and 《Aries》 are temporarily connected. As soon as you go through, I'll disconnect it. You'll be able to contact me from the other side, when you're done, call me."
"Yeah, got it."
Taiga took a step towards the gate he couldn't see anything through. And he heard a voice from behind his back.
"...Taiga, it's an order. You must definitely rescue Iora. If all my effort goes to waste, I won't forgive you."
"I get it. It's not just yours, I also carry Fuyuki's share over here."
Taiga entered the transfer door, setting his foot into 《Aries》 once again.
"——I decided long time ago. That I won't lose ever again."