Streetlights switched on and off as Haruhi walked towards the ritual point. Kyon followed closely behind, still concerned about her state. She moved normally, and her mind was somewhat intact, but there was no way to confirm if she would be alright after everything ended. Somehow, even though the wind avoided their path, Haruhi's hair and clothes flapped in the air.
"I can't enjoy the weird little floating monsters when that green cloud keeps calling me. What do you think is it? Maybe it's like the camouflage of a moth." While Kyon was figuring out how to break things down to Haruhi, the latter seemed to enjoy the oddities of her fake dream. "Why are those creatures flying towards it anyways?
"Maybe they're being dragged by warm air."
"Oh, because of the typhoon. Smart. I wonder if we'll be able to see the eye of the cyclone."
Right now, Kyon couldn't care about the intricacies of the gas entity. Haruhi had never used her powers in such an aware manner, so he wasn't sure what to say or do. Why would he, after all? If anybody knew how Haruhi's powers acted, that was the resident ESPer.
"Do you know where Koizumi is at?" Kyon asked, staring at Haruhi's head wound.
"No idea. Why would I know?" She answered without looking back. "I feel like he's alright. I'm more worried about Mikuru and Yuki, in that order."
"Maybe you could, eh…" Kyon wanted her to use her powers to find them, but was that even possible? Besides, he wasn't sure about Haruhi's consciousness at the moment. "Nevermind."
"What's wrong? You're acting weird." Haruhi turned her whole body, walking backwards as she stared at him.
"Well, if you ignore how insane all of this is, I suppose I am acting strange. We don't even know what that thing is." Kyon pointed to the spinning green clouds. "Besides, the rest of the brigade… are you sure they're around?"
"Where else would they be? If I had realised this was a dream before that weird girl entered your home, I wouldn't have let Mikuru and Yuki disappear. I'm worried about them too, you know? Koizumi constantly burdens himself too much, Mikuru is too soft and easy to deceive, while Yuki usually doesn't express herself when she's feeling down. And you… well." Haruhi didn't finish her words, observing strokes of cloud to ground lightning impacting the downtown area. "Do you remember the lake where we shot our critically acclaimed movie? I think the clouds are above that area."
"I remember a football pitch nearby too. Do you really want to enter head-on?" Kyon asked, not hiding his dislike of the plan. "We'll be toast if those things notice us in open terrain."
"I didn't know it was there, don't give me that look." Haruhi stopped and crossed her arms. "Okay, fine, do you have a better idea?
"I mean, can't you dream that green thing away?"
"Dream away? Like, wish it away?" Haruhi turned her head, closing her eyes for a few long seconds.
Kyon waited silently for a while longer before nudging her shoulder. "Is it working?"
After shifting her weight, Haruhi sighed. "It feels weird. I don't think I can."
Her powers never showed any distance restrictions before, but after dwelling over it for a while, Kyon wasn't so sure. Perhaps doing it consciously took a lot more effort, or maybe her subconscious held her back.
"Well, it was worth a shot." Kyon shrugged.
"That was your big plan?" Haruhi mocked him with a barely contained giggle. "Your imagination is lacking. Not even a little matter destroying raygun? Or a molecule absorption vacuum turret? Or how about a grey goo bomb that destroys particles?"
"Okay, don't get carried away. Destroying the whole city seems like a horrible idea."
"Who cares? It's a dream." Haruhi complained again, walking towards the mass in the sky once again.
Kyon bit his tongue, trying to find an easily believable lie. But, lying to Haruhi was something utterly alien to him; the best he could do was avoid the truth. And at this point, he wasn't sure how to do that.
"Well, yeah, but… Just because there aren't consequences, it doesn't make it any more right."
"Oh, come on, don't be so uptight. It's not like I was going actually to do it." She paused and glanced back at him. "If anyone dies, it's because of collateral damage. I'm not going to do it on purpose."
Kyon was about to reply when something in his head clicked. He knew something that only Haruhi could do. "Hold on. That gave me an idea."
Arakawa wasn't sure of what had managed to spur his consciousness. The heavy rain that fell on him didn't manage to wake him up at all. Then, when he took a cold, biting breath that was half-filled with water, he realised what it was. Some plastic cuffs immobilised his arms and legs, and his face was half-sunk in the silty and wet terrain of a football field. He struggled against them but found it impossible to budge.
His old body had enough strength to roll over and contemplate what had happened. He had taken his wrecked car to a trusted friend of his that very morning. And after he left the repair shop… Someone stopped him. Arakawa could only remember up to that point. Somebody had gotten the drop on him, he guessed.
With his back on the ground, he could stare at the empty sky above. Lightning flashes were the only thing that lit up the night sky. And with each flash, he could see creatures flying. Some more ethereal, others more physical. But none palled in comparison to the mass directly above him. There, pulsating like it was breathing, a massive structure was hidden behind the clouds. It was hissing in fury. Arakawa could hear it. Not even thunder could hide that ghastly wail.
"Prior. An acolyte is awake." The voice of a middle-aged man appeared to his right. He was covered in robes, and a yellow mask covered his face.
"Leave him alone!" A familiar voice suddenly pleaded. Arakawa moved slightly, barely able to see a North High uniform.
"Miss Asahina?" Arakawa whispered before a figure towered above him.
"Ah, you know each other?" A woman's imposing voice suddenly beamed. "I was under the wrong impression then. I believed only the Prophet interacted with you."
Arakawa understood this woman was the Prior.
"Neophyte, impress me." She ordered the middle-aged cultist, who started chanting in a low voice. Arakawa didn't feel any different, but the Prior nodded and commended the chanting cultist.
"You're the cult that threatened us." The old ESPer affirmed.
The Prior looked down at him, speaking in an unknown language. He didn't understand what it meant, but the low voice was intimidating enough. Asahina responded in kind, in the same strange language. In the back and forth, Arakawa inspected the surroundings. They were on a football field, besides and an artificial pond. The silt that composed it had become muddy and sticky with the rain, diluting the chalk lines of the pitch. The chalky halfway line had all but disappeared in the pools of rainwater, but a pentagram had redecorated the centre circle. And in the middle, Asahina was restrained. Not in the same way as him; it was like the pentagram stopped her movements.
But Arakawa noticed three other captives surrounding the circle. He recognised them. The Tamaru brothers and Sonou Mori. They were all unconscious. The old man quickly scouted the perimeter again, but he didn't see Koizumi. However, he did notice more cultists like the middle-aged man beside him, surrounding the pentagram.
"Acolyte." The Prior suddenly said. "That pond over there, do you know the name? It seems my dear Wanderer doesn't know this city very well."
"…It can only be Shinike pond. Right besides Takakura Minami park."
"Shinike pond. Did I pronounce it correctly, Wanderer of Time?" The Prior spoke, observing the nearby lake. "Forgive me, should I call you Asahina? Or Mikuru? I don't bother learning names unless they're important."
Seeing Asahina's lack of answers, the Prior shook her head and moved away from Arakawa.
"Shin ike… New pond? It loses its charm if you translate it. A bit weak for a toponym, I'd say. If you think about it, most names started like that, barebone descriptions of certain characteristics. I'm not an expert in onomastics, but even I see the trouble in using language to name referents."
Arakawa was too focused on breaking out of his bonds to bother with the odd monologue.
"A language is a delicate tool handcrafted by generations, yet it still struggles to function properly. It limits one's world. How can you describe something purely human, like purpose, love, beauty? How arrogant are we to try and classify each emotion, each physical object, with a low rumble of our throats. We barely understand how our pebble in the middle of space works, yet our lack of wisdom throws us in petty squabbles like feeling lovesick, depression or hatred."
The Prior stopped her body midstep, twisting herself towards another direction.
"I specialised in Latin, so I know these issues aren't new. I'm not sure if Cicero is relevant or even taught in Japan. But, long story short, Latin wouldn't be what it became if it wasn't for Cicero creating new words for abstract concepts. For example, morality, property or individuality."
"Manufacturing terms and words isn't an easy task, I would know. I knew I had the knowledge from my studies, but I lacked something. And for that, I had to delve deeper. Perhaps other civilisations had the answer for what I missed." The Prior explained for her own amusement.
"My journey took me to the edges of the old empire, from London to Al-Qahira. And in my last stop, I met an old linguist at the University of Baghdad. Doctor Naji, a specialist in Emegir, the old Sumerian language. The Doctor was distraught because he… had experienced something. He narrated a tale as ancient as humans, the familiar story of a person getting lost in the desert and finding forbidden knowledge. Much like the Book of the Dead, if you're acquainted with it."
The Prior walked around the pentagram circle, observing the cloudy sky above. Then, she proceeded with her story.
"But the old Doctor didn't find a book. No, nothing so precise. He found a simple fragmented slab containing a few words. A mere description. And when he uttered that sentence, something in the universe stirred, striking him down with a wave of knowledge the world hadn't seen in thousands of years."
"Of course," She continued. "Nobody in their right mind would believe him. Neither did I. Not until I saw it. Or perhaps I should say until it saw me. And then, it gave me what I longed after. Wisdom. The power to use knowledge. Like that, I understood what I had to do. So when they found me, much like I found all of you, my fellow Neophytes, I was elated. Doctor Neji had started something immense because of his thirst for knowledge. Oh, how I wish he were here to see what I'm about to accomplish. If only he hadn't died in that border skirmish, we could have accomplished so much."
After finishing looping the whole circle, the Prior was back with Arakawa.
"What's the point of all this?" Asahina muttered, her glare drilling holes in the Prior's back. "Words, language, wisdom… What does that have to do with all of this? I go back in time and then return like nothing happened. What's the point in that?"
The leader giggled, turning to face Mikuru. "Because this little skirmish is part of something greater. Grander than us all combined. But I'll indulge you, my dear. Ever had a pet?"
"…No?" She answered, confused.
"How about you, Acolyte?" The Prior glanced down at Arakawa, who couldn't do much besides answering.
"Several." Arakawa once again tried to free his hands, to no avail.
"Old and loves pets, you're already way more memorable than your other three companions." The Prior laughed at her own joke. "You must have experienced the loss of losing a beloved pet many, many times. And I'm sure there were times where the world was bent on keeping you down. Yet, in those dark times, you thought about that pet you especially loved, who always was there for you. And desperate, you would do anything for it to return to you…"
Asahina got up from the ground, mouth agape. "Ninlil-Shu is a pet?"
"People have snakes as pets. Ninlil-Shu is similar to that, though quite smarter. And more dangerous."
"All of this for a pet? You've caused so much pain for a pet?" Asahina stared at the ground, lost. "But I thought…"
"That we worshipped Ninlil-Shu? We respect it, idolise it, honour it, but we don't worship it. You will deliver a pet, nothing else, nothing more." The Prior crossed her arms. "The Prophet and the Automata couldn't even stop the rise of a sacred beast, the equivalent of being unable to crush an ant... This is why I don't bother learning your names."
"Then… Who is Ninlil-Shu's master?" Mikuru tried to leave the circle, but invisible walls stopped her.
The Prior, however, did not attempt to answer. Instead, she turned towards the middle-aged cultist, who kept repeating the same exact words like a mantra.
"Energy is being exuded en masse from Babalon. It's time to channelise it. To amend our mistakes, it needs even more energy." The Prior's breath was ragged for a moment. If she had done this from the beginning, it would have killed her for her tardiness. Now, the only way to atone was to reinvigorate Ninlil-Shu even more. And for that, a simple transfer would not do.
Two cultists lifted Arakawa from the ground before forcing him down to his knees. The elderly man observed how the rest of his associates were being placed into the same position. He tried to channel his powers like Koizumi did on that night, but he didn't find any strength inside him.
"We made some countermeasures for your gifts, Acolyte." The Prior scoffed, pointing with her head towards the muttering man. Arakawa observed how another three cultists were doing the same thing near the other ESPers.
The creatures flying around the football field grew in speed, frantically moving in circles like fish around the bait. And hundreds of metres above, Asahina could see how the green clouds became more numerous, concentrating more and more around a single point.
"Please, don't do this! I can… I can find another way!" Mikuru yelled, stamping her hands against the invisible walls. "I don't want any more people to die!"
"We're granting them relief from their cursed existence." A neophyte answered for the Prior. "Four lives to envigorate a great one is a fair price."
"No! I… I won't let you!"
The air creatures, comprised mainly of air golems and spiders, suddenly leapt towards the cultists in a frenzy. Only for them to stop on their tracks and regain their previous looping motions. The Prior had stopped them with a hefty wave of her hands.
"A kid's sketch can't compare to an experienced artist's. We might be similar, but my gift is beyond anything Ninlil-Shu's gift can muster. Try whatever you want, jumping in time, breaking the summoning circle, using your gift… it's useless."
Between the low light and overall coldness, Arakawa didn't notice the shining dagger pulled by one of the cultists. Once again, though more desperate, he struggled against his bonds to no avail. However, this time, Arakawa felt a much weaker response from the plastic around his wrists. The plastic wasn't stretching like he expected. Instead, it was somehow breaking in half.
The Prior started talking in her strange tongue, placing herself in front of Arakawa. From there, he could no longer see Asahina, even if her cries were loud and bitter. With a slow motion, the Prior took the curved dagger and raised it to the air before lowering it to her chest. After performing that action three times, she placed the blade on Arakawa's neck.
And when she pressed it, a push away from cutting his jugular, the Prior suddenly grasped something from the air. Then, when she observed the tiny mosquito trapped on her fingers, a deafening explosion blew Arakawa and the cultists away. His body rolled over the ground several times before stopping on his back.
"Mr Arakawa!" Somebody on a raincoat rushed over him, slicing through the plastic cuffs on his feet with a small penknife.
"Who…" Arakawa's tired eyes lit up in realisation. "If you're here, then where's…?"
"Saving our lives," Kyon answered before cutting the plastic on his wrists.
In the commotion, Arakawa hadn't noticed the sudden change in scenery. It wasn't raining anymore. That green cloud and creatures cluttered the sky, but the typhoon had disappeared. What's more, everything seemed stale and grey, while his body felt stronger than ever. They were in a closed space.
Kyon wasn't sure how Haruhi's powers worked. Forcing her to do X or Y wouldn't cut it, not when Haruhi believed herself to be in a dream, void of consequences. But there was something she had done previously: creating closed spaces and pulling people into them. He wasn't sure if it would turn out like last time, but if it meant protecting everyone in the city, he would do it.
Of course, he had just told her to drag them somewhere isolated. And with 'them', he wasn't expecting a full-blown cult trying to ritual murder a bunch of people.
As the shock settled, the Prior got up from the ground, her missing hand regrowing in a black ooze that emitted a rotten odour. Her mask was now but a shard, the full extent of her macabre face in full display. The black void that comprised her head twisted and throbbed, seeking something in the grey space that Haruhi had created. Then, like a wire pulled her up from the ground, gusts of wind surrounded her in a quiet rage that threatened to destroy the whole field.
A blue light covered the whole closed space as a giant formed far away into the town. It remained still while looking into the skies before turning towards the football field's direction and ambled towards it, swatting air creatures left and right. Houses crumbled with each step as the celestial got closer and closer to the football field.
When the Prior turned to face it, a wide red sphere impacted against her, throwing her to the nearby artificial pond. The red orb pulsated in bursts, showing a familiar figure inside it. The ever-calm ESPer had lost his smile, hovering above the ground, his school uniform ragged and dirty. Nodding to Arakawa and Kyon, the vice-leader of the Brigade launched himself against the lake, determined to stop the Prior from causing trouble.
"Stay down, please." Arakawa took some distance away from Kyon as a precaution before his aura flared in power, readying himself to subdue the remaining cultists.
The Tamaru brothers had been unconscious right until that explosion shook the whole football pitch. When they awoke, they found their plastic cuffs cut in half, with tiny microrobots flying around them. With a glance between each other, they didn't doubt to act when they saw Koizumi crashing against the most dangerous cultist in the ritual.
After subduing their nearby captors, the rest of the cultists ran away in a panic between the approaching giant and the fighting ESPers. Without their leader, it seemed, they were aimless.
Seeing a window of opportunity, Kyon rushed towards the middle of the field amid unconscious cultists. "Asahina!"
"Kyon, how did you…?!" Asahina was still reeling in the several ups and downs of the past hour. "How did everyone get freed?"
"Well, thank Nagato for lending me some of her trinkets." Kyon let out a slight smile, with two small microbots flying around him.
"I was wondering how our handcuffs got cut." Keiichi removed the last plastic strip from his wrists. "It seems the Celestial doesn't like intruders."
The group glanced up as Keiichi stared at the sky. The swarm of air monsters grew unsteady as they launched themselves wave after wave against the impervious giant. The celestial didn't take any damage as it struck down any and all monsters that approached it.
"I'm not one for fighting, but I feel my chances at a closed space," Arakawa admitted, placing a hand on Kyon's shoulder. "I'm not sure what you've done, but you have to get Miss Asahina out of here."
"Keiichi, you're bleeding." His brother, Yutaka, was evidently worried. Keiichi still had a bloody T-shirt from his capture.
"I'm fine, but…" The older brother noticed someone on the ground, on the other side of the circle. "Miss Mori is still unconscious. She was barely scraping by when we were captured."
The moment they noticed her unconscious body, Kyon and Arakawa quickly approached Mori, half sunk in the wet silt.
"Damn it, Keiichi! Why didn't you tell us?" Arakawa restrained a yell, quickly performing an overview of the ex-maid's vitals.
Keiichi was about to answer when an empty howl reverberated through the football field. Then, up in the sky, Ninlil-Shu's form started to form into a spiral, slowly descending into the ground.
"K-Kyon!" Asahina's voice broke as she hit the invisible wall repeatedly.
Keiichi's powers lit up the dark space. "We'll try to stop it, don't let that shit near Asahina!"
Kyon saw how the two ESPer brothers flew up into the sky, the red colours of their auras flying wildly around several monsters. They were instantly effective, cutting down a few clumps of dead mass before the elusive air-spiders got wind of their actions.
"I'll try to protect you both." Arakawa remained kneeling besides Mori, though Kyon could tell something was different about the old man. "That celestial is approaching. So you have to be quick.
After that, Kyon didn't say anything as he rushed towards the middle circle. There was some sort of wall that protruded out of the chalk. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to remove it, as the wall conveniently started on the outer edge of the circle.
"Asahina, can you dig or… Scrap that pentagram?" Kyon could see how she was hyperventilating.
"Y-Yeah!" Asahina instantly threw wet silt over the chalk lines inside it, but the effort remained unclear.
Gusts of wind penetrated the field, dusting up dirt and debris up into the sky and dangerously close to the two Brigade members.
"Okay, keep at it. Maybe the spell will break." Kyon wasn't too sure about it, but it was better than staying idle. "Nagato, can you… I mean, Nagato's mosquitos. Can you maybe break this down?"
The microbots started scouting the invisible wall while Kyon tried to find the edge of the barrier below the ground. Unluckily for him, the silt was sticky, and his fingers had trouble separating the dirt from itself fully.
"Kyon… I'm sorry. This is my fault." Asahina muttered as she dug out the chalk. "Because of me, you received that idol. Because of me, Nagato, Koizumi, everyone else… They're all having a hard time."
The ground a few dozen metres beside them exploded as a stray energy ball impacted them.
"I'd blame this wacky cult from hell before that. I don't know what in the world is happening, but I bet it was your higher up's doing once again, was it?" He barked, not restraining his anger. "But you haven't done anything wrong. In fact, it's these guys who you should be worried about. Because they got Haruhi acting all proud and mighty, and now she's running her mouth off."
"S-Suzumiya? What happened to her? She didn't see anything, right?"
"Well, about that…"
The ground quaked as the ethereal giant's feet destroyed the nearest row of houses. Again, the celestial raised its hand towards its shoulder, but this time it wasn't winding up for a smack. Instead, it slowly lowered its hand, letting it down near the outside of the ring. From there, a figure jumped down, a cocky smile painted on her face. The Brigade Leader waltzed over to the middle of the field, unbothered by the ongoing air battle.
"See Kyon? That's how you make an entrance."
Kawahara and Nagato noticed the change immediately. The first one realised that Ninlil-Shu wasn't in this reality anymore because of the sudden change in the atmosphere. The typhoon was still going strong, but it had weakened severely by the entity's disappearance. Nagato noticed it for another reason, her connection to the Overmind had returned, if ever so slightly.
"How?" The rogue interface exclaimed, scanning the whole park. "What happened?"
"Parameters fulfilled." Nagato's words were enough to send Kawahara into a panic. "Starting emergency mode. Objective; Apprehension of ex-member of the Radical Faction, Kazumi Kawahara."
"Wait, Yuki!" Kawahara's powers were suddenly sapped as the city park became the data authority of Nagato.
"I will no longer seek to erase you." Nagato picked up her severed hand, mending it instantly with her stump. Then, after a moment, she moved it with naturality. "The Overmind is interested in how you connected to an entity outside the astral plane."
"Even in this state, the Overmind is still soft," Kawahara muttered, the sweat beads forming in her face invisible due to the rain. "Enemies have to be eliminated."
Nagato walked over to Kawahara, who took a step back in fear. "You asked what Ryoko Asakura would have done in a hypothetical situation. You have injured Haruhi Suzumiya, jeopardising our mission. You have leaked information to hostile entities." A split second of doubt after, she asserted. "And you have attacked me. She would have deleted you without a second thought."
"I supposed as much," Kawahara admitted, her shoulders dropping. "The Data Overmind will fall, regardless of what happens to me. I was but a symptom; treating me won't heal the disease. It may be hubris, the Sky Canopy Dominion or something worse. But everything is bound to fall."
Nagato placed her hand over Kawahara's head, who started to tremble in fear. "You stated: death is something to be strived for. If so, why are you agitated?"
"Because after the Data Overmind is done with me, the death I will experience will be meagre."
"Death is the same for all living beings. Your statement lacks coherence."
Not finding the strength to continue, Kawahara kneeled and lowered her head in defeat. A signal reached Nagato for the first time in quite a few days, this time a request to enter her authority zone. She barely had time to process the request when Kimidori barged into the city park with a teleport.
"I feared the worst when I lost contact, but I see my fears were unjustified. Good work, Nagato." The chaperone congratulated her. "I will deal with the rogue interface."
"It is my mission." Nagato unwittingly stood up to her superior.
"I will take it over," Kimidori stated with a calm yet menacing smile. "Your priority is to observe the gas entity. I'm sure you have noticed its absence from this plane of reality."
Those words got Nagato's attention and worry. She didn't feel the presence of any other Brigade member. Suzumiya had somehow moved them all to the closed space, which was troublesome. Nagato couldn't physically enter closed spaces.
"Understood."
"Hello Kimidori," Kawahara weakly said to no effect. "Are you taking me out for a date?"
"It's frustrating, but there's nothing we can do." Finally, Kimidori snapped her fingers, and Kawahara disappeared from their sight.
The park glowed as Nagato's authority over it was rescinded, and she received another wave of information. "Hold. There are microbots under shared authority inside the closed space."
Kimidori already knew the answer, but she asked anyway. "Did you give them to Kyon?"
"Partly. Desperation." She replied while regaining sensory feedback from the small machines. "Haruhi Suzumiya will clash against the gas entity."
"On her own volition? This opens up a lot of new possibilities. Focus on their interaction. In the meantime, carry on with memory manipulation of civilians."
"No." Nagato stood up to her superior's orders. "I will take action."
The typhoon's intensity palled in comparison to the cold war between Nagato and Kimidori. What resembled a staredown was a data fight between the two interfaces. After a few moments of tension, Kimidori sighed.
"Do what you wish." Kimidori waved off the conflict. "I'll take responsibility if, for some reason, data of the closed space is corrupted and unsalvageable."
Nagato nodded, her eyes shining in the middle of the storm. "I promised to protect them, from themselves as well."