Chapter 6: Rescue and intrigue
16:09 PM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 17th…
"… Ru… da… ga… yu…!"
"Shut up…"
"… Yu… ru… da… ga…!"
"I told you to shut up..."
"… Ga… da… ru… yu…!"
"How many times do I have to say it? Shut up or I'll get mad!"
Solo sat on the edge of a cliff, throwing pebbles towards the ocean.
He was clearly bored, but Laplace kept on pleading for something that didn't amuse him in the very least.
"Ga… yu…"
"SHUT UP!" He roared.
Laplace shut up and muttered something under his breath, which he didn't pay attention to.
"… Hmpf. What. Come to pity me, might hero of the Earth?"
"Your irony doesn't work on me, Solo…"
"Hmpf. Guess that…"
He didn't bother to look up as Subaru walked over to him.
"I see you mean business…"
"I mean it. Else I wouldn't come hinder you…"
"My information isn't cheap…"
"I know. You want a battle…"
"Hmpf. That's what I like. Down to business… Meet me in the usual place, I'll head ahead…"
Solo stood up and transformed into Burai.
He jumped into a nearby Wave Road and sped away, followed by Laplace.
"Let's go, too. Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"
"Yessir! Rock 'n roll!"
Subaru and War Rock transformed into Rock Man, and he ran up the Wave Road into the Bermuda Labyrinth.
"Excuse me! Are you Rock Man, sir?".
"What's up?"
A program hovered over to him.
"Someone wanted me to deliver a message to you, sir!"
"It isn't Boss… He'd use the radio… Let me have it!"
"Roger, sir! Goodbye, sir!"
"Beware of Viruses!" Rock Man called out.
"Thank you, sir!"
"So? What does the message say?" War Rock asked.
"… SENDER: NO NAME… Weird…"
"Maybe it's a prank by Moonie?"
"Surely…! "When it's over, I'll come to slowly and painfully break you up… It'll be exquisite. I wanna hear your screams of agony and break your mask. Don't think this will end by rescuing your girlfriend and catching that "Centurion" jerk whoever that jerk is. Wait and see, Hoshikawa! Because the Ancient Assassin will feast upon your body"…What the!? This doesn't look like a prank to me, I'd say!" Rock Man muttered.
"Guess it's a passionate fan of yours…" War Rock smirked.
"Sheesh! This must be Hyde's newest idea of a threat mail!"
"Maybe it's Hikaru?"
"Could be. Maybe he's taken control of Tsukasa – kun and decided to try to scare me with a creepy mail. But I'm not worried about the guy because, in the worst of the cases, we can use a chip implant to put tabs on him!"
"The might detective, War Rock, strikes back!"
"Whatever! Let's go meet Burai already before he lashes out at is two for being late to the encounter!" Rock Man grumbled.
"Sure, sure! Speedy Man!"
Rock Man ignored him and made his way through the labyrinth.
He found the square where Burai was rubbing the back of his head and was groaning something.
"What happened?"
"Not sure…"
"Not sure?"
"I was waiting for you and checking my emails. I received one which said something about "dropping by to test my skills". I thought it was Omega. But something hit me on the back of my head! I'm missing a piece of hair and they wrote the letters "A" and "S" in my chest armor using a blade! Laplace was knocked out, too! Given how nobody comes this deep into the maze, I have no witnesses to tell me what happened…" He groaned.
"Weird!"
"I don't feel like battling with this headache! What exactly do you want to know today?" He muttered.
"Do you know a god named "bloodthirsty God of essence" or "High One", and who revered them?"
"You've forgotten already about the man that you fought last month? Sheesh! The man's antecessors revered that thing. I know that they had a name for it, but it was a secret to the High Priest and the Monarch. The secret died back then, and nobody has been able to find the name because it'd seem it was orally transmitted…"
"I see…"
"That way, nobody would be allowed to know it outside of them. Yet it's not like they were like the Maia people or other bloody tribes… No, no… They offered the blood of criminals which had been sentenced to death…"
"Now it comes back to mind…! The On'Setsu Kingdom…!"
"Is that related to what you're looking for?"
"We went to Normandy and investigated an abbey's underground tunnels, which ended up in a crypt of sorts. A robot shaped after Harp Note tried to assassinate me, saying that my blood would be given to that god thing! We firstly didn't mind it, because it felt like an imitation of some movie, but another companion of mine did some research and found this out!"
"Talk about an odd tale. Who made that robot?"
"There actually were several of them, simpler in design! But our attempts to inspect them didn't yield any clues to their maker. They have been recently designed, as recently as three weeks ago…" Rock Man added.
"Strange. Why did you go to that abbey, anyway?"
"Because Harp Note has been abducted and I received a ransom mail which turned out to be bait for us to fall for…"
"Interesting. Tell me where that place is. Maybe I'll find something…"
"Those gravestones had some glyphs written on them and maybe you can decode them…" Rock Man suggested.
"My point exactly. And give me Vadous' number as well just in case I need to relay some info but you're not available!"
"I won't be because school resumes on Monday, so it's wiser to contact Boss with any info you figure out!"
"And invite this guy to a "club", too!" War Rock whispered.
"I don't think that's a bright idea!" Burai muttered.
"It isn't. Don't listen to this man!" Rock Man warned.
"Always stealing the fun outta me…" War Rock played victim.
"That trick won't save you, Rock. Let's head back! We're about to carry out the rescue operation!"
"The boyfriend to the rescue of girlfriend strategy, I name it!"
"By all the! We're just friends! There's nothing else to it! You mustn't believe those magazines that wanna start headlines war to sell and cause a juicy ruckus!" Rock Man groaned.
"Uncle Club will chase you~!"
"Hmpf! Worthless!" Burai muttered with a hint of annoyance.
"Totally!" Rock Man grumbled.
"Hmpf. While everyone is free to choose their way of life, making fun out of it is something I don't take lightly… I assume you have the resolution to assume the consequences of your words!"
Laplace morphed into the blade and Burai gripped it with the right hand.
War Rock gasped and flew off at top speed.
"Sheesh. The man's turning into a chicken with every passing day!"
"Hmpf. I can see that… Insulting one's pride…!"
"That's why I'll make this guy take a "vacation" inside of a server!"
"Wise move. The less noise, the better…"
"Speaking of which… I also received an odd email. Maybe your attacker is the same that sent this to me, too?"
"Good point. I'm sure it's some psychopath, because who else would take hair or carve their initials on one's body?" Burai grumbled.
"Sheesh. First "Centurion", now a bloody psychopath… What next?"
"Hmpf. That clown is preferable to those psychopaths!"
"Agreed! What a mess!"
21:15 PM (Normandy Time)…
They will surely come now during the nighttime. I won't complain, Ferné and his cousins have always kept their distance from me, yet I didn't like those two trying to sneak into the bathroom when I was having a shower! What were they expecting? I complained, and he scolded them! Those two are weird! They might be women, but that doesn't excuse me from trying to breach my privacy! Maybe they had some weird complexes, too…
Misora sat down on her bedroom's chair, slightly annoyed as she remembered something.
"… Misora – chan?"
"Subaru – kun?" She gasped.
"It's me. Confucius rice..." He whispered from behind the door.
"It'll make you meet Confucius…" She replied.
"Trendy Magazine…"
"…doesn't exist…"
"Be silent, War Rock, or the strategy will be ruined…"
"Sure! Subari~!" War Rock whispered.
There was a slight sound and the door opened to reveal Rock Man.
He handed her the Hunter VG, and Harp appeared.
"Nice to see ya again, Misora! Now… Let's get outta here!"
"I'll leave a little note from Boss…"
Rock Man took out a letter and left it atop the table.
"Let's go, Harp! Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"
She became Harp Note and they headed upstairs together.
"I missed this feeling! Let's go!"
"OK! I'll take lead!"
They reached the 1st basement floor and Harp Note saw that the living room's doors were open.
"Through the chimney!" Rock Man whispered.
"Roger, darling!" She teased.
"What!?" He uttered.
"Maybe those reporters weren't that much off the mark!"
"Shut up…"
"Sorry. I just wanted to do a final check!" She apologized.
"Alright. Let's go up!"
Rock Man climbed using a rope hanging inside of the chimney shaft. followed by Harp Note.
They exited into the rooftop, where a round purple "gateway" was already opened and glowing.
"We'll go to the HQ and from there to home. I know I'll have lack of sleep by the morning, but I'll overcome it somehow!"
"Did anyone notice my absence?"
"Mr. Urakata knows, but he's kept the secret!"
"Fair enough. Let's go back, darling!"
"Please…" He groaned.
"What? It's fashionable in other TV shows!"
"Please drop it or Rock will use that to barrage at me with his silly pranks!"
"Alright, alright… Let's go and beware of the rural girls!"
"The rural girls…? Why?" Rock Man frowned.
"A secret makes a girl, girl!" She quoted.
Harp Note giggled while Rock Man groaned in defeat….
21:49 PM (Normandy Time)…
"… Rubbish machines. Out of my way!"
Burai sliced a pikeman robot in half and stepped into the crypt.
He began to examine the gravestones.
"These aren't Mu glyphs. On'Setsu glyphs, then… They must indicate who they sacrificed and when. I'm sure that the people who then erected the abbey used the remains of an earlier building as base. And I'd stake anything that they sealed up the entrance to the tunnels, too!"
"Ga…"
"Silence. I need to focus!"
"Da…"
"That's an ultimatum. You won't touch my games. Go play elsewhere!"
"Yu…"
"What persistence… What now? The fool who knocked us down had a familiar signature… What? Define "familiar"!"
"… Da… Yu… Ga…"
"Similar to yours? Then it was that clown, creeping on us to laugh at us. Whatever!"
"… Yu…"
Laplace signaled something glowing on the base of the altar.
Burai fumed and walked over to it.
"What! Mu Glyphs! And there's a purple oil-based spray can…! Who writes Mu Glyphs with such a vulgar tool? Wait. Mu Glyphs? But nobody apart from me and the few survivors of my tribe should know them. And I'm sure Rock Man would've told me if he'd seen them! They've been placed here after he left… It seems to be a message…" He muttered.
"Yu…"
"… "Burai of Mu, my tribe's enemy! This is a message I left behind for you. Know that you underestimated our intelligence! You were so confident, thinking that you had won! However, I had foreseen such an outcome! Go! Tell those fools that I am ALIVE! Ready to destroy you with the "Ultimate Power" and the "Four Heavenly Kings"! Centurion has spoken!" … Who the hell wrote this?" He cursed after reading it.
"Da…"
"Wait! Last month! That man who tried to restore the "Ultimate Power" of the On'Setsu Kingdom! Who'd leeched out another man! That bloody "Ultimate Orb"…! It vanished and we never thought what became of it! We thought that it alone was powerless! What idiotic thinking! Even my antecessors were afraid of its power because they couldn't come close to destroy it and had to resort to splitting it into pieces!"
He stood up and grimaced as he put the pieces together.
"Ga!" Even Laplace sounded afraid.
"I must contact Vadous. The man might be able to figure out the rest and end up completing the picture…! Let's go, Laplace! I've got no further use for this place…! I need to be ten thousand kilometers away from here and never return. I'm not afraid, obviously enough! This place just reeks like it's a trap waiting to make mincemeat of me!"
"Yu!"
"Move out!"
"DESTROY THE ENEMIES OF THE HIGH ONE…"
"Sheesh! No time for the chaff!"
A squad of pikemen and swordsman robots marched into the room.
"Go!"
Burai sent the blade flying and it easily sliced all foes at their chest, destroying their cores and wiping them out.
"Time to get out!"
21:58 PM (Normandy Time)…
"Hmpf! Have you felt the terror, have you not? Foolish descendant of my tribe's enemies? It is futile to try to hide behind that mask! I can read your every emotion! What a weakling! Always defeated by that fake prophet! You fool have submitted yourself to the destiny of failure! And you had more than one chance to get rid of that fake prophet, yet you botched them yourself because you would feel bored without battling! I laugh at such childish behavior! You are but a mouse! A gnat! A brat! A twerp! These insults suit you!"
"Centurion" stood within a space somewhere.
He struck as being over a meter and eighty tall.
He was checking a largely completed machine.
It had a pyramidal platform.
There was a metallic ring about two meters tall built over it.
Devices were attached to both sides of the main ring.
"I will soon gain an ace-in-the-hole… It might beyond my style but if you want to triumph against the enemy, study their tactics. And that man I will bring into the picture will no doubt be intrigued by my offer! To form part of an "Elite Unit"… And gain a power restricted to a selected few!"
He interacted with a "Real Wave" screen and brought up footage of a room containing a tall cylindrical object with two conical bases.
The front half was darkened, thick glass and the rear half was metallic.
It was emitting a pale green glow and was the only source of light.
"All is ready. I just need to seize that man, do the "trick" and then proceed… I have prepared everything in advance and not even Vadous can predict what I shall do! You will know what it means to be powerless…! And you, the false prophet, will feel that as well! Rock Man! Feel the fear creeping into your weak body and realize that you were intended to fail and expose your true nature as a false prophet!"