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Ending E: Lost World
THE END IS NIER.
THE END OF NIER.
This is ridiculous. That's what Kainé thought.
She didn't understand what had happened - just that she'd been blown away by the shock wave of something's sudden intrusion.
That shock wave had thrown Kainé through the air like a flung spoon. Unable to take up a proper landing stance, all she could do was fall into an awkward roll.
Before she'd finished rolling she stabbed her blade into the ground in order to pull herself back up. It was no good. She had to retreat. There was no other choice.
Supporting her body on the sword she'd stuck with her right hand into the mechanical ground, holding the sword in her left up before her eyes as a makeshift shield, her first move was to--
The second wave hit. In an instant, her field of vision was dyed a bright red. Her surroundings, too, seemed to have been drawn into a splashing whirlpool of red. The sound of an explosion came after it, slightly delayed, as debris flew through the air.
It was at that moment she finally understood what had attacked her when she came here. She was getting beaten by a high-pressure blast of water, its current tearing her to pieces.
Clinging to the stuck sword, she waited for the blades of water and their thundering roar to pass over her. A fragment of something, long overdue, planted a direct hit on her head. The spouting fountain of blood, coupled with the slashed-open wound, went beyond pain to a cold sort of feeling instead.
After a short while, the roaring noise finally settled down to a ringing sound. No--the ringing might just be in her beaten ears. Kainé laughed weakly.
Blood leaked from her eyes and nose. The blood she vomited spread out through the muddy stream with the consistency of black tea, slowly dying that red as well.
This had turned into a pretty big show. If Tyrann were here he'd have been delighted beyond words.
Fresh blood oozed out from the cracks between her slippery, blood-soaked fingers, still tightly gripping onto the handles of her swords.
Kainé gazed upon her enemy as she paused to catch her breath.
Before her eyes were 5 Kainés.
＊
2 days earlier.
Kainé woke with a start within the shabby tent.
Ragged breaths. Wide eyes. Her right hand dripping with cold sweat.
In the long time it took to calm her breathing, she stayed in that position.
Unable to shut her eyes, she desperately withstood the attacking wave of bewilderment and loss.
It was that dream again.
She didn't know what kind of dream it had been. She had no idea what meaning there might have been behind it.
It was a dream without any tangible images, where she was assaulted by nothing more than feelings of pain and sorrow. A dream where something that should have been was lost, a peek into the dark crevices of her heart. Time and again she'd wake in tears.
How many times would this make it? Kainé's heart was filled with an anger that had no outlet. If it was a Shade she could beat it down and the problem would be solved. But a dream couldn't be killed. All she could do was let feelings of irritation well up within her. On top of that, it felt like she'd been having that dream more often than usual lately.
Then she caught a glimpse of her left hand. She was gripping her sword so hard that her fist had turned white. As if ready to respond to a Shade attack at any time, her left hand had slipped from the bed and unconsciously gripped the blade. Kainé forced out a laugh. Like this, she could go murdering people first thing after getting up in the morning...
Kainé shook her head. She was overthinking it. It was just a dream.
The grassland area outside her tent was blanketed in fog. The wind blowing against her cheek told her that it was going to be like this the rest of the day.
Not a single sheep could be seen on the plain - maybe they'd hidden themselves, as well. That made sense. There wasn't anybody stupid enough to go out on a day like this. You'd get attacked by Shades if you did. Her lips twisted upwards on their own, a laugh spilling out from between them.
This was just perfect. She was limited to just killing Shades, on a day like this. That was fine. She'd feel better once she killed some Shades. She wouldn't think anything at all, while she was getting doused in their blood. Gripping her sword, Kainé began her preparations for departure.
She'd planned to go to the Forest of Myth today.
It seemed it had been about a month since anyone had last heard from the people there. "Seemed," meaning it was no more than a rumor she'd heard when eavesdropping on some gossiping villagers near Seafront. It's not like she was the type to chat with them herself, all friendly-like. She hadn't become any less unsociable after Tyrann disappeared.
...Oh yeah, Tyrann.
3 years had passed since the Shade violating her body had disappeared. In exchange for no longer feeling that constant pain throughout her body, she could now no longer use magic.
However, her sword skills and abnormal physical strength had remained. Magic use had never really been her strong point in the first place, so it didn't feel like a particular inconvenience.
But why had Tyrann disappeared? When she tried to remember, her thoughts would blur like a fog had descended in her head. Any attempts to remember would disappear like a mirage.
Something had definitely happened. Kainé groaned, kneading her palms against her temple. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember!
She gripped her swords with all her strength. She could make a tear in the fog for just an instant, but it would quickly melt away.
She began thinking the same things as usual. It didn't matter. Her head couldn't manage thinking about little details like that. She righted her positions, swinging the sword in her right hand as if crossing herself.
She was glad there were Shades waiting in the Forest of Myth for her. Because she wouldn't have to think while cutting them down.
＊
That day, 3 years ago. In the place where she'd saved a girl named Yonah.
The day the Shadowlord was buried, and the Shades disappeared along with him. The foolish plot to "become real humans" fell apart.
That had not been the end, however. The Shades, having lost their king, began attacking people at random in an attempt to take back their original forms. If that "Project Gestalt" the traitor priests had mentioned was true, this world was growing more and more distant from its originally intended form. In short, it was a world where "Gestalts" and "Replicants" - originally meant to become one - were killing each other instead. On top of that, Devola and Popola, the priests who were meant to manage it all, were now dead.
At any rate, this world is doomed. In the fight to get revenge for Grandmother, I've killed the Shadowlord, killed the Shades, and crushed all hopes of a future for us Replicants.
None of that mattered.
As far as she was concerned, her only reason for living was to kill the Shades that attacked her. This sword alone gave her all she needed to know about what it was she should do.
It didn't matter what would happen to this world. She'd just keep fighting 'til the moment it ended. Without telling people the truth, she was spending her days fighting as if running from something.
Someday she'd die somewhere. She was just living to pass the time between now, and the day that happened.
＊
12 steps past the forest's stone arch. Kainé had to walk about that far before noticing something was off.
This was due to her extremely broad-minded personality. A normal person would definitely have been able to notice this from much farther away.
Mechanical cables fat as tree limbs writhed at her feet. Not just that. Machines were coiling around the actual plants, spiraling around and entwining with their limbs. They reached endlessly across the forest floor. Every last thing she could see was a mix of plant and machine.
From the branch-like areas dripped a green sort of oil; in the gaps between the winding snakelike machines bloomed eerie, never-before-seen flowers. Countless trees, entangled in both mechanical and plant vines, sprung up towards the sky. You couldn't tell what kind of ecosystem this was, whether it had been plant or machine to begin with, or how this strange coexistence had come into existence.
At any rate, it was impossible to call this place a forest.
Kainé could feel in her bones that this place was not something compatible with their world. Nevertheless, all around her wafted the refreshing scent of trees. The difference between that scent and the area's squalid appearance aroused feelings of unease within her. She unconsciously brought up her left hand to check the ornaments in her hair.
She'd heard that the Forest of Myth was a quiet place hidden in fog. She'd heard it was a place full of the voices of talkative villagers. The scene she now saw bore no resemblance whatsoever to those descriptions.
She tried to look for any place resembling a home, but it was impossible to tell where even the roads were, let alone a house. A chaotic mess of machines and trees formed obstacles all over the place. She couldn't find a single sign of human presence.
Deep inside the forest, even larger than the large trees around it--she found a giant tree. All she could see was its silhouette, in the fog. Might as well head over there for now, she thought. After all, there was nothing else that could be considered a noticeable landmark.
Cutting through the pipes that climbed over great trees around her, she focused her attention for the moment on continuing forward.
The sticky oil was unpleasant.
The smell of the plants was cloying.
But deep down, she felt that such an uncomfortable place as this suited her, in some way. Because she felt she had no place in beautiful forests and pleasant plains.
Still, that didn't mean she liked this forest at all. It was a pain.
It was painfully difficult to make any progress on the path. For one thing there wasn't a proper path, and oil, plant juice, and some unidentifiable liquid were dripping all over the place. She was honestly fed up with it. Cursing whenever her feet slipped, she forcefully continued onward.
The surrounding scenery began to change once she arrived in the central part of the forest. The machine-vegetation combination hadn't changed at all, but those elements were growing smaller. Pipes which had once been as thick around as Kainé's thighs were now closer to finger-width. The plants had shrunk as well, no longer bearing gigantic leaves. In some places the cables and ivy began to look something like thrown-out noodles. Slipping was still a concern, but without giant cables and roots to worry about the way had become a little easier to traverse. Exhausted as she was, even the effort of speaking had become too troublesome for her to bother with.
After crossing over what felt like a mountain of spaghetti, she finally arrived at the foot of the giant tree.
The cables and vines were now so thin, it really did seem as if the ground was covered in a carpet of pasta. The tree trunk before here was also coated in a liberal carpet of machinery. Perhaps the pasta had even made it into the inner recesses of the tree - it wasn't entirely unlikely, considering the state of things so far.
Kainé surveyed the area. It was quiet. Aside from the fireflies floating around, not a single thing moved.
Thinking she'd look a little closer, she took a step towards the trunk.
Something was there. She laid her hands on her swords.
The cables on that incline where the tree trunk and the ground met began to move. It was as if a huge number of snakes were writhing in pain. Before long the cables and vines had begun to burst from the ground like the outbreak of a flood. Despite their wriggling and writhing, however, the countless cables eventually all headed towards the same spot.
The cable-vine amalgamation slowly knitted itself into a cohesive form.
A human shape was knitting itself together before her eyes. A boy--or not.
But "It" had no legs. Sprouting from the base of the tree was nothing more than the upper half of a body. Its skin, made of green metal and vegetation, shone with slippery oil. On closer inspection she could see small leaves growing on its head, looking almost like hair blowing in the wind.
The "boy" bent back with a sigh before - as if just now noticing Kainé's presence - changing his expression.
"Hey. I'm--"
The boy's head went flying. Kainé had delivered a direct horizontal chop. The miserable head flew far off, landing on a carpet made of interwoven cables and scrap iron. It dissolved like a pile of flying worms, diving beneath the earth. Likewise, the now-headless body unraveled itself, disappearing into the ground.
Silence returned once again to the forest of machines. The uncomfortably foggy atmosphere only served to deepen her--
"Geez, you sure are violent."
A voice from overhead. Looking up at the tree, she saw that this time the boy had sprouted parallel to the ground. He was shaking his head, arms folded, putting on a display of amazement as his body swayed back and forth.
"Now then, wouldn't you say some introductions are in order?"
Kainé. Don't answer.
Silence. An awkward atmosphere.
Neither the boy nor Kainé moved an inch.
The now-solid boy, arms folded and head shaking, opened his mouth.
"A l r i g h t, i n t r o d u c t i o n s. I a m t h i s f o r e s t 's a d m i n i s t r a t o r, κλΚ?Σ?χΗ?"
The sound was impossible to understand.
"Yeah, it doesn't really work for your hearing range. So feel free to call me whatever you want. Like Administrator, or Boy, or something. And I'm guessing there's quite a few things you guys don't understand, so is there anything you'd like to know? #1 is "About the forest," #2 is "About me," and #3 is "Talk about the future". Now, which do you choose!?"
He spread his arms wide as he asked, as if saying 'How about that!'
Silence. Neither of them moved an inch.
A single firefly from who-knows-where flew between Kainé and the boy. After its tiny light had disappeared into the fog, things finally began to move again.
"Well then I'll start by explaining #1 and work my way down first about this forest as you can see this forest is composed of both machines and plants but in actuality this is due to the process of the entire forest transforming into a giant machine i'd call this a computer but you people wouldn't understand that would you to put it simply it's like a machine that can think for himself i guess combining quantum mechanics with magical research it's the greatest computer ever created by mankind this computer's branches can reach around the world spreading the light of information to--"
Kainé swung her sword at the space right behind her. The machine attacking her from the ground was split cleanly in two. One half of the robot's body scattered shiny green oil as it somersaulted through the air. A cube-shaped, box-like body. A pair of short arms. It was the same type as the robots from the Junk Heap.
"--the light of information to connect the world, thus making the world into something like a single gigantic head. Oh--sorry. I didn't have any intention of making a surprise attack, but the order of things got a little mixed up. By the way, about this forest, you see, it's actually the terminal controlling this entire district. But the district's already done for, so it's started going through termination procedures. That's the current situation as it stands."
Termination procedures?
"Yeah. Uhh...your name's Ｋｅｉｎｅ? Kainé. Right, got it. For us computers, this whole world is just one big ball of information. We can figure out anything pretty much immediately. You know about the Gestalt plan too, right? So maybe I can tell you a little about that while you fight."
She was completely surrounded by box-shaped robots. Metal boxes as far as the eye could see. Kainé opened her mouth.
"Yeah. That'd be a lot better than listening to your kiddy bedtime stories."
She sent a flying kick to a boxy robot coming down from above. It flew off in a shower of sparks.
"This is more my style."
She unfastened her other sword from her back, both arms hanging lazily down as she looked over the machines. The boy called out from behind her.
"Ahahahah. You sure are energetic."
Four robots were blown away before he'd finished talking. After they'd crashed into the robots behind them, sparks flying every which way as the metal boxes rolled around, Kainé jumped over the pile and started slashing away at the mass of robots farther back. Explosions erupted with every slice. Like a slightly delayed shockwave, they were engulfed in flames and smoke.
Kainé's figure could no longer be seen in the mass of robots, but you could pretty much guess where she was charging off to by the distant sound of explosions going off one after another.
All at once, the robots all threw themselves upon the head of that progressing snake of explosions. Leaping at her one after another, it looked almost as if a small mountain of robots had formed above Kainé's head. Unable to move with them so close to the ground, Kainé ripped open the nearest robot's armor and stabbed at a fuelpipe-looking thing, cursing all the while. She'd learned this in another fight some time before. That if you injured it here, the metal box would immediately explode.
The towering pile of robots went flying. Kainé defended herself from the blast with an iron plate as a shield. As her shield was blown away in the blast, she used it as a foothold lay more attacks on her next target.
"Wow, that's amazing! This goes beyond the bounds of replicants!"
Kainé scowled. She bisected a nearby robot with her right hand while simultaneously kicking a robot into the air with her left foot. Immediately upon jumping up she nimbly hopped on the robots' heads, heading back the way she came. Chasing after her was a huge number of missiles. It seemed like she was yelling something, but the words couldn't be clearly heard. Meanwhile the missiles were making impact, enveloping Kainé in the explosions they caused. As the boy squinted in an effort to see what had happened to her, Kainé flew out from the center of the flames, aiming an attack straight at him. Before he could even make out the swords in her hands, she'd already cut him straight in half and kicked off the head as she jumped away, leaving behind an insult like "How d'you like that, you flea bastard!" The missiles following after her then plunged down like a firey rain.
Countless tiny explosions mingled together, creating giant balls of flame to fly out all over the place. Several robots carrying missiles were enveloped in the blast, further spreading the damage. Kainé's figure, seemingly boosted by the bomb blast, ran vertically up the great tree, jumping up the branches as if they were a road.
Kainé's sword and martial arts skills had grown sharper with the loss of her magic. Though the swords themselves were no more deadly than before, her own life being in danger served to increase her excessive attacks. It's not that she enjoyed the risk, or that she was drunk on power - she carried out the destruction in an entirely dispassionate manner.
People who do unreasonable things will die. She fought as if charging straight towards that truth.
Kainé looked nonchalantly down at the ground, her bangs fluttering in the wind.
The heat from the explosions and flames dyed the surrounding area a bright red. The points of impact where the missiles hit left gaping holes, inside of which torn-up cables and plants made strange noises as they burst.
As Kainé watched the forest go up in flames, she turned her gaze to her left-hand side.
A branch in her line of sight made an unnatural wriggling movement, before changing into the boy.
"Heheheh. See, this here is the apparatus designed for the purpose of 'ending' you people."
He raised a hand to stifle his laughter as he spoke, as if there was something exceedingly funny about this situation.
"It manages every district in the Gestalt Project, but once one meets a certain requirement, that district will be treated as a project failure. That's when our turn comes up. We tidy everything up, and freeze the Gestalts until people from one of the other districts can save them. That's the how the plan works."
Kainé didn't reply, silently watching the disastrous scene below them. Her face, fanned by a hot wind, glowed orange in the flickering light.
"The robots in that place you call the Junk Heap were prepared for that purpose. Destroying all the Replicants, I mean. After that, this forest is scheduled to conceal the district."
The robots on the ground below began to spit out green bubbles, letting out groaning, creaking noises as they did. It seemed they were both disposing of their wrecked companions, and dousing the flames around them. Kainé, watching this scene, spoke with a subdued voice.
"Until everything's destroyed, then."
A lightly falling Kainé. On the way down, she fixed her gaze on the boy, saying "I'll kill you later" as she fell. The boy laughed.
In contrast to her nimble appearance, the attack she made upon landing blew the robots around her over 10m away, creating a blank space in the crowd. As she stood up, she dexterously cut up the pipe-littered floor with the two swords in her hands. Once she was done, the area in a 2m radius around her was covered in cut-up debris.
"Figuring out which one to beat up first is too much of a pain. Come at me however you want. Whoever steps past this line is getting crushed into scrap metal and sold to the junk shop so look forward to it you 〇★※■ bastards!"
＊
Kainé had three rules.
She knew perfectly well that she was a violent person. And so she imposed three rules she absolutely needed to follow when wielding her swords.
Rule #1: Cut down Shades. She wasn't a good enough person to forgive the Shades that killed her Grandma. If a Shade exists, she would drop everything to kill it.
Rule #2: Cut down anything that could hurt a person. If it's attacking a human being, whether it's a robot or an animal, kill it without exception. Though certainly...she hadn't been this nosy before.
Rule #3: If you don't like it, cut it down. Though there didn't seem to really be a set limit for when this last rule could apply.
At any rate, if something qualified under these three rules then she was free to kill it.
These things were at least breaking the 2nd and 3rd rules. That was more than enough reason to kill them.
Following those rules, Kainé systematically sliced every enemy who crossed the line into a pile of metal sashimi. Whatever direction the robots attacked from, even above or below, she'd calmly mangle them with precise and economical movements. The line she'd first drawn in the ground with her sword could no longer be seen beneath the wreckage of robot remains, but not one robot had the capability to enter into that area.
The points of Kainé's swords had not wasted a single movement.
Using the force behind one kill to cut down the next enemy, then cutting up another and simultaneously parrying an attack at her elbow as she brought the sword back. When they attacked from behind she didn't so much as turn her head, clearing them away through presence and intuition alone. While it looked random, every one of her attacks was giving an effective amount of damage.
There was a rhythm to the circular movement of her blades, and from a distance their afterimage seemed to take on the shape of a perfect sphere.
But after over 30 minutes of this, it's only natural that Kainé's breath grew ragged. Her attacks began to turn irregular, and the damage she received grew as well. But the robots were unable to strike the fatal blow. Kainé's blood and oil-soaked figure was giving off a strange heat in the middle of the forest.
From the depths of the mist rose a single gigantic robot. It was different from the types that had come up before. Long limbs. Two eyes. It was similar to the one found in the deepest part of the Junk Heap. The particularly dangerous one, with the child Shade accompanying it. Even now, she could remember the discomfort she'd felt back then. That Shade's scream was stuck in the back of her mind, echoing against her skull. And there was also, she was sure...she had the feeling someone had been fighting together with her, there. There was a stabbing pain in her head.
"Hahahah. That's your special someone?"
A young boy's voice, carrying that offensive tone particular to prepubescents, resounded in the forest. Its source was now impossible to locate.
"Alright, if you can beat that guy I'll teach you something good."
Out of breath as she was, Kainé didn't have the energy to answer.
Strategy was unnecessary. Kill the enemy. Kill the chatty kid last. That was all.
The huge robot was different from the types she'd previously fought. Its arms were giant scissors, and there were four lights where its eyes should be. Its form was that of a deep-sea crab. She could take it easily. The farther it strayed from a human form, the less she'd hesitate at killing it.
The crab raised its right arm enormously high, and charged forward. With such ridiculously huge preliminary movements, catching its prey was basically impossible. Even a child could recognize this was a bluff.
As the crab swung its right claw downward, its left claw - hidden in the shadow made by its attack - began to create and shoot out magic orbs. Kainé thrust forward without regard to either arm's movements. Hacking at the magic orbs in front of her, her right arm simultaneously sliced upwards at the claws. An explosion erupted as an after-effect of her slashing at the remaining magic orbs. The robot's right arm was removed cleanly at the joints.
Strange. It felt weird. The thought came too slow. In the upper-right corner of her field of vision. She could see a huge cannon poking out from the base of the crab's plucked-off right arm. The magic circle was already close to completion and reaching a critical state. It was a giant magic-firing hole. It was a two-fold trap. Just as she realized this, the magic orbs began to fire.
With an ear-splittingly high-pitched firing noise, Kainé was enveloped by the explosion from impact. Facing the woman at its feet, the crab continued to bombard her with magic. The barrage was so violent that the blast seemed to make its enormous body float in the air. The surrounding cables and scrap metal flew wildly through the air.
In a flash, the crab raised its remaining clawed left arm up into the air. Though it could no longer see Kainé in the smoke, it struck its claw into her last recorded position.
As if trying to capture her position it struck once more - and in the next instant, its left arm felt an unexpected amount of stress. Before it could calculate what might have happened, it had already confirmed that it "had been cut," and its left arm was ripped into two pieces. The crab tried to counter with its right-mounted magic cannon, but before it could locate its target, the cannon was lopped off at its base. As the left-over torso twisted its great form in an attempt to crush Kainé, it split cleanly in two, having already been cut.
The crab's gigantic body collapsed to the ground, plumes of smoke erupting around it. From the center of the destruction rose Kainé, covered in blood. Her left arm was bent in a weird direction at the elbow, but gripping her swords with all her might, she returned herself to normal. Her low animalistic groans echoed out from the burning flames.
"Since you're alive, I'll tell you that bit of information you lost. You've recently had a tough time trying to remember something, right? The feeling you're missing something's been making you sad, right? Well I'll tell you exactly that thing was! If you win against these kids, that is!"
Kainé slowly turned to look behind her.
Metal and plants were coming together to form human shapes. They were five people - no, things - in number. Handsome features. Supple bodies and full breasts. Sinister blades held in both hands. They were one and the same as Kainé herself.
Kainé did not have the leisure to figure out what these dolls were.
However, she realized that they were copies of herself. She gave a lurid smile.
And here I was itching to kill them too!
The 5 Kainés fired off high-pressure torrents of water, the force of which crashed Kainé into the great tree. As she slid down, a piece of wreckage blown away by the shock wave landed a direct hit on her right arm. Shouts, screams, and unintelligible noise streamed from her mouth. This is ridiculous. That's what Kainé thought.
The boy's voice sounded out from a distance.
"These five are mechanical dolls created and remodeled from your Replicant configuration info. They're made to be even more high-performance than you are; how will you handle it?"
Not like I've got a choice here, you ※★□ asshole.
"Here's the second topic. As the administrator of this forest, I'm a program which controls all maso and its effects. A program is...what's the best way to explain it...that's right. You know Grimoire Weiss, so think of me as something like that. I can do anything you can think of. The life or death of both Gestalts and Replicants lies in the palm of my hands, so to speak."
Kainé slowly stood back up.
There was a somewhat lonely expression on the boy's face.
"Why do I have such god-like powers? I've wondered about this for a long time. But I haven't come up with an answer. Nobody can tell me, either."
The five machine dolls swooped down on her. Having to face five of herself while in this fatigued condition? Her chances of success were unthinkably low. However, her right hand moved on conditioned reflex. She could still fight.
The sword in her right hand was thrown towards the first doll. Just as it hit its head, Kainé jumped up, pushing the sword farther in with a dropkick. Using the sword as a stepping stone, she spun herself forward and charged. She horizontally mowed down the nearest doll's torso...but was unable to shake free from it. The doll she'd cut open was shaking as emerald green oil dribbled out of the hole in its abdomen, but behind it, the point of Kainé's blade was being held in place by two dolls holding four swords.
There was a strong impact to her left side as Kainé was shoved away. The remaining doll had kicked her flying.
After getting kicked back and forth again and again between the dolls, she finally tumbled to the ground and lay there, limp and lifeless. She couldn't get up. A mix of bile and blood splattered on the ground as she coughed. Green oil and red blood swirled together, leaving strange patterns on the ground.
Before she knew it, the boy was standing sideways over Kainé's body, staring down at her.
"Number 3. About the future."
He spoke with a refreshing voice.
"So this world, you know, it's been ended. Humans and machines alike are no longer necessary. A world you can't understand is unnecessary. This world was a failure. There's no more reason for me to exist, either."
The three dolls closed in around her. Their mouths opened abnormally wide, and they began blasting terrifyingly high-volume dissonant noise. Kainé forcibly dragged herself into a standing position. Even in this condition, there was no way she was going to leave him alone. She wouldn't be able to settle down unless she tried hitting him once.
She made to slash at the three with the sword in her left hand. She could see the dolls making dance-like movements as they shot out high-pressure water. There wasn't enough time to dodge. Countless whips of water rushed towards her. As her left arm was blown back by the current, the attack hit Kainé--
"Tagh!"
A faint voice entered her ears.
"Kainé! Are you okay!?"
That voice sounded familiar.
"Emi...l?"
Something eagerly came into focus in her pain-blurred vision. She was startled. An unnaturally large, round head was floating. She couldn't see any holes, but were those eyes? What kind of Emil was this.... Oh right, Emil. It was Emil. No, this wasn't the "Emil" that Kainé knew. Emil was more...normal-shaped. She didn't remember him having four arms, at least.
Emil's four arms spread out four magic circles. The three mechanical dolls were pinned down by magical arms.
He noticed Kainé staring at her.
"Oh, this? Well you see, putting my body back together didn't exactly go smoothly, and I ended up growing extra arms~ But four hands are better than none, right? What are you doing, anyway, Kainé?"
Kainé answered with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"...Fighting."
"Guess that was a silly question, huh! I'll back you up!"
With a yell, he crushed the three bodies he'd been holding down. Creaking and spurting out oil and noise, they were smashed beneath the invisible force.
With the extreme suddenness of his actions, Kainé's mind was having trouble registering what the teru teru bouzu had done. Forcing back her reaction through pure force of will, she tried to bring up memories of Emil.
What had happened? Where had he gone? Why was he here now? The questions rolled in like a flood.
However, there was one thing here that was absolute, undeniable truth. He was a friend. A friend who'd fought by her side. Was there something else important beyond that?
Something fell down towards Emil's head. It was the upper half of a cruelly mutilated doll.
"Waaaah!"
Emil yelled as he curled up his body. There was a terrible bang and...no impact whatsoever.
Looking down, he could see the doll torso - split further in half - rolling on the ground. As if having come apart at the seams, the doll wreckage lost its form, and was absorbed into the mechanical earth's surface. Then from the opposite end, a new Kainé was born.
Kainé stood up, swinging oil off her swords.
The swords' blades were starting to chip.
"Kainé! No matter how many of these you defeat, there's no end to them!"
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"I can sense a huge amount of magical energy coming from the center of the biggest tree over there! It's probably working as their energy source!"
Emil threw away the broken dolls to point it out.
In the base of the tree was a huge cavity much like a hole, or a small shrine.
"Let's go over there and bust shit to smithereens!"
Kainé gave a wry smile. Bust shit to smithereens, huh...he's right, though. I have to crush it. That's all I can do.
The path to the tree rose up, forming itself into a number of cocoon shapes. In the blink of an eye, the cocoons had transformed into Kainé-shaped pupa-like things. Machine dolls could be seen wriggling under the captivatingly thin, white skin.
Destroy the tree. Kaine charged forward.
Haphazardly cutting down any dolls in arm's reach, she continued forward. Emil was defending her from the whips of high-pressure water.
"Are you okay!? I'll prote--"
Over ten machine dolls sent spear-like energy raining down upon Emil's head. Before he'd finished screaming, Kainé had used her swords to send all ten dolls flying, taking Emil with them. He spun nimbly through the air as he was blown away.
"Hey! That's seriously rude, Kainé!"
"Not my fault you were in the way."
Emil raised his head, and came a little closer to the base of the great tree.
The boy's voice echoed from above.
"Hahahaha-! Wow! This is amazing! Show me how far a Replicant can go! Let me see what you can do!
He sounded delighted as he sprung up from the tree's trunk.
Kainé leapt at its base. She didn't have the slightest idea how to go about attacking something so obscenely huge, but for now she thought she might as well try cutting at the center of the depressed cavity. But she couldn't even scratch it. Whatever it was made of, it was unbelievably tough in comparison to its other parts.
"Get back, please!"
With that voice came a sudden explosion, sending Kainé flying backwards.
"That was dangerous, you idiot!"
"Ahahaha. I know you wouldn't die from this though, Kainé!"
Emil kept making one explosion after another. The tree's base hollowed out. The machine dolls that came rushing at them from all directions were cut down by Kainé's swords.
"Kainé-!"
Emil yelled. Looking into the base of the tree, Kainé could see a huge magic circle rising from near its center.
"It looks like only my magic can destroy this!...I'll break all the Kainés here! So I'll leave that part to--"
As he was talking, Kainé struck the magic circle with her swords. Intense light flooded out. Mysterious words scattered throughout the air, singing magic chants all the while.
"That's right! That's our mainframe! Wonderful, isn't it. It's collecting all the world's information as light. It's combining all the maso and information into one, like some sort of huge river!"
The boy was laughing as he yelled, as if none of this was his problem. Kainé kept on continuously hitting it with her swords. Emil drew closer to her back as he blew up the dolls.
"Kainé-!"
The surrounding ground began to warp. On closer inspection, they were also changing into giant trees. The heretofore neatly woven cables began to come apart, dancing together with the vegetation as if they'd gained life of their own.
The distinctions between trees, ground, and dolls began to mingle and blur, the boundary lines becoming unclear. The forest dissolved, as if turning into an ocean.
"What you're seeing now is this world's true form! Machines and people and plants are being combined into whole new forms through the power of magic! Amazing! It's really amazing! To think a Replicant could manage to get this far, I can't call it anything but amazing!"
Kainé reached what seemed to be the heart of the machine.
This place was full of "maso," the source of magic. Emil was desperately defending her from throngs of giant cables, falling one after another.
The cables, which seemed like the great tree and the earth combined together, transformed into a gigantic mortar-like shape.
Before long, the outer circumference of the mortar began to change. A thin, soft curve.
It was as if the entire forest was transforming into one huge, abstract design.
Vast amounts of magic were spreading out from around Kainé, words, metal, and plants overflowing like a torrential flood into the air.
"This is...the boundary between magic and reality...is disappearing?"
An instant after muttering this, the boy was flattened beneath a gigantic writhing cable.
Emil kept frantically knocking away the storm of cables. He seemed to be shouting something, but the words could no longer reach Kainé's ears.
Even as she was wrapped up in white light, she determinedly kept swinging her swords. She would destroy this place. And then....and then...?
Sound disappeared.
The place became something like the boundary between reality and fantasy.
Beyond that, she got the feeling something important was there.
Her thoughts were buried in light.
She stretched her arm out into the light. She could feel something against her fingers.
She couldn't tell for certain, but it felt as if she was touching something warm.
She knew it was a person, but in her absentminded state she couldn't manage to grab hold of it.
Chasing after the being slipping through her fingers, Kainé advanced even farther in and--
There was a voice.
...iné...don...t...
Tears ran down Kainé's face.
...you ha...o back...
Something dear to her. That's what was taking shape.
Kainé timidly stretched out her hand.
...don't...
She couldn't reach. The being was disappearing again.
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
I decide how I live my own life!
I won't take anyone's orders! I decided to become a sword! I decided...to become your sword!
She was scared. Kainé was crying from the fear of losing it again.
She was angry. Screaming at her own worthlessness in being unable to take it back.
I'm definitely definitely definitely gonna get you back! I'll sacrifice anything to get you back!
In that moment, Kainé suddenly felt a soft push to her back. Just a little, gentle push.
Kainé kept yelling as she used that force to continue forward. Stop bullshitting me! What the hell are you trying to do, always disappearing on your own like this! I decide my own reason for living and I can do what I want with this life, so
GET THE HELL BACK ALREADY, YOU ROTTEN※★〇▲BASTARD!!
.
.
.
.
The light settled.
She could see the sky. The wide, blue sky.
Every trace of the Forest of Myth had disappeared.
The machines and vegetation which had composed the forest knitted themselves into upwards spirals, drawing loose curves that ended in thin level planes. Countless level planes gathered together in a radial pattern, forming a single great surface.
Oil dripped from the outer edge of this stretch of ground, but in such great quantity that it ran down like a waterfall.
In the heart of what had once been a forest was a smooth depression, and from there, a bright green tower rose up into the air.
From far off, it looked exactly like a gigantic flower. In the center of its petals one could see a pistil pointing straight towards the sky. It was a single giant flower. Its appearance was much like that of the flower called the Lunar Tear.
The center of the giant flower. Kainé stood at the top of a stamen tower.
Held tightly in her arms was that special person.
A familiar...yet dearly missed face, breathed gently in his sleep. A gently floating Emil drew near to Kainé.
She lifted her head. In that moment, the moment when something had pushed her back in the light, she was sure she'd heard a voice.
I leave him to you, you hussy--
Once more, they met.
Compared to the time before
a somewhat changed Emil,
a somewhat more matured Kainé,
and also, returned to a somewhat more childish form...him.
Yes...his name was....
THE END OF NIER.
This is ridiculous. That's what Kainé thought.
She didn't understand what had happened - just that she'd been blown away by the shock wave of something's sudden intrusion.
That shock wave had thrown Kainé through the air like a flung spoon. Unable to take up a proper landing stance, all she could do was fall into an awkward roll.
Before she'd finished rolling she stabbed her blade into the ground in order to pull herself back up. It was no good. She had to retreat. There was no other choice.
Supporting her body on the sword she'd stuck with her right hand into the mechanical ground, holding the sword in her left up before her eyes as a makeshift shield, her first move was to--
The second wave hit. In an instant, her field of vision was dyed a bright red. Her surroundings, too, seemed to have been drawn into a splashing whirlpool of red. The sound of an explosion came after it, slightly delayed, as debris flew through the air.
It was at that moment she finally understood what had attacked her when she came here. She was getting beaten by a high-pressure blast of water, its current tearing her to pieces.
Clinging to the stuck sword, she waited for the blades of water and their thundering roar to pass over her. A fragment of something, long overdue, planted a direct hit on her head. The spouting fountain of blood, coupled with the slashed-open wound, went beyond pain to a cold sort of feeling instead.
After a short while, the roaring noise finally settled down to a ringing sound. No--the ringing might just be in her beaten ears. Kainé laughed weakly.
Blood leaked from her eyes and nose. The blood she vomited spread out through the muddy stream with the consistency of black tea, slowly dying that red as well.
This had turned into a pretty big show. If Tyrann were here he'd have been delighted beyond words.
Fresh blood oozed out from the cracks between her slippery, blood-soaked fingers, still tightly gripping onto the handles of her swords.
Kainé gazed upon her enemy as she paused to catch her breath.
Before her eyes were 5 Kainés.
2 days earlier.
Kainé woke with a start within the shabby tent.
Ragged breaths. Wide eyes. Her right hand dripping with cold sweat.
In the long time it took to calm her breathing, she stayed in that position.
Unable to shut her eyes, she desperately withstood the attacking wave of bewilderment and loss.
It was that dream again.
She didn't know what kind of dream it had been. She had no idea what meaning there might have been behind it.
It was a dream without any tangible images, where she was assaulted by nothing more than feelings of pain and sorrow. A dream where something that should have been was lost, a peek into the dark crevices of her heart. Time and again she'd wake in tears.
How many times would this make it? Kainé's heart was filled with an anger that had no outlet. If it was a Shade she could beat it down and the problem would be solved. But a dream couldn't be killed. All she could do was let feelings of irritation well up within her. On top of that, it felt like she'd been having that dream more often than usual lately.
Then she caught a glimpse of her left hand. She was gripping her sword so hard that her fist had turned white. As if ready to respond to a Shade attack at any time, her left hand had slipped from the bed and unconsciously gripped the blade. Kainé forced out a laugh. Like this, she could go murdering people first thing after getting up in the morning...
Kainé shook her head. She was overthinking it. It was just a dream.
The grassland area outside her tent was blanketed in fog. The wind blowing against her cheek told her that it was going to be like this the rest of the day.
Not a single sheep could be seen on the plain - maybe they'd hidden themselves, as well. That made sense. There wasn't anybody stupid enough to go out on a day like this. You'd get attacked by Shades if you did. Her lips twisted upwards on their own, a laugh spilling out from between them.
This was just perfect. She was limited to just killing Shades, on a day like this. That was fine. She'd feel better once she killed some Shades. She wouldn't think anything at all, while she was getting doused in their blood. Gripping her sword, Kainé began her preparations for departure.
She'd planned to go to the Forest of Myth today.
It seemed it had been about a month since anyone had last heard from the people there. "Seemed," meaning it was no more than a rumor she'd heard when eavesdropping on some gossiping villagers near Seafront. It's not like she was the type to chat with them herself, all friendly-like. She hadn't become any less unsociable after Tyrann disappeared.
...Oh yeah, Tyrann.
3 years had passed since the Shade violating her body had disappeared. In exchange for no longer feeling that constant pain throughout her body, she could now no longer use magic.
However, her sword skills and abnormal physical strength had remained. Magic use had never really been her strong point in the first place, so it didn't feel like a particular inconvenience.
But why had Tyrann disappeared? When she tried to remember, her thoughts would blur like a fog had descended in her head. Any attempts to remember would disappear like a mirage.
Something had definitely happened. Kainé groaned, kneading her palms against her temple. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember!
She gripped her swords with all her strength. She could make a tear in the fog for just an instant, but it would quickly melt away.
She began thinking the same things as usual. It didn't matter. Her head couldn't manage thinking about little details like that. She righted her positions, swinging the sword in her right hand as if crossing herself.
She was glad there were Shades waiting in the Forest of Myth for her. Because she wouldn't have to think while cutting them down.
That day, 3 years ago. In the place where she'd saved a girl named Yonah.
The day the Shadowlord was buried, and the Shades disappeared along with him. The foolish plot to "become real humans" fell apart.
That had not been the end, however. The Shades, having lost their king, began attacking people at random in an attempt to take back their original forms. If that "Project Gestalt" the traitor priests had mentioned was true, this world was growing more and more distant from its originally intended form. In short, it was a world where "Gestalts" and "Replicants" - originally meant to become one - were killing each other instead. On top of that, Devola and Popola, the priests who were meant to manage it all, were now dead.
At any rate, this world is doomed. In the fight to get revenge for Grandmother, I've killed the Shadowlord, killed the Shades, and crushed all hopes of a future for us Replicants.
None of that mattered.
As far as she was concerned, her only reason for living was to kill the Shades that attacked her. This sword alone gave her all she needed to know about what it was she should do.
It didn't matter what would happen to this world. She'd just keep fighting 'til the moment it ended. Without telling people the truth, she was spending her days fighting as if running from something.
Someday she'd die somewhere. She was just living to pass the time between now, and the day that happened.
12 steps past the forest's stone arch. Kainé had to walk about that far before noticing something was off.
This was due to her extremely broad-minded personality. A normal person would definitely have been able to notice this from much farther away.
Mechanical cables fat as tree limbs writhed at her feet. Not just that. Machines were coiling around the actual plants, spiraling around and entwining with their limbs. They reached endlessly across the forest floor. Every last thing she could see was a mix of plant and machine.
From the branch-like areas dripped a green sort of oil; in the gaps between the winding snakelike machines bloomed eerie, never-before-seen flowers. Countless trees, entangled in both mechanical and plant vines, sprung up towards the sky. You couldn't tell what kind of ecosystem this was, whether it had been plant or machine to begin with, or how this strange coexistence had come into existence.
At any rate, it was impossible to call this place a forest.
Kainé could feel in her bones that this place was not something compatible with their world. Nevertheless, all around her wafted the refreshing scent of trees. The difference between that scent and the area's squalid appearance aroused feelings of unease within her. She unconsciously brought up her left hand to check the ornaments in her hair.
She'd heard that the Forest of Myth was a quiet place hidden in fog. She'd heard it was a place full of the voices of talkative villagers. The scene she now saw bore no resemblance whatsoever to those descriptions.
She tried to look for any place resembling a home, but it was impossible to tell where even the roads were, let alone a house. A chaotic mess of machines and trees formed obstacles all over the place. She couldn't find a single sign of human presence.
Deep inside the forest, even larger than the large trees around it--she found a giant tree. All she could see was its silhouette, in the fog. Might as well head over there for now, she thought. After all, there was nothing else that could be considered a noticeable landmark.
Cutting through the pipes that climbed over great trees around her, she focused her attention for the moment on continuing forward.
The sticky oil was unpleasant.
The smell of the plants was cloying.
But deep down, she felt that such an uncomfortable place as this suited her, in some way. Because she felt she had no place in beautiful forests and pleasant plains.
Still, that didn't mean she liked this forest at all. It was a pain.
It was painfully difficult to make any progress on the path. For one thing there wasn't a proper path, and oil, plant juice, and some unidentifiable liquid were dripping all over the place. She was honestly fed up with it. Cursing whenever her feet slipped, she forcefully continued onward.
The surrounding scenery began to change once she arrived in the central part of the forest. The machine-vegetation combination hadn't changed at all, but those elements were growing smaller. Pipes which had once been as thick around as Kainé's thighs were now closer to finger-width. The plants had shrunk as well, no longer bearing gigantic leaves. In some places the cables and ivy began to look something like thrown-out noodles. Slipping was still a concern, but without giant cables and roots to worry about the way had become a little easier to traverse. Exhausted as she was, even the effort of speaking had become too troublesome for her to bother with.
After crossing over what felt like a mountain of spaghetti, she finally arrived at the foot of the giant tree.
The cables and vines were now so thin, it really did seem as if the ground was covered in a carpet of pasta. The tree trunk before here was also coated in a liberal carpet of machinery. Perhaps the pasta had even made it into the inner recesses of the tree - it wasn't entirely unlikely, considering the state of things so far.
Kainé surveyed the area. It was quiet. Aside from the fireflies floating around, not a single thing moved.
Thinking she'd look a little closer, she took a step towards the trunk.
Something was there. She laid her hands on her swords.
The cables on that incline where the tree trunk and the ground met began to move. It was as if a huge number of snakes were writhing in pain. Before long the cables and vines had begun to burst from the ground like the outbreak of a flood. Despite their wriggling and writhing, however, the countless cables eventually all headed towards the same spot.
The cable-vine amalgamation slowly knitted itself into a cohesive form.
A human shape was knitting itself together before her eyes. A boy--or not.
But "It" had no legs. Sprouting from the base of the tree was nothing more than the upper half of a body. Its skin, made of green metal and vegetation, shone with slippery oil. On closer inspection she could see small leaves growing on its head, looking almost like hair blowing in the wind.
The "boy" bent back with a sigh before - as if just now noticing Kainé's presence - changing his expression.
"Hey. I'm--"
The boy's head went flying. Kainé had delivered a direct horizontal chop. The miserable head flew far off, landing on a carpet made of interwoven cables and scrap iron. It dissolved like a pile of flying worms, diving beneath the earth. Likewise, the now-headless body unraveled itself, disappearing into the ground.
Silence returned once again to the forest of machines. The uncomfortably foggy atmosphere only served to deepen her--
"Geez, you sure are violent."
A voice from overhead. Looking up at the tree, she saw that this time the boy had sprouted parallel to the ground. He was shaking his head, arms folded, putting on a display of amazement as his body swayed back and forth.
"Now then, wouldn't you say some introductions are in order?"
Kainé. Don't answer.
Silence. An awkward atmosphere.
Neither the boy nor Kainé moved an inch.
The now-solid boy, arms folded and head shaking, opened his mouth.
"A l r i g h t, i n t r o d u c t i o n s. I a m t h i s f o r e s t 's a d m i n i s t r a t o r, κλΚ?Σ?χΗ?"
The sound was impossible to understand.
"Yeah, it doesn't really work for your hearing range. So feel free to call me whatever you want. Like Administrator, or Boy, or something. And I'm guessing there's quite a few things you guys don't understand, so is there anything you'd like to know? #1 is "About the forest," #2 is "About me," and #3 is "Talk about the future". Now, which do you choose!?"
He spread his arms wide as he asked, as if saying 'How about that!'
Silence. Neither of them moved an inch.
A single firefly from who-knows-where flew between Kainé and the boy. After its tiny light had disappeared into the fog, things finally began to move again.
"Well then I'll start by explaining #1 and work my way down first about this forest as you can see this forest is composed of both machines and plants but in actuality this is due to the process of the entire forest transforming into a giant machine i'd call this a computer but you people wouldn't understand that would you to put it simply it's like a machine that can think for himself i guess combining quantum mechanics with magical research it's the greatest computer ever created by mankind this computer's branches can reach around the world spreading the light of information to--"
Kainé swung her sword at the space right behind her. The machine attacking her from the ground was split cleanly in two. One half of the robot's body scattered shiny green oil as it somersaulted through the air. A cube-shaped, box-like body. A pair of short arms. It was the same type as the robots from the Junk Heap.
"--the light of information to connect the world, thus making the world into something like a single gigantic head. Oh--sorry. I didn't have any intention of making a surprise attack, but the order of things got a little mixed up. By the way, about this forest, you see, it's actually the terminal controlling this entire district. But the district's already done for, so it's started going through termination procedures. That's the current situation as it stands."
Termination procedures?
"Yeah. Uhh...your name's Ｋｅｉｎｅ? Kainé. Right, got it. For us computers, this whole world is just one big ball of information. We can figure out anything pretty much immediately. You know about the Gestalt plan too, right? So maybe I can tell you a little about that while you fight."
She was completely surrounded by box-shaped robots. Metal boxes as far as the eye could see. Kainé opened her mouth.
"Yeah. That'd be a lot better than listening to your kiddy bedtime stories."
She sent a flying kick to a boxy robot coming down from above. It flew off in a shower of sparks.
"This is more my style."
She unfastened her other sword from her back, both arms hanging lazily down as she looked over the machines. The boy called out from behind her.
"Ahahahah. You sure are energetic."
Four robots were blown away before he'd finished talking. After they'd crashed into the robots behind them, sparks flying every which way as the metal boxes rolled around, Kainé jumped over the pile and started slashing away at the mass of robots farther back. Explosions erupted with every slice. Like a slightly delayed shockwave, they were engulfed in flames and smoke.
Kainé's figure could no longer be seen in the mass of robots, but you could pretty much guess where she was charging off to by the distant sound of explosions going off one after another.
All at once, the robots all threw themselves upon the head of that progressing snake of explosions. Leaping at her one after another, it looked almost as if a small mountain of robots had formed above Kainé's head. Unable to move with them so close to the ground, Kainé ripped open the nearest robot's armor and stabbed at a fuelpipe-looking thing, cursing all the while. She'd learned this in another fight some time before. That if you injured it here, the metal box would immediately explode.
The towering pile of robots went flying. Kainé defended herself from the blast with an iron plate as a shield. As her shield was blown away in the blast, she used it as a foothold lay more attacks on her next target.
"Wow, that's amazing! This goes beyond the bounds of replicants!"
Kainé scowled. She bisected a nearby robot with her right hand while simultaneously kicking a robot into the air with her left foot. Immediately upon jumping up she nimbly hopped on the robots' heads, heading back the way she came. Chasing after her was a huge number of missiles. It seemed like she was yelling something, but the words couldn't be clearly heard. Meanwhile the missiles were making impact, enveloping Kainé in the explosions they caused. As the boy squinted in an effort to see what had happened to her, Kainé flew out from the center of the flames, aiming an attack straight at him. Before he could even make out the swords in her hands, she'd already cut him straight in half and kicked off the head as she jumped away, leaving behind an insult like "How d'you like that, you flea bastard!" The missiles following after her then plunged down like a firey rain.
Countless tiny explosions mingled together, creating giant balls of flame to fly out all over the place. Several robots carrying missiles were enveloped in the blast, further spreading the damage. Kainé's figure, seemingly boosted by the bomb blast, ran vertically up the great tree, jumping up the branches as if they were a road.
Kainé's sword and martial arts skills had grown sharper with the loss of her magic. Though the swords themselves were no more deadly than before, her own life being in danger served to increase her excessive attacks. It's not that she enjoyed the risk, or that she was drunk on power - she carried out the destruction in an entirely dispassionate manner.
People who do unreasonable things will die. She fought as if charging straight towards that truth.
Kainé looked nonchalantly down at the ground, her bangs fluttering in the wind.
The heat from the explosions and flames dyed the surrounding area a bright red. The points of impact where the missiles hit left gaping holes, inside of which torn-up cables and plants made strange noises as they burst.
As Kainé watched the forest go up in flames, she turned her gaze to her left-hand side.
A branch in her line of sight made an unnatural wriggling movement, before changing into the boy.
"Heheheh. See, this here is the apparatus designed for the purpose of 'ending' you people."
He raised a hand to stifle his laughter as he spoke, as if there was something exceedingly funny about this situation.
"It manages every district in the Gestalt Project, but once one meets a certain requirement, that district will be treated as a project failure. That's when our turn comes up. We tidy everything up, and freeze the Gestalts until people from one of the other districts can save them. That's the how the plan works."
Kainé didn't reply, silently watching the disastrous scene below them. Her face, fanned by a hot wind, glowed orange in the flickering light.
"The robots in that place you call the Junk Heap were prepared for that purpose. Destroying all the Replicants, I mean. After that, this forest is scheduled to conceal the district."
The robots on the ground below began to spit out green bubbles, letting out groaning, creaking noises as they did. It seemed they were both disposing of their wrecked companions, and dousing the flames around them. Kainé, watching this scene, spoke with a subdued voice.
"Until everything's destroyed, then."
A lightly falling Kainé. On the way down, she fixed her gaze on the boy, saying "I'll kill you later" as she fell. The boy laughed.
In contrast to her nimble appearance, the attack she made upon landing blew the robots around her over 10m away, creating a blank space in the crowd. As she stood up, she dexterously cut up the pipe-littered floor with the two swords in her hands. Once she was done, the area in a 2m radius around her was covered in cut-up debris.
"Figuring out which one to beat up first is too much of a pain. Come at me however you want. Whoever steps past this line is getting crushed into scrap metal and sold to the junk shop so look forward to it you 〇★※■ bastards!"
Kainé had three rules.
She knew perfectly well that she was a violent person. And so she imposed three rules she absolutely needed to follow when wielding her swords.
Rule #1: Cut down Shades. She wasn't a good enough person to forgive the Shades that killed her Grandma. If a Shade exists, she would drop everything to kill it.
Rule #2: Cut down anything that could hurt a person. If it's attacking a human being, whether it's a robot or an animal, kill it without exception. Though certainly...she hadn't been this nosy before.
Rule #3: If you don't like it, cut it down. Though there didn't seem to really be a set limit for when this last rule could apply.
At any rate, if something qualified under these three rules then she was free to kill it.
These things were at least breaking the 2nd and 3rd rules. That was more than enough reason to kill them.
Following those rules, Kainé systematically sliced every enemy who crossed the line into a pile of metal sashimi. Whatever direction the robots attacked from, even above or below, she'd calmly mangle them with precise and economical movements. The line she'd first drawn in the ground with her sword could no longer be seen beneath the wreckage of robot remains, but not one robot had the capability to enter into that area.
The points of Kainé's swords had not wasted a single movement.
Using the force behind one kill to cut down the next enemy, then cutting up another and simultaneously parrying an attack at her elbow as she brought the sword back. When they attacked from behind she didn't so much as turn her head, clearing them away through presence and intuition alone. While it looked random, every one of her attacks was giving an effective amount of damage.
There was a rhythm to the circular movement of her blades, and from a distance their afterimage seemed to take on the shape of a perfect sphere.
But after over 30 minutes of this, it's only natural that Kainé's breath grew ragged. Her attacks began to turn irregular, and the damage she received grew as well. But the robots were unable to strike the fatal blow. Kainé's blood and oil-soaked figure was giving off a strange heat in the middle of the forest.
From the depths of the mist rose a single gigantic robot. It was different from the types that had come up before. Long limbs. Two eyes. It was similar to the one found in the deepest part of the Junk Heap. The particularly dangerous one, with the child Shade accompanying it. Even now, she could remember the discomfort she'd felt back then. That Shade's scream was stuck in the back of her mind, echoing against her skull. And there was also, she was sure...she had the feeling someone had been fighting together with her, there. There was a stabbing pain in her head.
"Hahahah. That's your special someone?"
A young boy's voice, carrying that offensive tone particular to prepubescents, resounded in the forest. Its source was now impossible to locate.
"Alright, if you can beat that guy I'll teach you something good."
Out of breath as she was, Kainé didn't have the energy to answer.
Strategy was unnecessary. Kill the enemy. Kill the chatty kid last. That was all.
The huge robot was different from the types she'd previously fought. Its arms were giant scissors, and there were four lights where its eyes should be. Its form was that of a deep-sea crab. She could take it easily. The farther it strayed from a human form, the less she'd hesitate at killing it.
The crab raised its right arm enormously high, and charged forward. With such ridiculously huge preliminary movements, catching its prey was basically impossible. Even a child could recognize this was a bluff.
As the crab swung its right claw downward, its left claw - hidden in the shadow made by its attack - began to create and shoot out magic orbs. Kainé thrust forward without regard to either arm's movements. Hacking at the magic orbs in front of her, her right arm simultaneously sliced upwards at the claws. An explosion erupted as an after-effect of her slashing at the remaining magic orbs. The robot's right arm was removed cleanly at the joints.
Strange. It felt weird. The thought came too slow. In the upper-right corner of her field of vision. She could see a huge cannon poking out from the base of the crab's plucked-off right arm. The magic circle was already close to completion and reaching a critical state. It was a giant magic-firing hole. It was a two-fold trap. Just as she realized this, the magic orbs began to fire.
With an ear-splittingly high-pitched firing noise, Kainé was enveloped by the explosion from impact. Facing the woman at its feet, the crab continued to bombard her with magic. The barrage was so violent that the blast seemed to make its enormous body float in the air. The surrounding cables and scrap metal flew wildly through the air.
In a flash, the crab raised its remaining clawed left arm up into the air. Though it could no longer see Kainé in the smoke, it struck its claw into her last recorded position.
As if trying to capture her position it struck once more - and in the next instant, its left arm felt an unexpected amount of stress. Before it could calculate what might have happened, it had already confirmed that it "had been cut," and its left arm was ripped into two pieces. The crab tried to counter with its right-mounted magic cannon, but before it could locate its target, the cannon was lopped off at its base. As the left-over torso twisted its great form in an attempt to crush Kainé, it split cleanly in two, having already been cut.
The crab's gigantic body collapsed to the ground, plumes of smoke erupting around it. From the center of the destruction rose Kainé, covered in blood. Her left arm was bent in a weird direction at the elbow, but gripping her swords with all her might, she returned herself to normal. Her low animalistic groans echoed out from the burning flames.
"Since you're alive, I'll tell you that bit of information you lost. You've recently had a tough time trying to remember something, right? The feeling you're missing something's been making you sad, right? Well I'll tell you exactly that thing was! If you win against these kids, that is!"
Kainé slowly turned to look behind her.
Metal and plants were coming together to form human shapes. They were five people - no, things - in number. Handsome features. Supple bodies and full breasts. Sinister blades held in both hands. They were one and the same as Kainé herself.
Kainé did not have the leisure to figure out what these dolls were.
However, she realized that they were copies of herself. She gave a lurid smile.
And here I was itching to kill them too!
The 5 Kainés fired off high-pressure torrents of water, the force of which crashed Kainé into the great tree. As she slid down, a piece of wreckage blown away by the shock wave landed a direct hit on her right arm. Shouts, screams, and unintelligible noise streamed from her mouth. This is ridiculous. That's what Kainé thought.
The boy's voice sounded out from a distance.
"These five are mechanical dolls created and remodeled from your Replicant configuration info. They're made to be even more high-performance than you are; how will you handle it?"
Not like I've got a choice here, you ※★□ asshole.
"Here's the second topic. As the administrator of this forest, I'm a program which controls all maso and its effects. A program is...what's the best way to explain it...that's right. You know Grimoire Weiss, so think of me as something like that. I can do anything you can think of. The life or death of both Gestalts and Replicants lies in the palm of my hands, so to speak."
Kainé slowly stood back up.
There was a somewhat lonely expression on the boy's face.
"Why do I have such god-like powers? I've wondered about this for a long time. But I haven't come up with an answer. Nobody can tell me, either."
The five machine dolls swooped down on her. Having to face five of herself while in this fatigued condition? Her chances of success were unthinkably low. However, her right hand moved on conditioned reflex. She could still fight.
The sword in her right hand was thrown towards the first doll. Just as it hit its head, Kainé jumped up, pushing the sword farther in with a dropkick. Using the sword as a stepping stone, she spun herself forward and charged. She horizontally mowed down the nearest doll's torso...but was unable to shake free from it. The doll she'd cut open was shaking as emerald green oil dribbled out of the hole in its abdomen, but behind it, the point of Kainé's blade was being held in place by two dolls holding four swords.
There was a strong impact to her left side as Kainé was shoved away. The remaining doll had kicked her flying.
After getting kicked back and forth again and again between the dolls, she finally tumbled to the ground and lay there, limp and lifeless. She couldn't get up. A mix of bile and blood splattered on the ground as she coughed. Green oil and red blood swirled together, leaving strange patterns on the ground.
Before she knew it, the boy was standing sideways over Kainé's body, staring down at her.
"Number 3. About the future."
He spoke with a refreshing voice.
"So this world, you know, it's been ended. Humans and machines alike are no longer necessary. A world you can't understand is unnecessary. This world was a failure. There's no more reason for me to exist, either."
The three dolls closed in around her. Their mouths opened abnormally wide, and they began blasting terrifyingly high-volume dissonant noise. Kainé forcibly dragged herself into a standing position. Even in this condition, there was no way she was going to leave him alone. She wouldn't be able to settle down unless she tried hitting him once.
She made to slash at the three with the sword in her left hand. She could see the dolls making dance-like movements as they shot out high-pressure water. There wasn't enough time to dodge. Countless whips of water rushed towards her. As her left arm was blown back by the current, the attack hit Kainé--
"Tagh!"
A faint voice entered her ears.
"Kainé! Are you okay!?"
That voice sounded familiar.
"Emi...l?"
Something eagerly came into focus in her pain-blurred vision. She was startled. An unnaturally large, round head was floating. She couldn't see any holes, but were those eyes? What kind of Emil was this.... Oh right, Emil. It was Emil. No, this wasn't the "Emil" that Kainé knew. Emil was more...normal-shaped. She didn't remember him having four arms, at least.
Emil's four arms spread out four magic circles. The three mechanical dolls were pinned down by magical arms.
He noticed Kainé staring at her.
"Oh, this? Well you see, putting my body back together didn't exactly go smoothly, and I ended up growing extra arms~ But four hands are better than none, right? What are you doing, anyway, Kainé?"
Kainé answered with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"...Fighting."
"Guess that was a silly question, huh! I'll back you up!"
With a yell, he crushed the three bodies he'd been holding down. Creaking and spurting out oil and noise, they were smashed beneath the invisible force.
With the extreme suddenness of his actions, Kainé's mind was having trouble registering what the teru teru bouzu had done. Forcing back her reaction through pure force of will, she tried to bring up memories of Emil.
What had happened? Where had he gone? Why was he here now? The questions rolled in like a flood.
However, there was one thing here that was absolute, undeniable truth. He was a friend. A friend who'd fought by her side. Was there something else important beyond that?
Something fell down towards Emil's head. It was the upper half of a cruelly mutilated doll.
"Waaaah!"
Emil yelled as he curled up his body. There was a terrible bang and...no impact whatsoever.
Looking down, he could see the doll torso - split further in half - rolling on the ground. As if having come apart at the seams, the doll wreckage lost its form, and was absorbed into the mechanical earth's surface. Then from the opposite end, a new Kainé was born.
Kainé stood up, swinging oil off her swords.
The swords' blades were starting to chip.
"Kainé! No matter how many of these you defeat, there's no end to them!"
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"I can sense a huge amount of magical energy coming from the center of the biggest tree over there! It's probably working as their energy source!"
Emil threw away the broken dolls to point it out.
In the base of the tree was a huge cavity much like a hole, or a small shrine.
"Let's go over there and bust shit to smithereens!"
Kainé gave a wry smile. Bust shit to smithereens, huh...he's right, though. I have to crush it. That's all I can do.
The path to the tree rose up, forming itself into a number of cocoon shapes. In the blink of an eye, the cocoons had transformed into Kainé-shaped pupa-like things. Machine dolls could be seen wriggling under the captivatingly thin, white skin.
Destroy the tree. Kaine charged forward.
Haphazardly cutting down any dolls in arm's reach, she continued forward. Emil was defending her from the whips of high-pressure water.
"Are you okay!? I'll prote--"
Over ten machine dolls sent spear-like energy raining down upon Emil's head. Before he'd finished screaming, Kainé had used her swords to send all ten dolls flying, taking Emil with them. He spun nimbly through the air as he was blown away.
"Hey! That's seriously rude, Kainé!"
"Not my fault you were in the way."
Emil raised his head, and came a little closer to the base of the great tree.
The boy's voice echoed from above.
"Hahahaha-! Wow! This is amazing! Show me how far a Replicant can go! Let me see what you can do!
He sounded delighted as he sprung up from the tree's trunk.
Kainé leapt at its base. She didn't have the slightest idea how to go about attacking something so obscenely huge, but for now she thought she might as well try cutting at the center of the depressed cavity. But she couldn't even scratch it. Whatever it was made of, it was unbelievably tough in comparison to its other parts.
"Get back, please!"
With that voice came a sudden explosion, sending Kainé flying backwards.
"That was dangerous, you idiot!"
"Ahahaha. I know you wouldn't die from this though, Kainé!"
Emil kept making one explosion after another. The tree's base hollowed out. The machine dolls that came rushing at them from all directions were cut down by Kainé's swords.
"Kainé-!"
Emil yelled. Looking into the base of the tree, Kainé could see a huge magic circle rising from near its center.
"It looks like only my magic can destroy this!...I'll break all the Kainés here! So I'll leave that part to--"
As he was talking, Kainé struck the magic circle with her swords. Intense light flooded out. Mysterious words scattered throughout the air, singing magic chants all the while.
"That's right! That's our mainframe! Wonderful, isn't it. It's collecting all the world's information as light. It's combining all the maso and information into one, like some sort of huge river!"
The boy was laughing as he yelled, as if none of this was his problem. Kainé kept on continuously hitting it with her swords. Emil drew closer to her back as he blew up the dolls.
"Kainé-!"
The surrounding ground began to warp. On closer inspection, they were also changing into giant trees. The heretofore neatly woven cables began to come apart, dancing together with the vegetation as if they'd gained life of their own.
The distinctions between trees, ground, and dolls began to mingle and blur, the boundary lines becoming unclear. The forest dissolved, as if turning into an ocean.
"What you're seeing now is this world's true form! Machines and people and plants are being combined into whole new forms through the power of magic! Amazing! It's really amazing! To think a Replicant could manage to get this far, I can't call it anything but amazing!"
Kainé reached what seemed to be the heart of the machine.
This place was full of "maso," the source of magic. Emil was desperately defending her from throngs of giant cables, falling one after another.
The cables, which seemed like the great tree and the earth combined together, transformed into a gigantic mortar-like shape.
Before long, the outer circumference of the mortar began to change. A thin, soft curve.
It was as if the entire forest was transforming into one huge, abstract design.
Vast amounts of magic were spreading out from around Kainé, words, metal, and plants overflowing like a torrential flood into the air.
"This is...the boundary between magic and reality...is disappearing?"
An instant after muttering this, the boy was flattened beneath a gigantic writhing cable.
Emil kept frantically knocking away the storm of cables. He seemed to be shouting something, but the words could no longer reach Kainé's ears.
Even as she was wrapped up in white light, she determinedly kept swinging her swords. She would destroy this place. And then....and then...?
Sound disappeared.
The place became something like the boundary between reality and fantasy.
Beyond that, she got the feeling something important was there.
Her thoughts were buried in light.
She stretched her arm out into the light. She could feel something against her fingers.
She couldn't tell for certain, but it felt as if she was touching something warm.
She knew it was a person, but in her absentminded state she couldn't manage to grab hold of it.
Chasing after the being slipping through her fingers, Kainé advanced even farther in and--
There was a voice.
...iné...don...t...
Tears ran down Kainé's face.
...you ha...o back...
Something dear to her. That's what was taking shape.
Kainé timidly stretched out her hand.
...don't...
She couldn't reach. The being was disappearing again.
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
I decide how I live my own life!
I won't take anyone's orders! I decided to become a sword! I decided...to become your sword!
She was scared. Kainé was crying from the fear of losing it again.
She was angry. Screaming at her own worthlessness in being unable to take it back.
I'm definitely definitely definitely gonna get you back! I'll sacrifice anything to get you back!
In that moment, Kainé suddenly felt a soft push to her back. Just a little, gentle push.
Kainé kept yelling as she used that force to continue forward. Stop bullshitting me! What the hell are you trying to do, always disappearing on your own like this! I decide my own reason for living and I can do what I want with this life, so
GET THE HELL BACK ALREADY, YOU ROTTEN※★〇▲BASTARD!!
.
.
.
.
The light settled.
She could see the sky. The wide, blue sky.
Every trace of the Forest of Myth had disappeared.
The machines and vegetation which had composed the forest knitted themselves into upwards spirals, drawing loose curves that ended in thin level planes. Countless level planes gathered together in a radial pattern, forming a single great surface.
Oil dripped from the outer edge of this stretch of ground, but in such great quantity that it ran down like a waterfall.
In the heart of what had once been a forest was a smooth depression, and from there, a bright green tower rose up into the air.
From far off, it looked exactly like a gigantic flower. In the center of its petals one could see a pistil pointing straight towards the sky. It was a single giant flower. Its appearance was much like that of the flower called the Lunar Tear.
The center of the giant flower. Kainé stood at the top of a stamen tower.
Held tightly in her arms was that special person.
A familiar...yet dearly missed face, breathed gently in his sleep. A gently floating Emil drew near to Kainé.
She lifted her head. In that moment, the moment when something had pushed her back in the light, she was sure she'd heard a voice.
I leave him to you, you hussy--
Once more, they met.
Compared to the time before
a somewhat changed Emil,
a somewhat more matured Kainé,
and also, returned to a somewhat more childish form...him.
Yes...his name was....