Published at 25th of March 2019 10:11 pm

Volume 12 Chapter 5: End of Life

The Excavator of the battleship Oldium was roaring, piercing through the wall of worlds.

The blue sky was split and a figure of a giant battleship appeared.

Oldium that was boarded by Kizuna and the others broke through Thanatos’s world once more.

Reiri’s voice resounded throughout the bridge of Oldium.

「Confirm the situation! Verify our present location with the position of Thanatos’s temple!」

During their rescue mission previously, the main cannon of Ataraxia blew up the foundation of Thanatos’s temple. It was unclear what had happened to that temple that slid down the mountain slope and fell. Perhaps Thanatos was building a new temple in a different place.

At that time an operator yelled loudly.

「Several magic power reactions confirmed! They are in the middle of approaching us!」

「What!?」

「It’s the mechanical angels! Several hundreds, two hundred……it’s still increasing!」

Reiri clicked her tongue.

「They found us already. Sound the emergency alarm throughout the whole ship! Prepare to intercept!」

「Calm down, Reiri.」

Nayuta was comfortably lying down on a long chair that was especially brought in.

「This world is the same as the insides of Thanatos’s body. It’s only natural for abnormalities to be detected immediately.」

Reiri let out her breath once then she stared at Nayuta.

「Do you know where Thanatos is?」

Nayuta pointed her fan straight towards the ship’s bow.

「Kei, what is ahead of there?」

Kei was managing the vast amount of data coming in from every kind of sensor and every post within the ship while writing a reply to Nayuta.

『A floating island with a diameter of approximately three kilometers. This is──』

Reiri bared open her eyes.

「Ataraxia!!」

「Thanatos is there.」

Reiri opened a communication window and contacted the battle squad.

「Assault squad, prepare for sortie! I’m coming there now!」

Reiri yelled that before turning towards Zelcyone who was sitting on the vice-captain’s seat.

「I’ll leave the rest to you, Zelcyone.」

「Leave this place to me. Rather than that, I’m the one who is leaving it up to you.」

Reiri nodded wordlessly and rushed away from the bridge.

「Zecros!」

The silver Heart Hybrid Gear was instantly put on Reiri’s body. She opened the hatch for emergency exit and flew outside. She then flew down towards the deck several dozen meters below.

「──Nee-chan!」

Kizuna ran towards Reiri who appeared from the sky.

「Kizuna, everyone too──are your preparations finished?」

The main force was gathered on the deck. The elites chosen from among them would subjugate Thanatos as the assault squad. The others would be put on Oldium’s defense.

「The enemy is in Ataraxia! The assault squad will be me, Kizuna, Aine, Himekawa, Yurishia, Sylvia, Grace, Hyakurath, and Gravel, these nine. The others will be under Zelcyone’s command and defend Oldium!」

Kizuna nodded strongly and then he called the name of his Heart Hybrid Gear.

「Eros!」

Jet black armor was equipped on Kizuna’s body. And then after Kizuna, Aine, Himekawa, Yurishia, and the rest were putting on their Heart Hybrid Gears on their bodies one after another.

「M, my?」

Yurishia raised a bewildered voice.

「Wha, what’s this!? The Heart Hybrid Gear……it has returned to its past shape!」

Certainly Cross that should be enlarged from the reinstall had returned to its original size.

Himekawa’s face was also twitching from surprise.

「M, me too……this is, what in the world」

Kizuna also raised a surprised expression. In Eros’s case its size didn’t change even after reinstall, its shape changed only when he used the Corruption Armament 『Nayuta』. However the other Heart Hybrid Gears were constantly enlarged as though to display their powered up strength.

Gravel was also showing a perplexed expression.

「At this important time……」

『Aa, there is no need for worry you know?』

「Kaa-san!?」

A window popped up above each person’s head.

『Or I should rather say, that the shape before this was the irregular one. That enlargement was because of the phenomenon of the Heart Hybrid Gear being unable to suppress the powered up strength, so the armor swelled up.』

「Swelled up?」

『The capacity of everyone until now was too small to contain vast power. But, now that everyone has surmounted Harem Hybrid, the vast power has successfully settled into the Heart Hybrid Gear as before, that is the meaning of this.』

Yurishia sighed in relief.

「So that’s it, I got shocked for a second there.」

Himekawa also nodded with a look of understanding.

「Certainly while the commander’s Zecros possess that much overwhelming power, but the armor is small and thin like that……so that’s its original shape by nature.」

『But, I think there must be some change still. The shape shouldn’t exactly be the same like before.』

Now that she said that, certainly the design was subtly different. But that must be purely because its performance and abilities were upped.

When everyone understood that the form wasn’t because the Heart Hybrid Gear was weakening by any means, but instead became even stronger, they patted their chests in relief.

「But, Sylvia and Ragrus-chan’s doesn’t change at all desu.」

Kizuna looked up at the huge Taros and Demon’s majestic appearance that was unchanging.

「Indeed……」

It seemed that this size was the standard for Taros and Demon.

「It’s unfortunate desu……cute Heart Hybrid Gears like the commander’s is enviable desu.」

「Wha-!?」

Everyone around smirked at Reiri who was reddening. Kizuna also smiled wryly unconsciously.

「Eei! Enough with the chatter! We’re going-!!」

Reiri yelled before she flew up instantly from the deck.

「Yosh-! We are going too. This is the last battle!」

Eros’s thrusters emitted light of magic power and lifted up Kizuna’s body. And then the other assault squad members also soared into the sky.

However, there was the shadow of mechanical angels advancing in swarms on their path.

「Don’t stop moving! Our aim is only Thanatos!」

Kizuna responded to Reiri’s instruction.

「Sylvia! Yurishia!」

Just from that the two guessed his intentions. Taros entered the firing preparation for Ignis, while Cross did the same for the Differential Frame.

「Ignis!!」

Taros’s large caliber particle cannon Ignis shined explosively. A tremendous amount of particles instantly rushed through Thanatos’s sky and cut apart the group of mechanical angels. Ten-odd mechanical angels that were on the firing line of Ignis turned into pieces and they were blown away backwards.

「Fire!!」

Cross’s Differential Frame fired ten-odd streak of light. They blew away mechanical angels as though gouging out the path that was cut open by Ignis. That output was incomparable with the Cross from before. The formation of the mechanical angels had a hole opened in it as though it was excavated by a drill of light.

Cross and Taros’s power up caused even Kizuna to be tongue-tied.

「Amazing……」

「We are charging there!」

Reiri readied her sword and shield and plunged into the swarm of mechanical angels. She charged through the hole opened by Cross and Taros. She swung her sword to the mechanical angels that were assaulting to plug the hole.

However her speed didn’t slacken. She slipped through the army of mechanical angels in one breath. And then Kizuna and the others also continued after Reiri.

「Blade!」

The mechanical swords floating behind Himekawa intercepted the mechanical angels to protect their ranks.

──’Fast. Also, sharp.’

The Blades felt like they were reborn. Until now she needed quite the mental strength to make them fly, but right now it felt like there was no stress on her at all. It felt like there were four of hers freely rushing through the sky like wind. She even felt exhilaration even though they were in the middle of battle.

Grace also spread her wings of white blades, and Hyakurath too swung around her sword. They routed the mechanical angels without slowing down a bit.

And then Gravel who was serving as the rear guard turned behind and fired her Sword Gatling without end. However, the mechanical angels weren’t coming to chase Gravel and co. as much as expected. Most of them didn’t pause heading towards Oldium.

「Are they reacting to the enemy presence with greater number……」

Gravel became worried for the defense squad. She opened a window to open a channel to the defense squad.

──’No. Even they are strong warriors. It’s discourteous to doubt their strength.’

Gravel didn’t continue opening the communication and closed the window. And then right after that a communication opened from Reiri.

『We are going to arrive at Ataraxia soon! Don’t let your guard down!』

When Gravel lifted up her face, a gigantic shadow was drawing near in the blink of an eye.

──’Ataraxia.’

When she saw that figure, the insides of her chest became filled to the brim with bittersweet things. Her memory in Ataraxia was brought back like a revolving lantern.

Gravel landed on that land of her memories.

「Did everyone arrive safely?」

Reiri looked around the faces of everyone.

They landed on the garden of the academy. There was nothing particularly strange in their surroundings, but they didn’t know where Thanatos was located.

「What are we going to do now? Even though we were told that she was in Ataraxia, but this place is really large. Even if we search, it will require much effort.」 (Grace)

However Reiri shook her head to the left and right.

「No. Naturally she will notice our arrival here. Thanatos will surely come into contact with us from her end. Don’t let your guard down.」

At that time a small crack entered the space before Kizuna’s eyes.

「──Eh?」

There was a glass in front of him and a pebble hit it that it cracked. He thought if it was something like that.

A crack was spreading in an empty space where there was nothing.

──’Don’t tell me’

The cracked space was crumbling into pieces.

──’AU Collision.’

He had only ever saw an Entrance of gigantic sizes, with heights of a few hundred meters.

However this was like it was for individual use──,

Something chilling was crawling up Kizuna’s back.

「Everyone! Be ca──」

When Kizuna turned around, there was no one there.

「Wha……?」

Cold sweat suddenly trickled down.

Pure white floor.

And then a tall ceiling.

There was no wall, there were large pillars made from the same material as the floor lining up.

That space vaguely reminded him of a Greek temple.

However at the other side of the pillar was the outer space that looked like flowing thin ink.

A space without coloring,

Kizuna,

And then Thanatos.

There were only the two of them confronting each other.

「──Thanatos.」

Golden hair and blue eyes. On her back were white, golden and blue gigantic wings. That appearance was worthy to be called a goddess that was enshrined in the temple of the gods.

「It’s you huh, the individual who defeated Odin.」

「Yeah.」

Kizuna’s whole body was enveloped with a prickling tension. It felt like the skin throughout his body became a sensitive sensor. The fear he felt there increased his body’s temperature. However his head was clear. The tension and fear uplifted Kizuna’s mind like a narcotic drug, creating the greatest concentration power.

「Where in the world is this? What happened to everyone else?」

「This world is something I created for you. Each of the other intruders are also locked inside different worlds separately.」

Kizuna felt a bit relieved knowing that everyone was safe.

「This is really luxurious to have a personal world like this. Though it’s a bit too bland here.」

「It’s something for temporary capture. There is no need to decorate it at all.」

Thanatos was staring at Kizuna like a scientist observing a subject.

「Something like skipping the process of evolution, and suddenly obtaining a power to the degree that can defeat a god……the experiment is clearly a failure. However it will be useful to perfect my archive as an irregular case. Therefore before I erase your world, it’s necessary to investigate first. That I’ve capturing the other individuals is also for nothing more than that.」

──’That means, she isn’t planning to kill us right away?’

Kizuna didn’t feel hostility from Thanatos’s gaze that contained sorrow inside. It was as though there was no clear hostility, rage, or hatred like the other machine gods in her. Both Hokuto and Osiris, and even Odin had aspects that was human-like in them. However that kind of thing couldn’t be felt at all from this Thanatos.

There were only hints of melancholy from her.

Not even the slightest bit of emotion could be seen even in her act of erasing the world. The impression that he got from her was that it was a work that she was carrying out apathetically following the set procedure.

It was as though her heart was dead──,

Kizuna looked at Thanatos’s splendorous and beautiful figure once more and he felt like that.

「Thanatos. You want to erase us because we are failed experiment──I know that you are thinking like that. However, are you unable to even allow us to exist? Is a failed experiment not even allowed to live?」

「You all aren’t just existing. If I leave you alone, I don’t know what kind of influence it will bring. If there is a chance that an obstacle that I cannot predict will occur, then it should be erased.」

「We aren’t going to do something──」

「Fact, Hokuto, Osiris, Odin, three machine gods are defeated, each of their worlds are changed. This is a problem that cannot be overlooked.」

「……That’s」

「Especially, you and the people who possess similar configuration information like you. That is an existence that is close to god. Regarding those three, they will be immediately purged.」

「Wha──!?」

「The risk is higher than the result that can be obtained from investigation. Therefore the purge is prioritized.」

Thanatos’s eyes changed color from blue to gold.

──’Coming!!’

Kizuna’s intuition instantly turned sharp.

He kicked on the floor that was like white marble and moved instantly. That floor exploded from the red light that was fired from Thanatos’s hand. Vivid red flame was blazing up inside the monotone world.

Kizuna was flying inside the temple while trickling cold sweat.

If he was late for just a moment longer, he would have been done in. He was saved because he obeyed his instinct that detected danger and moved before Thanatos was starting to move.

However Thanatos was calmly staring at Kizuna who was flying in circles and pointed her hand. That palm shined red once more.

「Mode Zecros!!」

Right before Thanatos’s light reached, a silver shield appeared on Kizuna’s arm.

「GUOuh!」

Zecros’s shield blocked Thanatos’s light.

Thanatos’s eyelashes that were half laying down twitched.

「What……? The thunderbolt Keraunos, is blocked?」

The red light that Thanatos fired, Keraunos was a red lightning that destroyed everything. It could return everything that existed inside the world Thanatos created back into nothingness.

「That shield is……I see, it’s that small god’s」

Kizuna yelled towards his own armor.

「Mode Cross!!」

A Differential Frame was instantly created on Kizuna’s back.

「UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!」

Golden light attacked Thanatos along with that war cry.

Thanatos spread both her hands. Then a black dome with Thanatos as the center appeared. Stars were floating there, as though seeing the night sky from the outside. The bombardment of the Differential Frame was vanishing as though being absorbed into that space.

──’Then!’

「Mode Taros!!」

Kizuna stretched his right arm right to his side. Taros’s right arm appeared ahead of that hand. It was a giant hammer shining black. Inside it possessed a small black hole that swallowed everything, Titania. An anomalous hammer.

「NUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!」

Taros’s hammer and Thanatos’s space clashed. Enormous gravity sucked in the light drifting in the space, gouging a hole in the space.

Thanatos’s half closed eyes widened slightly.

「This is──」

「Mode Neros!!」

A soaring sword flew into the wrenched open space.

At that instant, Thanatos moved for the first time. She moved with her own legs and evaded the attack.

Blade chased after Thanatos, rushing around inside the temple.

「The power this individual possesses is──」

The temple’s pillars were severed, the floor cut apart, Blade was slashing at Thanatos over and over. The temple was destroyed and Thanatos got out from the temple. Chasing behind her, Blade and Kizuna also flew out from the collapsing temple.

Several temples were floating in the space that was like flowing thin ink. Blade chased after Thanatos who escaped to one of those. Kizuna took distance from Blade and headed to a different temple in order to cut off Thanatos.

「Mode Zeros!!」

Eros that was covering Kizuna’s body circulated blue light. Eros’s speed leaped up. Kizuna instantly went through the temple and he clenched his fist. He tasted a sensation as though his whole body became a sharp blade while closing his distance with Thanatos.

「DEYAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!」

For an instant Thanatos showed a face that looked surprised.

Kizuna’s fist struck onto the arm that she put in front of her without delay.

A fist of black steel sunk into the white arm that was engraved with Greek style patterns.

Thanatos’s armor was cracked and it burst apart.

「──ku」

A terrific impact assaulted Thanatos. The machine inside the arm burst out. It had a mysterious structure, like transparent glass with countless patterns of light emerging on the surface.

Thanatos was blown away backwards. She rotated her body like a spinning wheel and landed on the temple’s floor slidingly.

Thanatos was staring on her own arm with eyes as though she was looking at something strange.

「Destroyed……this me?」

Kizuna put a distance between him and Thanatos and got down on the floor.

「Thanatos. Can’t you leave our world alone? We won’t bring any harm to you. We want to live inside our world. That’s all.」

After a slight pause, Thanatos opened her faint pink lips.

「I cannot do that.」

「Then, let’s settle this.」

Kizuna took a stance with his fist.

Perhaps it was because of the Harem Hybrid. An unbelievable power was filling his whole body to the brim.

He could win if it was now.

That kind of confidence heightened until it became conviction.

「Here I come, Thanatos!」

When he was about to leap in, Thanatos’s golden eyes shined.

And then the wings on her back that looked like huge reliefs opened. White feathers shook and particles of light that looked like golden powder scattered. The mechanism of the wings moved like how a mechanical clock marked the passage of time.

There was the presence of something approaching.

A crack was generated suddenly in front of Kizuna.

──’Entrance.

She is planning to send me to another world again!?’

「I WON’T LET YOU GET AWAYYYYY!」

Kizuna avoided that crack by swinging his body to the side. And then when he tried to pass through, he could see red eyes at the other side of the peeled off space.

──’!?’

Kizuna’s legs stopped.

The crack spread quickly in one go and fragments of space scattered out.

Silver hair was swaying softly.

「A……Aine?」

「Eh? ……Kizuna!?」

Aine noticed Kizuna and raised a surprised voice.

Thanatos opened her hands.

──’Keraunos is coming!’

Without delay Kizuna reached out his hand and put out the shield in front of Aine. Red light was blocked by the silver shield and it burst explosively.

「KYaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?」

Amidst the thunderous sound that was like thunder, and the roar of Aine’s scream, a whispering voice could be heard in Kizuna’s ear.

It was a small voice,

However it sounded clearly,

Informing Kizuna of his fate.

「Die(Thanatos)」

Thanatos was standing behind Kizuna with a sword in hand.

However Kizuna didn’t turn to look at that figure.

Aine was staring at the figure of the man holding out a shield in front of her.

A foreign substance was protruding out from that chest,

A beautiful, sharp, white and golden sword was,

Piercing Kizuna’s body from his back to his chest.

Red color was flowing as though to tinge the white blade.

When the sword was pulled out, bright red fresh blood was flowing down on the white floor.

「Ki……Kizuna?」

That body swayed and then tilted. Aine reached out her hand to support Kizuna.

However that body was losing strength and collapsed on the floor, as though slipping through Aine’s arms.

She didn’t understand what was going on.

She was sucked into an Entrance and entered a strange world. And then, an Entrance appeared again, and when she noticed it──,

──’Why is, Kizuna, on the floor?’

Aine crouched and touched Kizuna’s cheek.

「Hey, Kizuna……Kizuna, come on」

There was no reply no matter how many times she called.

‘Why,

Why did it turn out like this?’

Kizuna’s half closed eyes that looked sleepy didn’t move as though he forgot to even blink.

And then those eyes weren’t seeing anything anymore.

No matter how many times she called out, no matter how she touched him, those eyes wouldn’t look at Aine.

The truth that she didn’t even want to comprehend and recognize was approaching Aine as though to block her path of escape.

「──Ki」

Aine’s red eyes were overflowing with tears.

「KIZUNAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!」

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