Chapter 227 - Connecting and Weaving
"—...Excuse me, but just to be sure... are you serious?"
Trailing behind her two juniors on her way to the base, Hinayo received an order from her commander, who had apparently just escaped peril. The request was so outrageous that she couldn't help but question it.
The reply she received was an unwavering affirmation—and upon understanding that this was no joke, she let out a heavy sigh.
"You know, Goldow... if you were planning that from the start, I would have appreciated a heads-up."
A slightly accusatory tone slipped out, but she felt she had earned that much. As a team united to achieve victory, if they were going to make a gamble in the middle of a battle... especially a massive one that would directly impact the outcome, sharing that information should have been mandatory.
"Honestly...—Understood, Commander. You take care of things on your end."
Even if—it was a meaningful... and more importantly, a fun-sounding scheme that no one would possibly object to.
He must have been incredibly busy having just returned to his command post, as the telepathic link cut off the moment he confirmed her acknowledgment. And right at that moment.
"...Alright. Now that there's some fun to look forward to later."
Her eyes on a pillar of light rising in the distance, signaling the defeat of a ranker, Hinayo murmured to herself and unhesitatingly turned on her heel.
Redirecting her feet, which had been rushing to reinforce the besieged base, the lady whose elegant dress was reflected on the water's surface wore—
"I think I'll go on a—rampage here in the maze."
—a cheerful smile, just as one would expect from a ranker of Istia.
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"—Hold on, are you serious?"
After a fierce battle that made him grimace at the memory of his earlier cocky remarks, Tetra had somehow managed to defeat [Full Auto] and was just catching his breath.
Leaning against a wall in hide mode out of exhaustion, he questioned the outrageous order from his commander with an exasperated tone.
The reply he received was an unwavering affirmation—and upon understanding that this was no joke, the boy offered a silent prayer for the future of his senpai.
"Well, yeah, I guess... Roger that. We've already racked up enough of a battle record that no one can complain, so why not? No matter how it turns out."
He couldn't hide his amazement at the scale of the gamble being planned... but for a proposal that interesting, it was bound to happen whether he was told in advance or not.
Considering the commander's responsibilities, this would normally be grounds for condemnation—but the kind of people who came from the East to the Four Pillar War were the type to kick responsibility to the curb and delight in a surprise.
And fortunately, while Tetra usually couldn't quite keep up with the Eastern faction's vibe—
"Well, good luck over there—I'll look forward to the fun later."
—today, having been influenced by a certain someone... he found himself smiling, thinking it wasn't so bad after all.
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"—Right, got it."
"Dammit...! This guy finally started taking calls like he's got all the time in the world!"
"Hang in there, Ricky...! Just holding your own against [Twin Fists] is a huge accomplishment…!"
Genkotsu, who had been causing a ruckus in a corner of the battlefield against two rankers from the northern faction, Nortalia, replied with a simple acknowledgment to the order from his commander that had finally come through...
"[Truth Dream]."
"Hey!? He just went into serious mode without any warning!?"
"H-Hang in there, Ricky...! If we can hold the line here, we'll be heroes!"
Happy with the performance of the promising newcomer, he smiled, twisting the edge of his mouth awkwardly—
"Let's go."
With a cheerful yet stern expression, he shifted into a higher gear and began to rampage.
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"—Are you stupid!? You have to be stupid! Idiot, idiot, idiot!"
"Left, hurry."
"I'm trying!"
In the middle of an endless magical battle that left her wondering just how long it would go on, Mi-na received an outrageous order from her commander, who had apparently been successfully rescued. Her fury had reduced her vocabulary to nothing.
A prompt from the ever-stoic Ri-na came flying, but even her face was now showing signs of unconcealable fatigue.
"I know we can't maintain this much longer, but...! Huh? Seriously? Are you seriously telling us to do that!?"
Kicking aside their loose rule of "no questioning orders unless it's an extreme circumstance," she demanded to know the reason for a proposal that was, indeed, an extreme circumstance.
The reply she received was an unwavering affirmation—and upon understanding that this was no joke,
"Mi-na."
"...Agh, fine."
Before she could complain further—she saw her partner's outstretched left hand and let out a deep, deep sigh of resignation.
"Looks like Ri-na-chan is all fired up...—I'm not stopping you anymore, so hurry up and get all the defenders to evacuate... Huh? They already left? I'm sentencing every last one of those guys to expulsion from the Mina-Rina Fan Club…!"
Muttering curses at the foolish men, all while shooting down the countless spells that rained down on them even as they spoke via telepathy—
Small hand met small hand, slender fingers intertwined... and then,
"—[Mi-Helnaria, Brush of Manifestation]."
"—[Ri-Zelnataku, Brush of Dream-Drawing]."
Above the girls' heads, a massive crown, two halves forming a whole, materialized.
And that, was none other than—
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Lined up."
"Layered."
""Woven into truth.""
—the light that signaled the activation of the virtual world's most powerful artillery cannon.
"An offering to light the fire."
"The wind's embrace."
""The kindling swirls and turns, passing through black.""
""Clear and clearer and clearest still, a bridge of diamond.""
Identical voices sometimes diverged, sometimes converged, melting together so perfectly that perhaps even the world (system) itself couldn't distinguish between them—
"Thou who swallows light, sees heat, and hears time art the king of jewels."
"Eternity arrives here, gathering longing unto itself."
""Now, let thy first cry be heard—shine.""
"Shine."
"Sparkle!"
"Gleam!"
""To the far, far, faraway, unreachable beyond—!""
And so, the poem was woven.
The quills they held had transformed into great wings of crimson and azure... and at the center of a raging torrent of magical energy that whipped the water into a frenzy—
The two little mages summoned a spell befitting their name.
"With these twin wings—"
"We shall paint this world—You ready for this, Goldow!? Are you prepared!?"
There was no need, no use, no way to hold back.
—Following the order to take themselves out with it, what they unleashed was indiscriminate devastation.
As if eagerly awaiting the declaration of its activation, from right in front of the girls to the distant entrance of the maze... and even the passages beyond.
The water's surface began to emit a dazzling light—and seeing it, the desperate barrage of spells that had been trying to stop their incantation abruptly ceased.
Facing them, a crowd of nearly a hundred players wore uniform expressions of despair and resignation... and yet, a certain kind of exhilaration. Witnessing this,
""Ready, set—""!
A bold grin and a small smile. With different expressions, they swung their twin wings in unison—
""[Clearevales Diamond Road]—!""
—and painted the virtual world with an unparalleled grand spell.