Volu 9, Opening X-02: The White Queen’s First Battle?
“Shigara Masami”
“I get it, so just give sothing to wear already.”
(Opening X-02 Open 08/04 10:20 “UTC 03 Flanguild Ti” “Rewind Mode”)
The White Queen’s First Battle?
To describe the current situation, we must first rewind ti into the past.
That brings us to the morning of August 4 at the border of Eastern Europe’s Kingdom F.
To start with, a fearso white light swept across everything.
The world’s largest army’s unilateral invasion, the Colorless Little Girl’s rampage, the White Queen’s appearance, and Freedom Award 3000, Shigara Masami, rescuing Shiroyama Kyousuke may have been no more than the triggers.
So said it looked like a large dod explosion and others said it looked like a gigantic pure white cocoon. No one knew what it actually was. But perhaps that was not too surprising since no one had ever seen the White Queen driven to such desperate asures. Even with Freedom Award 3000 around, it was a highly abnormal situation.
Whatever the case, sothing burst from the White Queen.
It grew into a do shape in the blink of an eye and it continued to expand even several hours later. If this continued, it would cross the national border and swallow up Queen Sinceria Highland’s Kingdom F.
It currently had a diater of about 5km.
“Don’t touch it!! We have no idea what would happen!!”
“We can’t even put together an evacuation plan if we don’t know what it is or what it’s made of! I volunteer!!”
“You fool, how would I ever explain it to your family!?”
The knights of Kingdom F included quite a few summoners, but even they were baffled. They made it sound like they were up against a highly-concentrated radioactive material or a mysterious deadly pathogen, but when they risked their lives to investigate, all they discovered was that the material was a lot like the Sword of Truth, the pure white clothing worn by the White Queen. Since this was information about a higher being, it ant a lot that a few of the knights had successfully summoned her in the past.
And if that was true, there was nothing humankind could do. After all, this was the Queen’s sword and shield. They could not find any way to scratch it, much less tear it apart. If it continued to expand, it would slowly but surely crush every single structure in Kingdom F like a giant bulldozer.
And would it stop with just this small Eastern European kingdom?
Why should they be optimistic enough to assu it would not cover all of Europe, obliterate all of Eurasia, and ultimately cross the oceans to reach every livable part of the planet?
And while everyone was focused on this new threat…
“Uuh.”
Soone groaned quietly while at an utter loss as to what to do.
That may have been no real surprise. To repeat, the cocoon gradually applying pressure to Kingdom F appeared to be a transformation of the Sword of Truth, which was the White Queen’s battle costu. Her clothes were there. So what did that an for the Queen herself while she looked up at it?
The girl shrunk down, blushed, and covered her chest and hips with her arms.
The “White” Queen who Wields the Sword of Unsullied Truth (iu - nu - fb - a - wuh - ei -kx - eu - pl - vjz) was entirely nude.
The situation could not have been more abnormal.
The closest thing to clothing she had were the two hair ties she had found lying around. That allowed her to maintain her usual twintails.
She should have been in control of her battle costu, but it was continuing to expand without her. And yet that was not the strangest thing happening here. There was sothing fundantally wrong when the White Queen was blushing, cowering on the ground, and covering her body like she wanted to disappear.
Even the gods feared that transcendent being, so the glory of her nudity should have actually made everyone else bow down before her.
She had no greater weapon than her beauty. She might show it off like the sun, but would she really feel the kind of embarrassnt that led her to hide herself like this?
The absence of clothing was a trivial matter in this case.
It felt like the White Queen would have been cowering down like this even if she were fully equipped. It was like she wanted to vanish from view like a fading fog or mist.
And a woman stood next to the silver twintail girl.
She was Freedom Award 3000, World Complete.
Shigara Masami.
That summoner had passed the 1000 mark and shifted from this world to the other. The young woman used a scrunchie to wear her long black hair in a ponytail and she wore a lab coat over a tight skirt suit. However, she blew away all the implications of that outfit with the smile of a mischievous child. And she placed a hand next to her mouth to whisper to the White Queen.
“This is a first in the history of the world.”
The sun was hidden.
The White Queen growled with resentnt while covering her radiant body with her arms.
“Shigara Masami. You are the very first intelligent being who was ever insolent and arrogant enough to make a fool of , the White Queen, for your own enjoynt!!”
It did not matter that she was blushing, tearful, naked, and fidgeting. Normally, the pressure rising from the Queen should have nearly crushed anyone’s soul, but Shigara Masami did not seem at all bothered as she stood there in her lab coat and tight skirt suit.
She had been the true mastermind behind the Queen’s Miniature Garden, so she may have seen both Shiroyama Kyousuke and the White Queen as her students.
“Hmph.”
The twintail girl childishly looked away while still covering her body with her arms.
It was an obvious rejection, but didn’t it seem like an expression she had never let anyone else see but in a different way from how she behaved around Kyousuke?
“Let us review the situation.”
“First of all, I am having a hard ti accepting what happened. Naly, that I was scolded by you and had my beloved brother taken from . No matter how much my conscious mind tries to logically accept it, my subconscious pride will not allow it. That is how the heart works.”
Shigara Masami of course had no intention of stealing Kyousuke for herself. In fact, she had intervened to help those two get along.
“The thing about that is…”
The White Queen started to point a finger at the cocoon expanding and growing in the distance, but she quickly stopped and pointed with her chin instead when she realized moving her arm left so things exposed.
“You could say that battle costu guarantees I am always right. That mass of violence will turn white to black or black to white for . It normally changes form in response to my commands, but it is based on the ‘weapons which, when used by their rightful owner, will fly around and achieve victory all on their own’ which are found in Celtic, Norse, Alaskan, Japanese, and other mythologies. Although in this case, it is not bothering with choosing individual targets and likely intends to achieve victory by destroying the entire world, eliminating all that is unnecessary, and remaking everything again.”
“At this point, I don’t think my conscious or subconscious thoughts will change anything. It thinks for itself and will not allow anything to exist that would harm . The rebellion against in the Kingdom F area was just the starting point. Depending on how this plays out, it might eliminate the entire world that would harm .”
In the past, the White Queen had received the devotion of this world’s people, bound the other world’s Unexplored-classes with fear, and brought madness to all with thinking minds. But did her influence extend beyond that? Did even this inorganic weapon feel the need to bow down to her and present her with an offering?
When it ca down to it, the White Queen did not care what happened as long as Shiroyama Kyousuke was safe.
The fate of the other 7 billion was none of her concern.
But if the Sword of Truth went berserk, it might kill Shiroyama Kyousuke as well since he had made himself her enemy. If the White Queen abandoned the 7 billion, even Shigara Masami would likely use her powerful defenses to keep her away. …And more importantly, she doubted Shiroyama Kyousuke would be happy in a thoroughly ruined world.
He was the kind of person who readily claid that half the world’s tragedies were his fault. Even though he could escape all that guilt by blaming 100% of it on the White Queen. He claid he would use any kind of underhanded thod to kill her, but he still felt a need to play fair. She adored that about him. To the point that she wanted to bully him to death.
The naked girl breathed a gentle sigh.
“Let’s stop that cocoon’s expansion,” she said. “It is my possession after all.”
“How about you remind yourself who it was that psychologically stripped of my power? I am not exactly at top form at the mont.”
Of course, that did not an she was weak in any sense of the word.
She was still the White Queen.
This was more an issue of instability, so she might blow up the entire dinsion if she tried using her power now.
“You didn’t think this through, did you? Besides, tearing that cocoon apart wouldn’t do any good. Shigara Masami, are you aware of the tension problem with space elevators?”
“As a cocoon, that is made from threads and it would produce even more force than that.”
“Did you give this any thought at all!? Ahem. Anyway, that is the power that protects . If it bursts in its current uncontrolled state, the best case scenario is a fireball large enough to fry the entire planet, but it might also produce enough gravity to create a black hole that swallows the entire solar system.”
“It currently has a diater of 5km, but if that passes 10km, it will collapse in on itself. And that leads straight to the aforentioned explosion. Of course, that is still nothing compared to what the power inside would do if released.”
That ant destroying the cocoon was not an option.
It was enough of a miracle that it was contained there without allowing any of its power to leak out. Nothing could compare to the defenses of the Queen’s battle costu. Normal matter might have already produced more gravity than the sun, causing the earth to fold in on itself.
Plus…
“The cocoon is no more than the ignition. The true danger lies elsewhere.”
“The Colorless Little Girl Dedicated to a Single Goal (aie - a - oio - ei - ueo - ioa - e - uai - ee).”
The White Queen spoke that na with emphasis on each individual word.
The Queen did.
“If she is still functioning as a tool to kill , then she will try to destroy all of , including that cocoon. So the larger the cocoon grows, the more power the Colorless Little Girl will store up. I am more worried about that than the cocoon rupturing. If the cocoon and the Colorless Little Girl clash head on after growing to the limit, all life will be enveloped by endless flas and destroyed.”
“Yes.”
That led to only one conclusion.
“I must accept it.”
Those words brought a greater flush to the White Queen’s cheeks than having so much bare skin exposed to the outside air.
“Shigara Masami. I have no rebuttal to what you have said, so I must accept that you have taken my brother from . And I must accept that the choice you have made is the best way to bring my brother and together. I suppose you could call this a journey to learn what it ans to be human. The Sword of Truth guarantees I am always right. It will continue to grow endlessly and aninglessly as long as there is sothing I cannot accept and it could trigger a supernova if its 5km diater reaches 10km. But at the sa ti, if I can conquer my issues and prove you an no harm, the cocoon will have no more need to act on my behalf. And stopping it should also stabilize the Colorless Little Girl who must be gathering power in response. …That is the only way to save this world and to save my brother who lives in it.”
That might sound simple enough, but the White Queen was the strongest being who existed beyond the Regulation-class, Divine-class, and Unexplored-class.
This was not like Norse or Greek Mythology where there were plenty of equally-powerful gods who could provide advice if one made a mistake. In other words, the entire world would have to change to match. If the White Queen listened to what Shigara Masami had to say, it would be the sa as altering the very structure of the existing Third Style.
But she had to do it.
She did not care about herself and the 7 billion did not matter at all.
The White Queen was always focused on just the one person. That nude girl with the reflectively white skin would accept any indignity if it was for her beloved Shiroyama Kyousuke.
Tight skirt Shigara Masami nodded a few tis and spoke like she was giving this a lot of thought, even if she was not really.
“Um, uh, I hesitate to say this…but isn’t that because I got a tad carried away at the Queen’s Miniature Garden?”
The ponytail researcher rejected it with a single word.
“…”
It was a lot like reading a 10-volu series of textbooks by starting with the 3rd volu. No matter how much work you did from there, you could not hope to understand it without the foundational knowledge of the 1st volu. Nothing you learned would do you any good.
Any attempt would go to waste.
No matter how hard she sought him, they would only misunderstand each other.
“That…isn’t a bad idea,” said the naked silver-haired girl. “A journey to learn what it ans to be human? At the very least, it sounds better than staying in this irrelevant little kingdom. My brother needs to be at the center of my universe.”
Regardless.
She knew young Shiroyama Kyousuke had been given so kind of gifted education by his biological father who was now known as Doctor S. And that education had occurred at an ordinary ho instead of a special research facility like the Queen’s Miniature Garden.
She knew that ho was sowhere in Japan.
But where exactly?
This was the sa problem as ordinary kitchen knives being harder to trace than police batons and stun guns that required going through special channels to purchase. This ho could be anywhere, so it was hard to narrow things down.
Shiroyama Kyousuke said he could not rember what his mother or little sister looked like.
But it was different from simple mory loss.
On that day and in that place, the White Queen had done sothing which had erased and blown away the world’s data. So it was not just that Kyousuke did not rember. Not one of the 7 billion people on this planet could provide that information.
The White Queen was involved in half of the world’s mysteries.
The nude twintail girl sighed.
“Shigara Masami.”
The White Queen seed to be placing soone else in control and listening to the lesson they had for her.
Shigara Masami looked so calm in this situation, but that was due to the great skill backing up her confidence.
The next stage would be Japan.
It was ti to begin her journey to understand Shiroyama Kyousuke and what it ans to be human.
And on top of that…
“?”
Shigara Masami placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head in a sowhat exaggerated fashion.
And she continued speaking.
There was a staticky sound, but it did not co from Shigara Masami’s voice.
The White Queen’s alluring curves blurred. At so points, they grew jagged. At so points, they were swallowed by a gray sandstorm. She was losing her stability in this world.
Only then did she realize what was happening.
In the Blood-Sign System, the supernatural beings known as Materials could only remain in this world while an Artificial Sacred Ground had been established by an Incense Grenade. The White Queen had only been able to ignore that rule at tis because of the irregular permanent summonings her worshipers had sacrificed themselves to perform.
That support had collapsed.
And that ant just one thing.
“…”
“That does make sense.”
Shigara Masami had kept her voice low as she reported the severity of the situation, but the White Queen had let go of that throne because it was too much of a bother. She would hide in the Colorless Little Girl’s shadow and stay with Shiroyama Kyousuke. This was no ti to be worried about a decline in reputation.
Shigara Masami sighed in her suit and lab coat.
“Hm? How did you manage that???”
Anyone who had survived that extre war would have grown into quite a fierce warrior. Even so, a Box required a number of sacrifices. There were plenty of examples, including the Anthill Project the vessel nad Isabelle had been involved in or Pandemonium secretly run by the Deltaston family. Shigara Masami herself had worked to stop so of them, yet here she was using one.
And at the sa ti, if you viewed it from a different angle, it was a major gamble on Shigara Masami’s part to throw the White Queen back at those warriors of the Miniature Garden after they had regained their sanity. After all, this was a repeat of the past. The introduction of the White Queen had gradually driven that underground lab insane, so the sa thing could always happen again.
However…
Because it was a repeat…
“…”
The silver twintail girl remained silent for a while.
Like she was assessing sothing.
Finally, she took a step into Shigara Masami’s personal space. And she leaned her naked shoulder against the woman.
The static vanished and she regained her stability.
Shigara Masami had apparently earned a passing score.
Then the transcendent being spoke under her breath while childishly pouting her lips.
“If it will help brother.”
“Shigara Masami.”
The White Queen winked.
“I get it, so just give sothing to wear already.”
“Down with the Queen!!”
“Don’t be left behind by the tis! We need to push through to the future!!”
“We can’t afford to fall back by a century! Kill the White Queen!!”
Just closing her eyes was enough to imagine the angry shouts and screams and picture the placards and burning paintings. If anything, the White Queen was her enemy, but the shouts of “down with the Queen” still got to her. They were not directed at her, but she still felt a squeezing at her heart.
Sinceria Highland was the ruler of Kingdom F.
She was a young woman with long, fluffy blonde hair, white skin, and curvy bodylines, but her most notable feature was her long and pointed ears. It was rumored she had left the realm of humanity and taken a step into the devilish beauty of a Material because she had made more contracts than anyone else in history. There were many summoners in the ranks of Kingdom F’s knights and she always partnered herself with the most powerful of them, so it was not surprising that such rumors existed.
But at the mont, she was dressed in a way not at all suitable for a skilled vessel or the ruler of a kingdom.
She was in a swimsuit.
It was a blue one-piece that covered most everything, but there was no hiding her figure. Clichéd descriptions of large breasts and long legs did not do her justice. Instead of being sexy because of a special outfit, she was sexy no matter what she wore.
This was South Arica’s Devil’s Island.
There were different kinds of beauty, but Sinceria’s was an extre variety reminiscent of snow and ice. When that ruler, who currently wore a swimsuit with a ribbon at the chest, stood nearby, she created an illusion that the temperature had dropped by 2 or 3 degrees even on the sunny beach.
She had a good reason for visiting this palm tree island bearing the na of the devil.
“It isn’t everyday a penal colony receives a guest.”
A beach chair and parasol were set up on the white sandy beach. A cold drink sat on the side table. More than just pouring in a chilled liquid, the glass itself was ice cold. All of that was managed by an old butler who wore a black suit despite the sun beating down on him.
And at the center of it all was a young girl with reddish-blonde ringlet curls.
Azalea Magentarain was lying there.
She was wearing a blue bikini. The white border increased its cuteness. She did not at all look like soone who was currently imprisoned. But Sinceria was a true monarch, so she was used to that sort of luxury. And this was not the ti to let it overwhelm her. That cocoon was expanding even now. To stop it before it crossed Kingdom F’s border and crushed the people’s hos and possessions, she had to gather information from this summoner girl who was a forr weapons designer for Quad Motors and had made her way deep into a group of White Queen worshipers.
“I arranged a eting through Governnt. Do you mind if we speak?”
“Not at all. But we should finish this before Claude notices. Your body is too dangerous to have any gentlen around. Would you like sothing to drink?”
“Hee hee. I think I’m in the mood for sothing nonalcoholic. To feel like I’m young again. Hyah☆”
Sinceria shrieked when cold water found its way into her ample cleavage after dripping from the bottom of the cocktail glass she was handed.
Azalea responded far too calmly when she saw that.
“Yes, it really is dangerous. I need to keep Claude away from you.”
“Oh, are you referring to the one-ard man with an eyepatch? I believe Rachel is chasing him around with her battle hook. She said sothing about leering at the swimsuit of Kingdom F’s ruler qualifying as lese majeste.”
“Already!? Do I not even get a chance to react!? I was wondering what he was up to after ignoring my fantastic swimsuit and going clamming! I can’t believe him!!!!!”
Sinceria had a single question.
She wanted to know what the White Queen would do next.
She had a nearly accurate grasp of the connection between the cocoon growing at Kingdom F’s border and the Colorless Little Girl. Her daughter, Olivia, had helped a lot with information on the Colorless Little Girl. The Colorless Little Girl was the greatest threat, but they had to do sothing about the cocoon if they were to stop her. And that cocoon was originally a part of the White Queen.
According to a Governnt researcher nad Maria Heartocean, the 5km cocoon’s limit was 10km. If it grew beyond that, there was a risk of a supernova-level explosion. And the Colorless Little Girl would likely take action before that. That would begin the worst possible chain reaction where a fierce explosive blast was used to prevent an explosion.
But whatever the case.
Whatever the case, Sinceria had to protect the people of Kingdom F.
But if she let that obvious impatience show, she knew she would be forced to accept demands she would rather not accept.
“Ahem. This should go without saying.”
A noble was no match for a royal.
But Azalea had not lost a hint of her shine. That was proof that she was not just coasting on her bloodline. Sinceria had failed to elope with the man she had fallen for, so she was honestly envious of the girl’s grounded lifestyle.
Azalea sat up on the beach chair and crossed her slender legs as she started speaking.
“There is only one thing in Her Majesty’s heart: Shiroyama Kyousuke. From beginning to end, everything she does is centered on that summoner. And that remains true whether it is based in love or hate. The reason Shiroyama Kyousuke stays ahead of everyone else when it cos to her is quite simple. He just has to ask his own heart what she will do. No amount of resources and personnel and not even the greatest supercomputer can compare to that.”
“Well, I would very much like to have Kyousuke fighting to protect Kingdom F, but it seems he took quite a psychological shock this ti.”
“You’re looking at this wrong.”
Azalea toyed with the strap on her hip and sharply corrected Sinceria.
She was a crazed believer being imprisoned for her brutal cris. She might appear cooperative, but from what viewpoint was she discussing the White Queen? Once soone had been corrupted by the Queen, was it possible for them to ever fully recover? Sinceria very much wanted to know the answer to that question since her daughter, Olivia, had worked with Doctor S for a ti.
This girl’s age and stature both reminded her of her daughter.
And the fact that her daughter might have ended up like this if she had made one wrong move or Shiroyama Kyousuke had not worked to solve the situation.
(As a mother, I would really like to know.)
“How am I looking at this wrong? We are monitoring Kyousuke’s condition from multiple sources. And personally, I think this seems like the best ti.”
Sinceria was a mother, a ruler, and a woman.
When she spoke, she often switched between those three different sides of herself. It went without saying what a three-faced goddess like Hecate symbolized. Yes, Sinceria stood at the peak of the feminine identity and she also ruled her kingdom on the occult side by using the Blood-Sign System.
anwhile, Azalea treated her like a re guest.
It was a confrontation between the occult and the military industrial complex.
“In this case, it doesn’t matter whether Shiroyama Kyousuke actively does anything or not. He has given up on fighting and is falling behind, so why hasn’t Her Majesty abducted him yet? What could be more important than Shiroyama Kyousuke just lying there waiting to be attacked? What could it possibly be???”
“…”
“Just to drive the point ho, you ruler of a fairy tale kingdom, she has nothing beyond Shiroyama Kyousuke. So she would never leave him be and focus on sothing else. That ans there must be sothing she wants to do for his sake even if it ans leaving him be for now. So this must be a rather unique situation.”
“I see. That does explain it.”
“And when soone has lost interest in the present, there aren’t many other options. There is a fair amount of risk in speaking about her thoughts on a human level, but isn’t it worth considering?”
Facts:
*White Queen learned Embarrassnt!!
*The Sword of Truth, the White Queen’s battle uniform, has the divine power to guarantee she is always right even if that ans turning white into black or vice versa. It normally obeys her commands, but it is essentially an item that automatically fights to bring her victory.
*The cocoon currently has a diater of 5km. If it grows to 10km, it might produce a supernova-level explosion. But the bigger threat is the Colorless Little Girl who is storing up power to match the cocoon.
*To prevent that path to ruin, the White Queen must accept Shigara Masami, a lower being. Can she believe that the woman is working toward the best interests of both Shiroyama Kyousuke and the Queen? To accomplish this, she must go on a journey to discover what it ans to be human. On this journey, she will investigate Shiroyama Kyousuke’s roots and what happiness ans to him. If she fails, the world is dood.
*Shigara Masami receives an emotion similar to worship from those who survived the Secret War. She is supported by a long-term summoning Box and she has invited the White Queen into that Box despite the risk.
*Shiroyama Kyousuke was a precision-guided missile before arriving at the Miniature Garden and the White Queen imdiately referred to him as “brother” when they supposedly first t. Thus, their roots predate the Miniature Garden.
*Kyousuke does not rember his mother or his little sister. But this is not just mory loss. At so point in the past, the White Queen’s destruction erased so of the world’s data.
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