Chapter 69

1.

“Oh, oh— that is, that is…!”

A single beam of light rising from the downtown area of Abidos.

Merely by beholding it, one could feel an instant sense of sublimity and wonder—a truly inexplicable light.

However, sometimes this inexplicability is seen as greatness by some, and even further, as something worthy of extreme praise.

Extolling words flowed from the mouth of ‘someone,’ who could be considered the instigator of this event.

“Ho. So that is the aforementioned ‘Card’! The power obtained at the cost of life and time… a mysterious force with no discernible origin, limits, or even something we ourselves cannot fully comprehend…!”

An entity that looked like a wooden puppet yet reacted like a human—the ‘Maestro’—cried out in ecstasy.

“Ah, I cannot bear it! To have two sources of inspiration existing in the same space! I am simply overcome with the urge to showcase my own work immediately.”

“Kukuku, please do contain yourself, Maestro. Wasn’t your role in this plan solely to halt the two beings bearing the highest mysteries?”

Responding to Maestro’s outcry was a being clad in a black suit, with black skin marked by stark white cracks, as if engraved—’Black Suit.’ He chuckled darkly and replied, his eyes following the unfolding scene on the monitor before him. He then curled the cracks at the corners of his mouth like a sinister smile.

Maestro’s moment will come when Eden Treaty approaches. For now, wait just a little longer.”

“I know. I know, and it makes waiting all the more difficult. ‘Hero’ and ‘Teacher.’ Concepts beyond our understanding. Yet, that is why we rejoice. Their displayed will and dignity are, indeed, mysterious. Don’t you think so, Black Suit?”

“Kukuku, I won’t deny it. But—”

“Hmm?”

In response to Maestro’s question, Black Suit merely wore a cold grin. Keeping that smile on his face, he mentally formulated a question for Maestro.

In this situation, with the Hero struck down by the monster’s attack, he presumed Maestro would certainly react with great shock or a more agitated response.

“You don’t feel worried about the Muse you esteemed so much? Your reaction is unlike what I expected.”

Black Suit’s question caused Maestro, who had just been exclaiming with jubilant voice, to fall silent.

Or rather, he seemed lost in some kind of contemplation, staring intently at the screen that showcased Abidos’ downtown area, as if trying to imagine something no longer visible on it.

Then, shortly afterward,

“This too is part of the process of my Muse reaching completion.”

Maestro suddenly murmured this seemingly offhand.

While Black Suit was momentarily puzzled, he soon realized what ‘sublimity’ Maestro was pursuing and couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.

“You truly place your trust in Silk.”

“My Muse, if she’s indeed this Hero they spoke of, would not crumble simply over this. That’s all I believe.”

“Kukuku. Is that so.”

Black Suit understood Maestro’s words.

More than that, he comprehended Maestro’s mindset.

To Black Suit’s appraisal, Maestro was fundamentally an ‘artistic’ figure, so mundane concerns like profit or self-interest didn’t factor into his value judgment.

Silk simply exhibited a power that was in line with the artistic path Maestro pursued, and thus, he harbored no doubts.

Hence, he viewed the attack by Binah as merely a part of the process.

‘This is yet another fascinating perspective.’

Seeing the world through Maestro’s lens — to define it conceptually, ‘art’ and ‘work’ — explained this.

Any work undergoing its process of completion is followed by a period of anguish. As the saying goes, creation is a continuous process of pain. Maestro viewed the current situation as simply part of progressing toward completion.

Something incomprehensible generates interest, and thus, paradoxically, eliminates distrust. Respecting and worshiping those who offer inspiration and enlightenment, such behavior was an impossibility for Black Suit.

“Kukuku. If that is your methodology, then.”

Still, Black Suit decided to respect Maestro as a fellow associate and collaborator within their organization.

Given they both pursued different forms of ‘sublimity,’ understanding their differences to a degree was necessary.

With that, Black Suit decided to temporarily pause his conversation with Maestro.

There was something more pressing to consider at the moment.

“…So, they’ve used it after all. That ‘Card.'”

The golden dawn emanating from afar, through the screen.

A truly inexplicable power, capable of turning the world on its head, was unfolding at this very moment in the downtown area of Abidos.

2.

What on earth is happening here!

Why did I make such a foolish choice?

A girl watched the chaotic scene unfolding in the heart of Abidos with wide, disoriented eyes.

She kept looking down at her feet as she mentally screamed, still unable to grasp why she was still in this place.

Terrorized Soldiers marching toward her.

The monstrous Steel Serpent looming ominously behind them.

And even the Chief of Guidance already engaged in combat within the same space!

This, this is hell.

Why am I here in a place like this?!

“Kyaaaah—!”

An urgent impulse to run overcame her repeatedly.

Dignity as a boss clashed with terror as a student.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Certainly, her actions contrasted sharply with her fragile thoughts. As if she were a hardened veteran mercenary, she moved with a mechanical precision aimed at annihilating her enemies. Yet this was nothing more than a desperate struggle for survival.

Given how bizarre currents flowed from the ominous Automata racing toward her and the building-sized Steel Serpent rampaging on the scene, attacking first was the sole option to stay alive here!

As they say: the best defense is a good offense!

Rikuhachima Aru, the girl in question, acted to protect herself and her subordinates.

“I shouldn’t have stayed when Hina showed up! If only I hadn’t let my overconfidence get the better of me to help Silk…”

Regret piled up with each real-time combat exchange against the enemies, but even still, the girl didn’t halt her actions.

Because—

“Kuh…! Retreating from here wouldn’t be cool!”

Lack of choice played a part, but the main reason was in pursuit of the outlaw path she had chosen.

Once a decision was made, it was to be pushed through to the end.

This was Aru’s established life principle.

“Tang—!!”

As Aru lifted her sniper rifle, fire erupted from its barrel.

The bullet piercing through the speed of sound drove straight into the face of a Terrorized Soldier bracing an anti-tank weapon, who collapsed in the same stance.

And thus began the secondary explosion.

“Kwaaaang—!”

An EX skill-level explosion struck the nearby Terrorized Soldiers.

Aru’s smile lit up briefly at the sight of the crumbling formation, but she quickly turned it into a usual show of bravado.

“U, uhu! This is nothing!”

“Nice! Boss Aru!”

“It’s President, not Boss Aru!”

Regardless of President Aru’s complaints that were often shattered by the misunderstanding of her vice-president,

Anyway!

Aru had decided to enthusiastically help Silk and the Teacher to resolve this situation. Although she was still scared and uneasy, retreating in this situation would simply not be ‘cool.’

Moreover, there was something she wanted to say in situations like this.

“Someone yesterday’s enemy is today’s ally, right?”

“President, we were never enemies of the Abidos people to begin with. We were close to being, though.”

“…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…!”

“Anyway, from now on, we’ll help them in the Abidos Counteroffensive!”

At Aru’s announcement, the members of the private detective agency relaxed their expressions.

The two members, excluding Haruka, could tell that Aru was trembling with fear but also realized that she had found her courage.

Hence, they responded.

“Ahaha! Sounds interesting! I’m all for it!”

“…If the boss chooses it.”

“Er, I will follow Aru-sama wherever she leads…!”

The president of the Private Detective Agency No. 68, Aru, was followed by her employees.

At this moment, while she felt touched by her staff’s serious response, Aru responded similarly with a smile.

Not the usual bright, boisterous grin but one filled with charisma—or so Aru judged.

A moment Silk would likely scold her for posturing even in such an urgent situation—but Aru was nonetheless displaying what she thought was the true spirit of an outlaw as she prepared for battle.

Then,

“Private Detective Agency No. 68, from here on out—.”

“Phaaaat—!!”

“E, Eh?! Why does Teacher decide to appear now?!”

“AHAHA! Boss Aru, the timing wasn’t good!”

“E, eh, what? Is this an ambush? Should we attack?”

“…This is…”

A golden dawn erupted from a location not far from where the private detective agency’s members were standing.

For Aru, who was about to give the order to advance, this interruption was unfortunate—but from another perspective, it might be called perfect timing.

A truly mysterious and world-altering power draped over the shoulders of the students possessing secrets.

This was both the will and the power of the Teacher.

It was a transformation achieved by paying some form of price—an actual alteration of the impossible into the possible.

“Eh, eh?”

At that instant, every student present, anyone even slightly touched by the mysteries, could feel it.

The power they held, the mysteries they possessed—and even their fates—

Something had changed. Something had been overlaid.

Something incomprehensible had helped them.

What shape this power took, what price was paid, or what new element was added to them remained beyond comprehension. They merely understood that it was connected to the light the Teacher had launched. It wasn’t knowledge or experience but a pure form of revelation.

“Now, let’s fight from a place of fairness.”

This message from the Teacher, who wielded the mysterious golden card, reached the ears of the students.

The students looked at the Teacher with expressions full of questions, but the Teacher provided no answers.

Simply—

“Stop worrying. I’ll do my best to help you. From now on, it’s our turn.”

The Teacher, while encouraging the students, gave a mere response as the Teacher.

A promise to inspire, support, and assist the students.

Though doubts lingered, all the students were moved by the Teacher’s words and couldn’t help but raise their heads.

The struggle wasn’t over yet, as the Teacher said. The students also reflected:

Let’s just understand it this way, for now.

Beyond time and space, transcending limits, it was merely a kind of blessing mysteriously engraved at this exact moment.

Hence, we called it a ‘miracle.’

3.

The moment the Teacher used the “Adult Card,” the situation began to change.

It wasn’t a massive transformation.

“I’ll open the path for the two of you!”

“Haaaat!”

Just by infusing students with the miracle they could advance further, the Teacher’s leadership and intangible power worked amongst the students.

Therefore, the battlefield, which had previously been confining, began offering the students the leeway to move onto the next play.

The engraved miracle widened the range of options they could take.

To give just enough leeway to spot the enemy’s weaknesses.

Just that much leeway opened up.

“Please, both of you!”

“Heeey, leave it to ol’ Uncle here.”

“Hmm. This isn’t going to end anytime soon. Sure, I’ll take care of it. You can count on me to accomplish this.”

Therefore, the Teacher entrusted the role to the two individuals.

Hoshino Takashanashi, called the strongest in Abidos,

and Hinata Sorasaki, deemed the strongest of Gehenna.

Given their powerful mysteries and how much the miracle influenced them, they were the ones who could break through the enemy’s encirclement and reach the monster to face it head-on.

This decision was made based on such reasoning.

“This time too, rely on us, Chief Guidance.”

“…Yeah. Rely on me, Takashanashi Hoshino.”

Despite seemingly assigning a heavy burden to the two, neither of them paid it much mind.

From the start, even without the Teacher’s request, they would have wanted to hit this monster if given the chance.

The instigator who had harmed Silk, the source of the chaos.

They had to deliver a proper blow to this beast.

The two strongest individuals from each academy found their thoughts aligning perfectly.

And then,

“Now!”

At the Teacher’s signal, the two of them ran.

Stomping the ground, slicing through the winds,

despite having similar statures, the two ran at similar speeds, speeds no one could ever hope to match.

[Kraaaaaaaa──!!]

Binah let out a roar at the appearance of new foes.

There were two this time, not one.

Two of the strongest charged at the steel-covered Prophet.