For a moment, Michizane found himself captivated, but when he tried to figure out what it was, an ear-splitting sound resounded and the giant skeleton that touched the light exploded.
Fragments of bones scattered and fell as though it exploded from inside, then the skeleton collapsed.
Its presence grew weaker by the moment, and before long, it landed on the ground and vanished into the air.
“Hah?”
Michizane was stunned by the abrupt explosion of a gashadokuro.
When he looked up, he saw that red and white from before hovering over the skulls.
He realized it was humanoid and met its eyes.
“Eek!”
Upon which, he found himself letting out a scream so brief and inaudible that he himself was surprised.
He noticed that his leg had taken a step back, so he forced it back into place and stared back at the sky.
Alas, that was nothing more than a brave front; an act of rebellion from the humiliation of being looked down upon.
His instincts, which he should believe in as an exorcist, were making his body shake, but he refused to acknowledge even that.
“Ah, uu…!?”
Regardless, that was all he could do. He tried to yell again but failed to produce sound.
It was as though his throat had gone dry suddenly.
“T-That’s definitely… But what is this presence!?”
It was not only Michizane who felt reverence for that
Unlike their master, however, they acknowledged the fear they felt, so they were able to use their voice, albeit with much trembling.
These were people that have been thoroughly trained by the Tsumori House to prostrate themselves only before them, yet the fear they felt was so powerful that it overcame even that.
It was just an exoskeleton, and the person using it was merely a little girl with filthy blood that has been expelled from the clans.
Perhaps, an entire military unit might prove to be difficult, but if it were just one person, then they could ‘theoretically’ deal with her, yet the very thought of that made them want to kneel instead.
───It was almost as if… She’s an envoy sent by a god.
There she stood beneath the moon with a radiant white incomparable to that of giant bones and a red more striking than blood.
When her chest armor that was akin to folded kimono was coupled with her long white gauntlets akin to long sleeves – which separated for mobility’s sake – the exoskeleton she wore looked just like a robe of white turned metal.
On top of that was an extra armor in the form of a chihaya.
The red hakama that covered her entire lower half was just like those worn by mikos, but from the way it looked, it was not merely a costume but an armor.
She wore a golden celestial crown on her head that hid neither her face nor her sharp gaze full of rebuke, while on her back could be seen a ring-shaped flight unit that emitted a phosphorescent glow of spiritual power.
───She looked just like
No one said that out loud, but they were all thinking it.
That was precisely ‘Kamui (God’s Authority)’ which has been reforged into an armor of red and white upon receiving the will and authority of an evil god.
To those that could not see, it was just an exoskeleton forcefully designed to looked like a miko’s costume, but for those who could see, it was an armor that exuded an overwhelming pressure of a different realm and divinity.
“A-Are you stupid!? How bad of a pilot are you!? What kind of idiot would go full throttle when they’re so close!?”
“Ah.”
But of course, it had no effect on Ryou, who had to suffer from her poor decision of taking off from right up close.
As a result, when she took off, he received the brunt of the shockwave and was sent flying into the half-destroyed room.
His high rank in Resistance allowed him to come out unscathed, but painful things were still painful.
Tomoe too realized that she’d messed up, so despite her sharp glare, her eyes started swimming.
“I-I can’t help it! This is my first time using this! I didn’t think 25% would produce that much power!”
It was an absurd amount of power as far as she was concerned.
That was also true when she half-collided with the Gashadokuro and it blew up.
But she wasn’t one to be meek, so she yelled back amidst her blush and blamed it on the closest person she could.
“If you have a complaint, then say it to the idiot who thought it smart────
The white-boned giant was unmoving, seemingly as dumbfounded as its master, when Tomoe’s right hand, covered in steel, stabbed into its skull and held it up.
“────to put three photon engines in a single exoskeleton!!”
As the girl yelled in the night sky, she threw the skull she was holding into another giant skull.
Skull clashed with skull, causing both to cave in and fracture, while the rest of their body shattered as they became entangled.
“…Huh?”
“What?”
“…”
Everyone dropped their jaws.
The most shocked was of course Michizane. The shiki he was so proud of had been tossed around just like that, causing him to make a dumb expression while his mouth refused to close itself.
“…Woah, you threw it so easily. It was a one hit KO. Maybe those bones are actually hollow inside?”
The only who wasn’t surprised was Ryou, but even he failed to run away from reality.
He laughed dryly and felt like coming down with vertigo as he saw the terrible state of the garden, upon which the pieces of shattered bones continued to fall and crush what was left of its beauty.
With how big the bones were, the fragments were as large as a human adult. The way they sank and the sound they produced made it easy to imagine just how much they must have weighed.
Above all, the holes they opened on the ground were big enough to easily accommodate an elementary student.
However, it wasn’t Tomoe’s power that surprised Ryou but her words.
“Haa, he seriously stuck three photon engines into that thing? Even I can tell that won’t end in just a threefold increase… That’s just crazy.”
Leave a Reply