HxH Vol 8 Chapter 5 – God of Happiness and Sadness

Chapter 5 – God of Happiness and Sadness

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Part 1

Hokuto was lying down on the bed in her room. In the short while of a fine afternoon, Hokuto liked to drift about in a peaceful nap.

“Hokuto-sama. Please stop being irresponsible and wake up.”

A female that was taking personal care of her called out with a gentle voice.

“Uun……I don’t wannaa”

“You are not someone who can talk selfishly. If Hokuto-sama don’t get a hold of yourself, our world will be ruined.”

Hokuto woke up reluctantly.

“You are really exaggerating.”

She changed clothes into the one prepared for her and exited her room. When she walked inside the palace, she passed by various people. The people working in the palace showed happy smiles when they saw Hokuto’s figure and bowed their heads. Hokuto liked seeing the smiling faces of such people. Moreover, the fact that they made her smile further made her happy and proud.

For that reason, she could endure even the long distance from her room until the throne.

However, actually she was thinking that if she had to walk all the same then it was better to do it in the city. There were a lot of stores in the city, there were a lot of delicious things in the city, everyone was smiling joyfully.

‘――I want to be taken along to the city again.’

She pestered the people around her for that, but the chances for her to go outside was not many. Even her meals, she was told that the food of the masses was bad for her, she wasn’t really let to eat those kinds of foods.

But, the next time she went, she would absolutely want to try to eat the food in that stand. Thinking of that made her get excited. While she was thinking of such things, she arrived at the hall of the throne. She jumped and sat on the throne, then an old man with splendid clothing came along. Who was this person. Hokuto felt like she knew well who this person was, but she couldn’t recall no matter what.

Come to think of it, the faces of the many helpers and officials around her were hazy, she also didn’t know their names. She didn’t know who they were. However, since Hokuto was born they had been of assistance to her all along, she had a good relationship with them and they should be in a manner of speaking a family for her.

That family of hers was gathering in succession. In the blink of an eye the room was filled with many people.

And then when the door of the throne hall was left open, a vast courtyard entered her eyes. Several thousands of people were gathering there.

“Just why is everyone here like this?”

When Hokuto asked that, the old man in the most front row raised his head reverently.

“Today is the day of farewell, so we are offering our parting salutations with all of us present like this.”

“……Farewell?”

“It’s a little different from farewell. We are becoming a part of Hokuto-sama. Everything in this world is going to be entrusted to Hokuto-sama.”

“Then this is not a farewell? We can meet again after this? Playing together?”

Thereupon the old man made a disturbed face. Even the people lining up behind him were making sad faces.

“No way……I don’t wanna! I don’t want any farewell.”

“This star is already on its end. There is no other path for us except ruin. We are entrusting the future to Hokuto-sama in our final moments, there is no one but you who can do this. That’s why, Hokuto-sama――”

‘――I don’t wanna!’

Hokuto’s eyes opened.

“……Eh?”

Hokuto was on top of the bed in her room.

She had no need to sleep. That was because her body was one that wouldn’t have any problem even if she didn’t take a rest. Even maintenance was carried on without any suspension on her body.

That was why she wasn’t supposed to see anything like a dream.

However when she checked the data of the past, something like this happened sometimes.

“Everyone……”

People that she awfully missed.

The people living in the world of the far past.

This uninhabited city was the same like that.

This space was something she created with her ability to generate natural matter by relying on her slightly remaining memory. The objective this world was created for was different from Lemuria and Atlantis.

She wanted to reproduce the appearance of the days of yore of the world that she once lived in.

She understood that such an act had no meaning whatsoever. Thinking logically, it was a really pointless waste of energy. However, she couldn’t help but do it.

The people she loved and missed.

She had to protect those people.

She had to protect the world those people lived in.

This world she created was a mere copy. A fake that she created as an imitation. A modest miniature garden.

She missed those people so much that her chest felt pained. Those people whose faces she couldn’t even remember, just who and where in the world were they. She couldn’t even remember their names anymore.

――But.

Everyone lived inside her.

“That’s why……even though for everyone’s sake, it’s no good……if I’m not feeling happy.”

Hokuto forcefully made a smiling face and jumped out from the bed.

“No―w then, what to do today――”

At that moment, she felt an abnormal presence.

“This feeling……!?”

Someone arrived in this world.

“Thanatos? Or else Osiris, don’t tell me it’s Odin……”

The presence she felt was different from any of those.

Something she didn’t know, something other than herself.

An uninvited guest arrived in this world.

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Part 2

“Not a single soul is here……”

“It seems so. Even though there are signs of living……what a mysterious feeling.”

Kizuna and Himekawa, also Nayuta stepped their feet towards the city of the alternate world they had an emergency landing in.

This city appeared to be a city of the masses. There were orderly lined up districts, but the inside was actually a mess. The red bending tile roof and the white wall had commonness, but the buildings with various sizes were built up without any sense of unity.

{Is there no danger?}

A communication window from Reiri opened in front of Kizuna.

“Yeah, it seems there is no problem for now. There is no trap or anything, there is also no existence of living things or machines at all.”

The inspection of the battleship Ataraxia was finished and flew away from this island. If Hokuto was on this island, in that case they wouldn’t know what kind of danger there would be. Right now the battleship had chosen one of the floating islands with a slight distance and was in the state of hiding in the shadows of that island.

{Immediately report if anything happens. Don’t do anything rash no matter what.}

“I understand already. It would be troublesome if the communication is detected, so I’m cutting it off now.”

When the window was closed, silence arrived once more. Kizuna once again looked around the surroundings.

Any of the buildings facing the street seemed like a shop, they put up colorful billboard and attached decorations as they pleased. The letters were different, but the place was like  a shopping district somewhere on earth. It had the atmosphere like a really bustling and lively town, but because there was not a single person, it instead drifted off an eerie atmosphere.

The shopfront of the stores lined up their products, and there was steam rising up from the pot of the stand. The situation felt like there were people here until just now, but something happened and all of them went somewhere all at once.

“Actually this is really interesting.”

It was only a little, but Nayuta’s voice felt a little cheery from delight. It was rare for Nayuta who usually didn’t show her emotions to be like this. Kizuna looked at Nayuta who was walking ahead and spoke to her.

“Did you understand something?”

Nayuta stood still and twirled to turn at him. Her cheeks were slightly blushing, telling him that his mother’s excitement was the real thing.

“I think this place is unmistakably the world that Hokuto created. I feel her existence.”

Nervousness ran through Kizuna and Himekawa.

“It’s just, there is no mistake about that but……there is something that is a little strange.”

“I understand that it’s strange looking at his. Even though it’s a city that looks this lively, there is not a single person here. It’s strange enough, even eerie.

“There is that but”

Nayuta entered the shop they happened to pass as if she thought of something. Looking from the many clothes lined up there, it seemed that it was a shop that handled clothing.

“Oi, where are you going?”

Perhaps she didn’t hear Kizuna’s voice, Nayuta kept advancing deeper without paying it any notice. Kizuna and Himekawa looked at each other and entered into the shop following behind Nayuta.

“This is……”

When they entered inside the shop, there were clothes in China style lined up. But, it was a little unusual.

“There are only the same clothes here……”

“Besides the sizes are all almost about the same aren’t they.”

When Himekawa took the clothes in her hand, she also tried lining up several of them. Thereupon, certainly all of them had about the same size. Kizuna suddenly thought, if Hokuto was in her human size without the Gear, wouldn’t these clothes fit her just right?

“Both of you, please try to come here.”

There was a door inside the shop, Nayuta was beckoning them from in front of that door. They guessed that likely there was a warehouse or office there. Kizuna opened that door.

“……What, is this?”

Inside there was no room or anything, only wall of rock was soaring up.

They tried to peek at the other shops and buildings, but they all had mostly the same feels. Looking from the outside, the outward appearance was properly arranged, but on the inside there were only rock surfaces or doors and windows that were fixed still.

“For some reason, this is like a movie set.”

“It’s something similar isn’t it. This is the world Hokuto created……no, a fake good that is created to imitate something. In addition, it is also like a bad copy with quite a bad make.”

“Copy……wait, what does that mean?”

“For example, the Ataraxia that I created is something reproduced from the data of the real thing in Lemuria. However this city is something created in imitation by looking at the real thing.”

At first it looked like a gorgeous and splendid city, but they gradually came to look at the city like something flimsy. When they looked even closer, there were several shops with the same construction. Himekawa tilted her head with a complicated face.

“However, even if you say that this is an imitation……what is this an imitation of?”

“Most likely, the world she once existed at. And in addition, perhaps it was before she became a god.”

‘――Before she became a god?”

Kizuna once again looked around at the deserted townscape. Its gorgeous adornment caused its emptiness to be even more highlighted instead. His eyes caught a single poster pasted at a street corner.

“Is something the matter Kizuna-kun?”

“No……this picture photographed there.”

Himekawa and Nayuta also approached that poster.

“This, is it……Hokuto?”

The photo had a great number of people with a single girl at the center. It was like a commemoration photo, but they didn’t understand what the poster was for. The face of that girl was exactly the same as Hokuto. But her body was not that of the machine god’s appearance, but that of a human. She displayed a smile that was happy from the bottom of her heart, just from looking they could feel how happy she was.

However what was curious, was the people around her, their faces. One person had gradation on the face, another person was painted off, another one had only the face part torn off, there were no humans inside the picture that had their face pictured.

“Somehow……it looks scary.”

“Yeah. Just what in the world, this means――”

Fierce explosive sound thundered, tremor was transmitted underneath them.

Kizuna took off his eyes from the poster and out his guard towards the direction where the sound came from.

“You all……how did you come into my world?”

The ground caved in and a fissure traveled along the ground. Vapor and dust cloud were rising up from the ground. Inside that mist, there was a girl in a red China dress at the center of the depression on the ground.

“……Deus ex Machina Hokuto.”

However her figure was without armor. She looked exactly like a human.

――She was similar.

With that girl in the poster.

And then she showed the same smile like the girl in the poster. But, even though it should be the same it looked different somewhere. That smile had a hidden side that was different somehow.

“This saves the trouble of looking for you all, is what I want to say but……just how did this happen? Before this too you all suddenly vanished and I couldn’t even chase after you, how did you come here――”

Hokuto’s eyes stopped at the little girl with the smallest body among them.

“……I see. This is your doing isn’t it.”

“Yes. It’s an honor to be noticed once more.”

‘Hmph’, Hokuto sniffed her nose.

“To use that Genesis and trying to become the same like us……”

“However, my completion rate is still lacking. I will have you hand over your data for reference together with the data of our worlds.”

“I won’t return that data just so you know. Because the experiment failed we cannot continue, but with the harvested data as the base, it will serve as the clue to restore my world.”

“Restoring……your world?”

Kizuna couldn’t understand the content of what Hokuto was talking about. But, they could understand that different from Kizuna and the others, the world where Hokuto once existed in was unable to be restored because of some kind of reason. This world was also this badly made because of that.

“That’s why, it helped that you all came here by yourself! I’ll also turn all of you into data here and retrieve it cleanly!”

Lines of light ran over Hokuto’s body. Metallic lumps and complicated machines materialized from there. That was a sight that ignored the law of physics. From Hokuto’s slender body, machine and armor that no matter how one saw it couldn’t possibly be stored inside there were pouring out. The materialized machines interlaced mutually and became enlarged. It was like unseen hands were performing assembling work. And then, in the blink of an eye Hokuto’s body was wrapped in an armor that was shaped after a Kirin.

Looking up at that figure, Kizuna’s breath got caught. He was overwhelmed by Hokuto who displayed her figure as a Deus ex Machina. Originally they planned to invest all their battle strength in an all-out battle including Vatlantis and Izgard. But the fact was that currently they were in a situation where they had to fight with only Kizuna and Himekawa. Nayuta too, if she exerted her strength as a machine god then she would become a battle strength, but it was unknown how much useful she would be in the current state. Besides, she was someone they couldn’t trust in the first place.

But, there was no other choice but to fight.

“Here we go! Eros!!”

Kizuna’s body was wrapped in jet black armor. It was the Heart Hybrid Gear that was just like usual. The black armor that already became completely familiar to his body had pink lines of magic power running over it. Although his Core had been reinstalled, the appearance didn’t change at all. But――,

“Neros!!”

The radiance wrapping Himekawa’s body made Kizuna’s eyes almost got blinded. The strength of that brightness was displaying sublimity, it had the meaning that the level of what she equipped was different from anything until now. Even the radiance of the magic power Himekawa emitted, and the thickness of the light particles also had wide difference than before. The brightness enveloping her body didn’t shrink and expanded widely like wings.

The beautiful dazzling light spreading several times bigger than Himekawa’s body finally stopped expanding and instead the magic power condensed and increased in thickness.

And then when the veil of light was cleared away, a new Heart Hybrid Gear manifested.

“……This is!?’

After the brightness cleared up, the first thing that Himekawa felt out of place about was the difference in scenery.

The location of her point of view was high. Kizuna’s face that looked up at her in shock was located around her waist. And then when the armor wrapping her body entered her eyes when she looked down, she opened her eyes wide.

“Amazing……”

Himekawa breathed out a sigh of admiration. The armor she equipped wasn’t the Neros that Himekawa knew. Red large fuselage. It was as though it was a fuselage of the same rank with the Deus ex Machina floating in the air, however it also had the trace of Neros in it.

A sharp silhouette even with its large scale. Form with a close resemblance to a polished Japanese katana. If the previous Gear was like a casual outfit, the armor attached on her body right now was like a battle outfit with heavy armaments. No, perhaps it was more fitting to say it was like an infantry turning over into a jet fighter.

While the fuselage itself was large, there was no pointless protector attached on the body of Himekawa herself. It could even be thought like an expression of confidence, that no harm would reach the pilot. Because of that, her beautiful body line looked even more emphasized.

Armor was increasing little by little from her visibly exposed shoulders until her elbow before the armor was changing into a tough mechanical arm that extended the length of Himekawa’s arm.

Her point of view became high because the armor part of her leg was large. The armor enveloping her thigh stretched until her toe and underneath it there were mechanical knee joints. A blade was mounted around her waist like a Japanese katana that was mechanized, on her back four sharp blades were floating like wings. Their whole length was less than two meters, there were thrusters in each part while radiance of magic power was flowing on the blade. At a glance, rather than calling them swords it was more fitting to call them as outrageously slender aircrafts. It was like they were impatiently waiting for Himekawa’s order anytime that they were hovering while moving up and down.

‘――There are, the new Blades.’

Regardless that what she wore was a completely new Gear, Himekawa could comprehend everything of it.

“This is……the rebirth of Neros.”

Looking up at the new Neros, Nayuta nodded in satisfaction.

“Great craftsmanship. With that, surely it’s possible to oppose even a Deus ex Machina.”

Himekawa looked down at Nayuta.

“Can I really……fight against that Deus ex Machina? Before this I could not do a single thing against her.”

To Himekawa who directed anxious eyes at her, Nayuta replied back kindly.

“The reinstall is for that sake. I don’t do anything meaningless. Saying it in reverse, the only ones who can protect this world right now are only you and Kizuna.”

However Kizuna’s appearance looked exactly the same just like before in Himekawa’s eye. Could he really fight against the Deus ex Machina? Even Kizuna might be anxious, he was showing a grim expression and faced Nayuta.

“Hey, do I really have to test that you-know-what?”

“Yes. I was convinced after looking around at this city. Other than using that method, defeating a Deus ex Machina is impossible. The reinstall so far is the groundwork for that sake.”

Inside Himekawa’s head became fully filled with question marks. She couldn’t understand just what they were talking about.

Had Eros failed to power up? In the first place Eros was a unique Heart Hybrid Gear. Perhaps this time it also accomplished a power up that was different from usual.

“At any rate, I have to be the one standing as the vanguard right?”

Himekawa unsheathed the Sword dangling down on her waist. Matching with Neros’s body size, it also became really large. Its destructive power should be raised remarkably.

“It looks considerably different…….the before this isn’t it?”

Hokuto glared at Himekawa. As expected even Hokuto was putting her guard towards the lump of vast energy that suddenly appeared.

“But, just by getting a little stronger, there is no way you all can be a match against the creator that is me right? Our origins are just that different after all.”

“Overwhelming difference in ability. And then the only one that can fight is me……I have”

Red light traveled through Sword’s blade. The Blades on her back instantaneously got up and pointed their tips at Hokuto.

“Already finished experiencing that!”

Sparks scattered in front of Hokuto’s eyes. The Blades and the octagon shield of light deployed in front of Hokuto pushed at each other. Two lights of magic power clashed fiercely, scattering particles of light everywhere.

The Blades sliding out from Himekawa’s back instantly attacked.

“To stop that just now, as expected from the Deus ex Machina. I’m filled with awe.”

“Hmph……looks like it became quite fast, but――”

Himekawa kicked the ground. The ground dented and the stone tiles were thrown up. Wind pressure and shockwave gouged the surface and rolled up dust. Neros’s thrusters emitted flash and Himekawa’s body was brought before Hokuto’s eyes in an instant.

“Wwha-!?”

Hokuto immediately evaded Himekawa’s sword. That slash looked only like a glimmer of an instant. Himekawa’s Sword was swung down in one go. The shockwave split apart the ground, bisecting into two the ten odd-storey building behind Hokuto.

“!?”

Although she evaded it, the blade of light elongating from Sword scratched the arm protector of Hokuto.

For Hokuto, it was something really unexpected. She fixed dumbfounded eyes at the single line carved on her arm.

“Thi……this is”

Hokuto’s face warped in rage. Flames jetted out from the armor that was modeled after a Kirin. Those flames hardened into the shape of a sword. When Hokuto grasped the flame, it changed appearance into a weapon with a crimson blade, [Hakke Kirin].

“How dare you wound my body!”

“Please don’t think that this will end just with a wound of that degree!”

“――!!”

Blades swooped down from the sky with an incredible speed. Hokuto immediately widened her wings and protected her body. Blades mercilessly cut apart those wings. Together with sparks, the armor of the wings were shaved and wounded.

“YO, YOU BASTAaaRD!”

“I said it already. That this won’t end with just that much wounds!”

Hokuto kicked on the ground. A fissure appeared and dust rolled up as if an explosion happened. Hakke Kirin drew an arc above Himekawa’s head. That slash was blocked by Sword.

“DO YOU KNOWWW! My body is not something that is mine alone! How dare you hurt everyone, everyone’s world like this!”

Hokuto’s wings emitted light. The propulsive force raised remarkably and it scattered particles while pushing Himekawa back. The sword and sword emitted fierce light while the bodies of the two were flying in a state that was slightly floating above the ground.

“-……what stupid power!?”

“Don’t you get carried away just from getting a little power up!”

They flew until the end of the main street instantly and crashed at a twenty-storey building at the end of the road. The wall broke and the two of them pierced through the walls inside the building one after another while still locking swords. And then they broke through towards the opposite side. The wall was smashed as if it exploded, fragments flew everywhere. The foundation that was destroyed couldn’t bear the weight of the building and it tilted violently. And then the houses and shops nearby got swallowed up, they were collapsing while raising up violent dust clouds.

“This is the world that you created right!? And you just destroy it like this!”

“It’s just a fake after all! Who cares about it!”

Red light ran over the Kirin armor.

It seemed that she was going to attack with some new attack. Judging that Himekawa struck first.

“Blade!”

The moment Himekawa called, soaring swords appeared from the two sides of the street. The blades cut apart the shops and ran in parallel while destroying stone walls and blocks. And then they slashed at Hokuto from four directions.

“Aah! That’s just troublesome!”

Hokuto flew up to the sky. The Blades that lost the target cut empty air, however without giving up, they swooped up. They were chasing after Hokuto with acrobatic movements.

The four Blades were turned back by Hokuto using Hakke Kirin and a shield of light. However, the Blades doggedly hounded her time and time again, slashing at Hokuto persistently.

“How obstinate! Then!”

The whole blade of Hakke Kirin shone red.

“That is!?”

The sky suddenly became clouded. Black clouds were whirling, the surroundings became dark in the blink of an eye. Amidst that, only Hakke Kirin that Hokuto held was emitting an ominous red light.

Inside Himekawa’s brain, the memory of the attack that Hokuto released at Ataraxia was revived. That power which turned Ataraxia into scorched earth in an instant.

“I won’t let you!”

Himekawa put one of her hand upfront. A magic circle that was shining radiantly got deployed from the fingertips.

“Liberation and severance from everything of this world――come”

The hilt of a sword appeared from the magic circle. The mechanical arm of Neros grasped that hilt and she pulled it out.

“Corruption Armament [Gladius]!!”

That was a sword with two blades. It had two wide and very long curved blades, lining up parallel to each other. The blade that severed apart the relation with this world. The huge sharp blades that were nearly two meter were just right for the current Neros.

“Here I come!”

Fully opening the thrusters on her back, Himekawa approached in front of Hokuto in one go.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Two flashes ran from one attack.

Red shockwave attacked the enemy from the movement of Gladius.

The red blade of Hakke Kirin repelled the silver blade of Gladius.

“Hah!”

Himekawa reversed the point of her sword and slashed horizontally aiming at Hokuto’s torso.

“Kuuh!”

The flashing slash released particles of light, the shockwave reached until the ground. That pressure blew away the roofs of the buildings.

Gladius slashed up from below. It struck the body of Hakke Kirin, bouncing up the blade tip above.

‘――Got her!’

“HUAAAAAAAH!”

Together with a shriek of fighting spirit, Himekawa’s returning blade cut at Hokuto’s left arm. There was a definite feedback. The two blades certainly dug into Hokuto’s armor. The next instant, Hokuto’s left arm danced in the air.

One of the machine god’s arm, was bisected.

“Eh……?”

Unable to believe what she saw, Hokuto stared at her arm that was separating from her while rotating in the air.

“Lies, that……”

When she looked at her left arm, certainly her arm was not there. It was like there was no armor at all starting from her elbow since the beginning, it was bisected with a clean cut.

“U, u, uWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Hokuto’s scream thundered in the sky. The wave of impact was transmitted to the dark cloud, undulating like a sea.

“This is not funny, not funny, something like this, like this――”

Hokuto’s abnormality made Himekawa’s countenance change.

“!? That’s!”

The light traveling all over Hokuto’s body converged at her cut left arm. Lines of light drew the contour of her lost arm, in succession the lines also drew the arm’s internal structure like drawing a plan. And then like fitting on puzzle pieces, the part surrounded by lines were changing into armor.

“No way……”

Himekawa’s eyes clouded in shock.

Hokuto’s left arm that should be bisected was reconstructed.

Hokuto wailed while her eyes were gathering tears.

“Something like this is not fun at all!”

Cold sweat trickled down Himekawa’s forehead. The same like Nayuta. Nayuta could also immediately recover from the damage she received.

‘――Against that, won’t we be unable to defeat her forever?’

That feeling of powerlessness and dread was spreading in her heart like a dark cloud. Himekawa tried to shake it off with her willpower and encouraged herself.

“Then I’ll do it no matter how many times!”

Himekawa once again attacked with Gladius. However, Hokuto also moved her Hakke Kirin. The two swords with supernatural ability clashed in the air.

It was a sword locking contest where Gladius extinguished the flame Hakke Kirin gushed out. The damage was enormous even just from that influence. Flame scorched the sky and the heat blazed up the buildings of the city.

With fierce a shockwave, the whole city sunk down with the two as the center. Even buildings that reached several tens of meters were crumbling down as if they were crushed from above. The houses crumbled as though they were stepped on by a giant, fissures were spreading in radial shape from the concaving ground.

“I’m counting on you! Gladius!”

“Kirai Enrin!”

When Hokuto shouted that, the flame of Hakke Kirin became even fiercer. Intense heat and shockwave attacked Himekawa. Even her fingers that were holding Gladius became trembling.

And then Hokuto roared as if to spout her soul.

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

At that moment, Gladius snapped.

‘――No way.’

Flame spread like a nuclear explosion. The flame licked the city, thunder destroyed buildings. Shockwave gouged out the ground, and stone blocks were flying up one after another from the street.

The beautiful lake adjoining the city boiled instantly, the forest was blazing up. Shockwaves that shook the whole floating island even cracked the solid rock supporting the ground.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Himekawa who was in the center of that received the direct attack and her consciousness flew away in an instant. Blown away by fierce the shockwave, she was then falling to the ground. Even the armor of the reborn Neros broke, scattering in pieces from Himekawa’s body. Himekawa was with a dim gaze at the ground which was approaching near.

‘――I lost.

Even though I’ve come this far. Even the power that I obtained by going as far as doing that kind of embarrassing thing is not useful.

The new power that I obtained by combining powers with Kizuna-kun.

――Kizuna-kun.’

Just before she crashed on the ground, someone embraced and stopped her body.

“Hayuru!”

A worrying gaze staring at her. Arms wrapped in black armor embracing her body.

“Kizuna……kun”

Kizuna landed on the ground holding Himekawa’s body. Nayuta was waiting there, looking up at Kizuna with eyes shining in anticipation.

“Now, this is the right time to act. Now is your turn.”

Himekawa separated her body from Kizuna and supported her body alone even while staggering.

“Ho, however, even Neros and Gladius aren’t a match against her. No matter how much Kizuna-kun had done Climax Hybrid with me, using the same thing……”

“No, it’s not the same.”

Not understanding what it was about, Himekawa stared at the back figure of Kizuna. Kizuna faced the blazing city, pondering of something.

“Honestly, I’m not inclined to use this weapon. Also calling its name is just, you know.”

“However, we have no leeway for an option.”

As if resigning himself, Kizuna sighed. And then he raised his gaze with resolve.

“I’m going!”

He put his right hand forward. A magic circle was deployed from the fingertips there. Not just a layer. Magic circles were floating up in the air one after another, creating a tunnel of light.

“Corruption Armament [Nayuta]!!”

Kizuna stepped into the tunnel of magic circles. Each time he passed a magic circle, the shape of Eros was changing. Eros’s armor evolved, it disassembled and the internal construction became clear to see. There, a new armor was installed. Each time he passed through a magic circle his armor increased with the shape transforming. Becoming even firmer. Even larger. Connecting into Kizuna’s biological tissue, surpassing the framework of Heart Hybrid Gear, attaining a transfiguration towards an even more evolved appearance. And then, when he went through that tunnel what existed there wasn’t a Heart Hybrid Gear. It was a fantastic shape, as though it was something different altogether.

That figure was like a machine god, but not a machine god.

Rather it was a demon.

The Hybrid of Eros and the figure of Nayuta as a machine god.

The armor’s build that didn’t compare unfavorably against machine god hinted at its hidden combat ability. The continuing arm from the square shoulder was a tough steel arm. Leg part carrying speed and destructive power. And then the form with sharp edge and mechanical wings. That appearance was close to a machine god, but there was no sacredness in it. Rather it was the reverse. It could only be said as ominously sinister.

Jet black armor where one could feel not light but darkness. Calamitous pink radiance ran from the gaps of that armor.

That armor made the one seeing it to harbor ill omen and dread.

It was the completely changed figure of an angel who had broke the taboo and fell from heaven in the end.

Nayuta floated a wicked smile.

“There is no other way but turning into a demon to win against a god. Isn’t that right, Kizuna?”

It was the form of Heart Hybrid Gear that was based from magic armor that accomplished even further evolution. A pioneering greatness achieved from devilish act and forbidden technique.

――It was, the ultimate final magitech.

“You were already a demon right from the start.”

After Kizuna said that acidly. He moved his gaze to Himekawa below him.

“Hayuru. I need to ask you a favo――”

“Ju, just, what is this-! Do, don’t tell me, Kizuna-kun, you-, with Professor Nayuta did, Cli-, Cli-Cli-Cli-Climax Hybrid!?”

Himekawa shouted while her eyes were rolling round and round.

“Eh? N, no, calm down Hayuru. Right now isn’t the time for――”

“We did an act that was similar to that.”

Nayuta nonchalantly answered. That answer made Himekawa stiffen.

“O, oi. Hayuru? This is for the sake of winning against the Deus ex Machina .”

“IMPOSSIBLEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Preposterous! It’s morally, ethically, socially, impossible!”

Himekawa raised a large explosion. However Nayuta explained with a composed face.

“What I did wasn’t Climax Hybrid. It was reinstall. You don’t need to worry, from here on too we will borrow the strength of all of you for Climax Hybrid.”

After making a relieved face for a moment, Himekawa’s face turned bright red.

“I, I’m not worrying about something like that! It’s about the preposterousness of――”

“This is different from the [Mode] that become possible after performing normal Climax Hybrid. This is the result of performing the reinstall where I share my combat ability that I have as a machine god to Eros’s Core. With this, it’s possible for Eros to mount the Corruption Armament [Nayuta]――”

The ground cracked. The attack of Hakke Kirin carved a large trench at the ground where the three were. The ground was dug up and rocks whirled up.

“You change your appearance again? But, no matter what you do, surpassing this me is impossible you know?”

Kizuna jumped to the sky while still embracing Himekawa. Escaping from Hokuto’s attack, he flew towards a different floating island.

“Hayuru! In order to defeat that girl, there is one more thing that we need to do no matter what!”

Right near Himekawa’s face was Kizuna’s face. Regardless of the kind of situation they were currently in, Himekawa’s chest throbbed strongly.

“I, if it’s something I can do……”

“I see. Thank you.”

‘――But, just what is,’

The lips that was going to say that was plugged by Kizuna’s lips.

“                                                                        ! ? ? ! ! ※◯▲×■？♥♡！◯♂♀★？？！！♥！×××！！！”

Himekawa fell into pandemonium.

‘――EEEeeE!? Wha, what is the meaning of this? That’s, we have done various kinds of amazing things until now but, even so a ki-, kiss! ……Ki, Kizuna-kun, don’t tell me♥’

“Nn-, n♥ ……kufuh……nn”

They tasted the texture of each other lips frantically. Himekawa’s eyes were closing ecstatically.

‘――Aa, my first kiss is in this kind of situation……but♥’

Brushing aside her enraptured feeling, Kizuna’s tongue slipped inside Himekawa’s mouth. Himekawa reflexively opened her eyes.

‘――Thi, this is what I heard from rumors, a, adult kiss!?’

The tongues of the two were entangled at each other inside Himekawa’s mouth. Her moist eyes once more closed ecstatically.

Tongue that was not hers was moving around inside her mouth. The tongues lovingly touched and caressed each other repeatedly. Himekawa’s throat moved. It was a deep kiss where their tongues entangled plenty.

Why was she kissed so suddenly? Such question was blown away already, that was how much she sweetly experienced Kizuna’s kiss. She didn’t know that having the inside of her mouth violated by another person’s tongue could feel this good. As that feeling heightened, particles of light began to rise from the bodies of Kizuna and Himekawa. That brightness was gradually increasing in intensity.

‘――KIZUNA-KUuUUUUNNNNN!’

When Himekawa’s pleasure and feeling reached the climax, Himekawa’s body emitted dazzling light.

Explosion of light that blinded the eye.

And then that light settled down, when their eyes could open again, there was Himekawa’s body wrapped in pink light standing there.

When their lips separated, Himekawa’s cheeks were dyed flaring red and she looked up at Kizuna with a feverish gaze.

“Kizuna-kun you dummy……that’s mean. What are you doing so suddenly. But, this is……it means that isn’t it? Kizuna-kun, you l……”

At that point Himekawa’s face became even redder. And then she murmured mumblingly with a voice so small that couldn’t be heard.

“Lo-, lover……n, no, to go out together with marriage as the premise……in, in other words, I, I am, Kizuna-kun’s wife――”

Kizuna worriedly called out to Himekawa whose condition was strange.

“Hayuru? What’s the matter?”

“Hyah!? Nya, nyathing at all suu-!”

Kizuna made a dubious face for a moment, but he turned his face to a serious one and informed her solemnly.

“This is, the other trump card remaining to us. The [Kischarge Hybrid].”

Himekawa raised one of her eyebrows and made a complicated expression.

“Hy……Hybrid?”

Himekawa finally noticed too late that her body was shining in a pink color.

“This is……my body, is shining?”

“Yeah, that’s the proof that the Kischarge Hybrid succeeded.”

“Then, the kiss just now was for……”

Himekawa’s expression froze and her lips twitched.

“Yeah. With this power, I could win even against Grace and Kaa-san. This is not something to replenish the Hybrid Count. It’s a Hybrid that used up the remaining Hybrid Count in one go. It only works for a short time of less than several tens of seconds, but it’s able to exhibit ability several times that of the normal Climax Hybrid.”

“Is……is that so……”

Himekawa showed an expression of disappointment, but she shook her head and pulled herself together.

“And, what should we do?”

“Lend me Neros’s Corruption Armament [Gladius].”

“Eh? But……”

Even Himekawa’s prided Gladius didn’t work against Hokuto. It was snapped by Hakke Kirin.

“It’s fine. Summon Gladius one more time for me.”

“I understand.”

Himekawa put her hand forward and opened a magic circle one more time. And then she grasped at the hilt protruding out from there.

‘――Ah?

It’s different.

What――is this?’

The sword that showed its appearance was a sword with three blades.

The blades increased by one from the usual Gladius, changing into a sword with three blades lining up.

The glistening blades also increased in brightness, as if it was being happy in its reborn self. The three blades resonated to each other and it felt like they were playing a tranquil sound. That sound was pleading to Kizuna and Himekawa, I want to quickly fight, try out the new me, like that.

Kizuna grasped the handle of Gladius and propped up Himekawa’s hand.

“Now, let’s go Hayuru.”

“……Yes.”

Eros’s thrusters spouted out fire. It was Eros’s serious acceleration. It was a sensation as if the time of the surroundings stopped. The world around was slowly flowing. Even the motion of flame Hokuto raised was stopping as though they were looking at a photo.

Kizuna and Himekawa readied Gladius that now had three blades and slashed at Hokuto.

“HAAAAAAAAAA!”

However, Hokuto reacted. As expected of a machine god, she couldn’t be taken by surprise even with this speed.

“You……how obstinate-!”

Hokuto readied Hakke Kirin and flew up. Both sides clashed at each other with speed that looked like teleportation. Sparks scattered between the swords.

They mutually unleashed an attack and passed each other. And then they turned around and went at it one more time.

Hokuto blew out flame that was conspicuously dazzling and beautiful from her body. She raised Hakke Kirin to the sky, her wings spread and red light was emitted from her whole body.

“That’s-!?”

Kizuna remembered seeing that radiance before. The light Thanatos fired when she terminated Zeltis. It was that red light.

‘――This is bad!’

“Vanish altogether with this fake world!”

From Hokuto’s whole body, red light was fired towards Kizuna.

The light that erased the world.

No one could oppose that light of god’s judgment.

However that light split into two.

“Wha!?”

Hokuto spontaneously raised her voice.

Kizuna and Himekawa was thrusting Gladius forward. That sword of three blades met the red light, cut it apart, and extinguished that light of destruction.

“That’s right huh, Hokuto! Say farewell to this kind of fake!’

“No way……lies.”

No matter what kind of weapon it was, defending against that light should be impossible. That was the light that reset the world. The light to return back the world into nothingness.

Why could that light, be cut?

That sword, these guys――,

“Just what the hell, is this-!?”

“Even if you shut yourself in this kind of fake world to fool yourself, it won’t bring about anything! At this rate, no matter how long time passed you cannot become honest to yourself! Are you planning to keep living lying to yourself, forever like this!?”

Hokuto’s rage and impatience grew violent from this situation that just wouldn’t move as she willed.

“This is not fun at all! If I’m not feeling happy then――”

“I don’t understand the details. But, you are just pretending to be happy. All this time since I met you for the first time until now, I have never seen you making a truly happy face!”

“Wha……”

“For whose sake is that? Creating this kind of lonely world, doing a one person show, what’s all that for!”

“Shut up, SHUT UUUUPP! You impertinent guinea pig!”

Hokuto kicked the air and rushed at Kizuna. It was a speed that could traverse from a corner of this world to the other corner instantly. With that speed, Hakke Kirin was swung down at Kizuna.

The blade of god, that was the rage of god that was given to humans. That flame clashed with Gladius. The sword of three blades was supported by two people, Kizuna and Himekawa. Hakke Kirin and Gladius, the two supernatural blades scattered sparks.

“I’ll show you, how I liberate you, liberating your soul! For that sake!”

“……!!”

Cracks entered Hakke Kirin and the blade broke. The sword snapped in the middle and its tip danced in the air.

‘――That’s absurd!?’

The existence made from the compression of all the weapons in the world where Hokuto was. That Hakke Kirin snapped. Furthermore who did it was the life-form that was born from the world that they created.

“Something……like this is”

Unbelievable.

“Hayuru!”

“Yes-!”

Their thinking matched each other just from calling the other’s name. The Gladius that the two of them held was swung down from right above, impact pierced Hokuto’s body.

“GUAUH!”

Hokuto also piled up shields of light and blocked Gladius. However, in front of Gladius that extinguished even existence itself, Hokuto’s shields were meaningless. One by one they were being smashed up.

“Kuu, such thing……such thing”

Hokuto gritted her teeth.

“No good, this is no good……if I don’t feel happy, that’s not good.”

She forcefully floated a twitching smile.

But, that smiling face was stiff.

Finally Gladius destroyed all of Hokuto’s shields and blew away even her body.

“Such thing-! SUCH THINGGGGGGGGGG-!”

Even while being blown away, she burst out flame from her whole body and controlled her posture. But exactly at that moment when she became defenseless, that was the chance of victory that Kizuna was waiting eagerly for.

Kizuna released his hand from Gladius and clenched his fist strongly.

And then, he kicked the air with all his might.

Himekawa embraced the sword of three blades on her chest and saw off the back of Kizuna who instantly became distant.

With his firmly clenched fist as a weapon, Kizuna traversed the sky.

“Here I go, god!”

The light running over Kizuna’s armor increased in brightness. That light was sent to his arm and condensed towards his fist.

His left and right fists shined calamitously and blazed up.

He held up the shining fists.

With a speed that even Hokuto’s eyes couldn’t follow, Eros’s fist struck out.

“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

Hokuto covered her body instantly with both her arms.

Eros’s fists mercilessly pulverized the guarding arms of Hokuto. Eros’s fists sank into Hokuto’s arms, crushed them, and smashed them. Brushing aside the arms that became pieces, Eros’s fists dug into Hokuto’s body.

At that moment, along with dazzling brightness, the destruction program Nayuta prepared was sent.

That was a gospel of curse that destroyed the existence of a machine god from the inside until nothing remained.

Melody of despair resounded until the bottom of Hokuto’s body.

Power that destroyed the existence of a machine god cut loose the fusion of Hokuto’s flesh and the armor.

The legs, wings, those armors were amputated altogether.

The biological, mechanical, magical construction and circuit that composed Hokuto’s body. All of those were crumbling. This was exactly the trump card of the anti-machine god that the Corruption Armament [Nayuta] possessed.

“――[Reincarnation(Machine God Reincarnation)]!!”

Eros’s fists stopped, Hokuto’s body fluttered in the air.

The armor integrated into her body disassembled, torn down, the body that became thoroughly small was falling down towards the ground.

“Kizuna! Hokuto will soon recover. Deal the finishing blow!”

Nayuta’s voice resounded out of nowhere.

“Ou!”

Kizuna chased after the falling Hokuto. Hokuto’s body missed the island where the city was at and fell into a cloud. He didn’t know what was below the cloud, but Kizuna also flew in towards the cloud.

{Kizuna-kun! This finishing blow……in what way?}

A floating window opened and the worried face of Himekawa was projected there.

“Aa, leave the rest to me! Hayuru, you return back to battleship Ataraxia! The effect of Kischarge Hybrid will run out after five more seconds, so be careful!”

{Ah, wait, Kizuna-kun!}

Closing the window of Himekawa that still seemed to want to say something, Kizuna chased after Hokuto. While he was flying, pink light was crumbling off from his body. It was the end of Kischarge Hybrid.

‘――With this, if [the way to finish off a machine god] doesn’t work on Hokuto…….’

“That will be the end of the line.”

Kizuna accelerated even further and caught up until where it just took a little more until his hand could reach out.

Hokuto who now looked the same as a human was falling while being flapped by the wind pressure. Her eyes were closed where it looked like she fainted, but lines of light were coming to the surface of her body. It was a slowly moving light, but lines of light were being carved on Hokuto’s body like drawing a blueprint.

‘――Is that a preparation for her to recover?’

But right now her recovery ability was still not working normally.

“Now is the only chance!”

Kizuna embraced Hokuto’s body.

“Fuah!?”

Hokuto’s eyes snapped open.

“Wha……what are you doing-! Let go-!”

Kizuna didn’t let go of Hokuto that was struggling violently and firmly put his hand on her back. Right now in this moment, Hokuto could only exert power like an average human. That was because the virus stock of the sure kill technique [Reincarnation] that Nayuta created was repressing the machine god function inside Hokuto’s body.

“I’m going to have you accompany me for a little!”

“I refuse! Something not fun like――nyaaaah!?”

Kizuna’s hand groped Hokuto’s breast. The large breast that was imbalanced with her petite body was being shaken by wind pressure. Kizuna grasped the struggling breast and gently rubbing with his palm to make her docile.

“Wha-, whaaaahhh-, what, are you doing-, nn!”

His fingertips rolled the tip while his palm was groping. Thereupon, Hokuto’s legs stretched tautly.

“Aaah! What’s, this-, it’s stra-, strange, naaau”

‘――As I thought. This girl has never got sexual pleasure.’

Kizuna became convinced of the method that was entrusted to him from Nayuta beforehand.

That method was, so to speak the [method to finish off a machine god].

But, it was impossible to implement that method in the air. He had to move somewhere. However he also only had little remaining Hybrid Count. Even if he used his thrusters and returned to the battleship Ataraxia, perhaps the energy would run out in the middle.

But, he also couldn’t stay like this where he was continuing to fall. When he came out of the cloud, there was still blue sky and clouds visible below. It seemed that the sky was continuing forever.

“Yo, you……using strange techniques like this……”

Hokuto was grinding her teeth and glared at him. Lines of light once more ran through her body, trying to start recovering. Kizuna pinched the tip of her breast without delay.

“Hiah! Aaaan♥ Aa, don’t……stop, if you, do that……strength cannot enter.”

The lines of light vanished from Hokuto’s body.

‘――If I don’t hurry, this hard to get chance will turn to nothing. What to do…….’

{Kizuna!}

Reiri’s yelling voice resounded. It was a sound produced from a speaker.

“Nee-chan!? Where are you?”

{Right here!}

When he came out of the cloud, right at his side a large transport appeared. Perhaps its engine was turned off because it was continuing to fall naturally parallel with Kizuna. The rear hatch opened and there was Nayuta waving her hand there. Reiri was sitting on the cockpit and she was yelling something into the headset she wore. That voice reached Kizuna’s ears with a slight delay.

{Use your remaining Hybrid Count and rush to the rear hatch!}

“Roger!”

Kizuna kept embracing Hokuto closely while igniting his thrusters and followed at the rear side of the transport. And then he carefully flew in. The moment his feet touched the floor of the cargo room, his Hybrid Count met its limit and the safety device urged Eros to cancel. Using the Gear more than this would endanger his life. Kizuna obeyed the safety device and released the Heart Hybrid Gear.

“Way to go, Nee-chan!”

Kizuna yelled at the direction of the cockpit. Hearing that, the rear hatch closed and the sound of the engine’s output rising could be heard.

{We are returning to battleship Ataraxia after this. Kizuna you finish off Hokuto!}

Kizuna nodded at Reiri’s voice that was audible from the speaker. And then he stared at Hokuto who was in his arms. If he didn’t immediately deal the [method to finish off a machine god], she would completely revive.

“Kizuna. Use that.”

Nayuta pointed at the depth of the cargo room. There was a hastily made bedroom there. It was only a simple mattress spread out there, but there was some sensor and scanning device lined up around it. Surely it was for the sake of taking data of the act with Hokuto after this.

Kizuna laid down Hokuto on that bed.

Her breathing was rough, Hokuto looked up at Kizuna and Nayuta.

“To do something like this……to this me, uu……you all, who are……”

“I am exactly like what I said in my introduction before. If I have to add something, this is Hida Kizuna. My son……in other words, the child that I created.”

“Son……child? Created you say?”

Hokuto returned a reaction that showed she didn’t really understand.

“I see. Living things left behind offspring. So you have forgotten even such a common fact.”

Nayuta climbed on the bed.

“You cannot be defeated with common methods. You aren’t a machine or a living thing, but an aggregation composed from a great number of life-forms and a world. The ultimate existence, you are truly fitting to be called a god. The way to defeat such you, that is――”

Nayuta raised her index finger and waved her hand lightly. Thereupon the clothes of Nayuta and Kizuna disappeared as if they were erased.

“Wha-!?”

Hokuto was taken aback by the two bodies that appeared when the clothes were removed. The lined bodies of the two obviously were made differently.

‘――This is male and female? Certainly I think there is that kind of data. Manufacturing one’s own duplication with reproduction act.’

However, the detail of that act wasn’t preserved as data. Hokuto was mostly clueless regarding that act.

Kizuna also climbed on the bed and hung over Hokuto.

“Wha, what? What are you planning to do to me?”

She shrank her body fearfully. That gesture was more like an innocent girl rather than a god.

Kizuna touched the cheek of Hokuto. The texture was no different than a human, it was soft and warm. He caressed her cheek, from there he caressed down from her neck to her collarbone.

Hokuto’s body twitched in reaction.

“Wha, what’s, this?”

Stimulation was transmitted inside her body from the touched spot, her back was shivering. When her body was touched in the air just now was also like this. This was the first time she experienced this kind of sensation.

Before this, she had completely forgotten the sensation of being touched by other people.

Kizuna’s hand that caressed down from her chest then tightly grasped at Hokuto’s voluptuous breasts.

“~~-!?”

Hokuto raised a soundless scream. It froze Hokuto’s thought circuit for an instant. When Kizuna separated his hand, the sensation assaulting her whole body was pulling back little by little.

“……Ju, just now, ahih!”

This time he pinched at the tips of the breasts.

“Hi, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!?”

The body that endured every kind of attack, the system that could process any kind of information threw in the towel in the blink of an eye.

‘――Wha, what is, this attack. I, I cannot resist.’

Strength left her body, she couldn’t put strength in her waist even when she tried to stand, her arms and legs wouldn’t listen to what she said.

“Wha……abnormality appears in the system?”

“No. That’s the correct reaction, Hokuto-sama.”

Kizuna brought his face closer to Hokuto’s breast and sucked at the pink tips.

“NYAAAAN-!”

Hokuto’s spine bended backwards remarkably. Kizuna continued to persistently sucked at that breast. Each time his tongue rolled the tip of that breast, the stiffness and largeness were gradually increasing.

“FuaAAAH! NO-! DON’T-! I, I BECOME STRANGE!”

Her arms and legs struggled violently, but she couldn’t put any strength at all. Her godlike power in the middle of battle had suspiciously vanished somewhere, her strength now was no different than a normal girl.

While sucking the breast, Kizuna’s hand caressed Hokuto’s back.

“Fuhih! A, a, AAAAAAAAAAAAH”

His fingertips were deliberately going to and fro on her spine, as if to tickle her purposefully. Drool was dripping from Hokuto’s kept open mouth.

Kizuna separated his mouth from the tip of her breast and crawled his tongue all over her breast teasingly. And then he was licking up through her neck.

“Nkyaah! I, it’s tickli……ah, is this, ticklish……sensation?”

“So you also don’t understand something like that. Just how in the world you passed your time until now?”

Kizuna peered into Hokuto’s eyes. It was a close distance where their noses touched each other. Their lips almost touched.

“Ah……”

Hokuto’s remembered her situation and her cheeks reddened.

“This is just strange, my temperature increased, the tissue all over my body open. Besides……”

She was drawn in to Kizuna’s lips. Why did she want to do that kind of act, she didn’t understand. But, she wanted to do that.

Hokuto touched her lips to Kizuna’s lips.

At that moment, image that Kizuna had never seen before flowed into his sight.

‘――This is!?’

Several thousands of people were kneeling at an extensive courtyard of a palace. Ahead of them a long staircase decorated with the relief of dragon. The one sitting at its peak was a lone girl.

That girl who was called as a ruler with heavenly mandate was of the family that ruled this world. The last of that family.

From among the kneeling retainers, one old man stepped forward in front of the ruler.

“Ruler-sama, at last we finally arrived at the time where we will accomplish the final evolution.”

The people in that place were all wearing happy smiles. However there was only one person, just the girl that was called as ruler, was pursing her lips in ‘^’ shape with a frowning face.

“……But, everyone will be gone because of that right?”

The old man showed an exaggerated surprise.

“What is your majesty talking about. Rather it’s the opposite. We are going to become an existence that is difficult to lose connection with, a unique and peerless existence.”

The girl with only her breasts growing big relatively with her young figure, tilted her head unable to really understand.

“This world is progressing towards annihilation. The lifespan of the star is going to run out, day by day the population is also decreasing from the epidemic among the people. Sooner or later, life too will cease to be from death.”

A young male reverently walked closer.

“Hokuto-sama, we are entrusting our wish to the future. Even if we and our world are ruined, we want to leave behind the proof of our lives, the proof of our existence. That proof will someday create a new world. Believing that, we turn everything our world accomplished into data and leave it to the future.”

It was a talk Hokuto couldn’t understand. She had never heard that kind of difficult story until now. What she understood was about studying, about delicious meals, about her favorite clothes, and about going out to the city, that was all.

This time a retainer of a young female arrived at Hokuto’s side.

“Accordingly we will leave a single personality as our representative. The one chosen as that personality, Hokuto-sama, that is you.”

Hokuto tilted her head, as if to say she didn’t really understand.

“Hokuto-sama, you can survive. Fooorever, even from here on. For eternity.”

That female was smiling. However, it felt like her eyes were hiding a color of sadness.

“But……even if I survive, I won’t be able to talk with everyone right? Then, I don’t wanna. I’m fine being together with everyone too. I don’t wanna be alone.”

Words got stuck inside that female’s throat. Tears were floating in her eyes. However she barely held it back from trickling out and forcefully made a smile.

“No. To become all alone, that’s preposterous. We will become one. All of the data we left behind will be inherited by Hokuto-sama. That means that I, and Hokuto-sama will become a single human. In other words, from now on we will be together all the time with Hokuto-sama.”

“Together all the time……”

The people she was closed to surrounded her adoringly.

“That’s right. We……right, all of us will become a single world.” (TN: Here the person changed his way of talking from reverent to normal in the middle.”

‘――A single world.’

“We who become a world will become not human. However, we want to entrust the vestige of us as a human to your majesty the ruler. As the only remaining personality, please become the existence that governs over our will.”

“But……”

“I beg you Hokuto-sama. We will be together forever from now on. Let’s live together happily with everyone.”

“There will be no more people in pain. A happy and gentle world is awaiting.”

Hokuto looked around at the faces of everyone.

“Really? Will it really be, fun?”

“Yes. We will be a part of Hokuto-sama. If Hokuto-sama is feeling happy, then all of us too will pass our time happily.”

“That’s why Hokuto-sama,”

‘――Please, be happy forever.’

Kizuna separated his lips from Hokuto.

“Just now……”

“That’s, seem to be the oldest memory of Hokuto.”

Nayuta’s knees collapsed and she sat on the bed.

“Kaa-san also saw that?”

“Yes. Thanks to that I understood now the true identity of Hokuto. She is the left behind data of a lost civilization, which aimed at the revival of that civilization, that data was continuing autonomic calculation, and became abnormally developed into this figure.”

Staring at the sleeping girl, Kizuna tried to overlap the words of Nayuta with the girl in front of his eyes. However he thought that matching the two was something difficult.

“You are saying that this girl……is a lump of data……”

“After a long time the body of data obtained strength and became the appearance of a machine god, that is this Hokuto. However in the process, Hokuto’s self that was abnormally developed became unable to act normally. She became unable to accurately search and deploy the past archive data.”

“You are saying……that the data of Hokuto’s world is gone, that’s not it right?”

“Yes. It seems the data is in the bottom of the girl herself. The current her cannot discover that data. However――”

Nayuta’s cheeks loosened up happily.

“If we can just find the data, it’s possible to restore the original world.”

Those eyes were shining with curiosity.

“We are destroying the self of the girl that has been grown up too much as a machine god. If we do that the original awareness of the girl can possibly access the database at the bottom of her.”

“What Kaa-san means by destroying, in other words……I can just think of it as something similar like Climax Hybrid right?”

Nayuta smiled as if to say ‘of course’.

“If her ego can be destroyed, this time Hokuto’s ability that evolved her to become a machine god can conversely be useful. Her power as a machine god can surely regenerate her original world.”

“Nn……”

Hokuto opened her eyes.

“Aah……forced termination happened……I’m rebooted.”

It felt like she was sleeping. For Hokuto, how long it had been since the act of sleeping became unneeded for her. That was a story of the past so far to the degree that even the concept of time became unclear.

“So you woke up, Hokuto.”

Hokuto compared the two faces at the bedside.

“You are……Hida Kizuna and, Hida Nayuta……you two were, ahn!”

The big breast changed shape flexibly due to Kizuna’s hand. The slightly hard touching sensation firmly pushed back at his fingers.

“Fuahn, a, again, what, is this……yaaahn”

Hokuto’s body wriggled from the slight caress. Unable to endure the pleasure given to her, her body was writhing around. Kizuna caressed around her thigh, his hand was sliding from the outside to the inside.

“Nnyaah!”

Unable to endure, she closed her thighs.

Her face blushed and her gaze couldn’t focus. Her tongue peeked out from her half opened mouth, feverish breath continued to sigh out.

“Ufufu, the effect is more than I imagined.”

Nayuta put on a coquettish air with her childish limbs.

“There is no reproducing act for them Deus ex Machina. They don’t even have sexual feelings. They abandoned all the senses that became unnecessary. But, on the contrary that becomes their weak spot.”

Nayuta’s small hand touched Hokuto’s forehead.

“Because they are perfect, therefore this act became unnecessary. A sensation they are inexperienced with. Those kinds of sensations become the greatest attack. And then intense pleasure that is really hard to resist will destroy the network existing inside Hokuto’s body and that will surely become the destruction of her ego as a machine god.”

Nayuta’s fingertip shined. Hokuto’s pupil opened and particles of light were dancing inside.

“Wha……what are, you doing?”

Hokuto asked with a scared voice. Nayuta wore a smile that was like a loving mother while giving a verdict like a demon.

“I versioned up the virus program that Kizuna sent into Hokuto-sama and implemented a new function. With this Hokuto-sama’s sexual feelings is climbing until ten times than before.”

Hearing the words that might as well be the same as a death sentence, Hokuto’s complexion became ghastly pale. Nayuta was looking fondly at that expression.

“From here on, the pleasure you feel won’t even compare to what you have felt until now. Surely Hokuto-sama will be addicted to it……fufufu, that’s only if you can stay sane though.”

Hokuto pleaded with a trembling voice while in tears.

“Don’t, that’s just no good, stop it……such thing, even though even now I’m already going to become strange……ten times of this, that will absolutely, absolutely make me insane.”

However Nayuta talked back with a kind voice.

“Kizuna, do it.”

As expected even Kizuna made an unpleasant expression.

“Really, you are just nasty.”

However there was no choice but to do it. In order to take back Lemuria and Ataraxia. And then――,

“Hokuto. For your world too.”

Kizuna seized the breast of Hokuto with both his hands.

“!! ……Ih!? KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Hokuto’s scream thundered.

Her small body convulsed. She opened her eyes in shock and her tongue protruded out. Her raised up leg was quavering twitchingly.

He guessed that she likely welcomed a light climax. However Kizuna’s hands didn’t allow her to descend down from the climax that she had already climbed to. It was a breast that was excessively large for Hokuto’s body. He massaged attentively there as if to stuff in pleasure from there. The breast that was soft yet absurdly maintained its beautiful shape was kneaded around. Thereupon little by little the hardness that he first felt was taken away, becoming a soft sensation. The shape changed matching his hand, to the degree that it overflowed from between his fingers. And then when he separated his hand, it shook like a jelly while recovering its original beautiful shape.

That motion was lovely and also pleasant. Unintentionally Kizuna repeated that caressing. But, Hokuto who was being touched was in a disastrous state.

“Aah, uah……sto, stop-, ahiu! A, a, anhaaaaaa”

Tears were trickling down from her hollow eyes, saliva was flowing down from her trembling lips. Climax was surging on her many times like waves. Each time her consciousness was getting distant, the network inside her head was getting interrupted.

Her thought circuit was closed, there was only feeling as if she was being changed completely into a living thing that was merely being washed away by pleasure.

Kizuna shouldered both of Hokuto’s legs and buried his face between her nether region. And then when Kizuna’s tongue touched the organ shouldn’t be unnecessary for Hokuto, a pleasure that couldn’t be compared with everything until now pierced Hokuto.

“――! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Kizuna’s tongue was thoroughly tracing the inside of the slit. Honey was overflowing out from Hokuto’s inside in happiness from that. That was a really sweet taste.

‘――That’s right, the taste is exactly the same like the nectar I tasted when doing Project Babel.’

After drinking down that honey, Kizuna’s body also became hot, his state was turning into something like being drunk.

“More. I’ll make you feel even better, Hokuto.”

There was a small protrusion on Hokuto’s slit. Kizuna put that sensitive bud into his mouth and sucked up with all his might.

“HIgiih! …..Ku……hah, IAAAAAAaUAAANNNNNNN-!”

Her whole body was trembling fiercely, Hokuto’s body bended backwards. Tears were flowing without stopping from her melting eyes, her body twisted desperately trying to escape from Kizuna and she reached out her hand. She clutched on the bed and pulled away her sensitive spot from Kizuna’s mouth by crawling.

“Haah, au……do, don’t. I must escape……”

Her legs and arms struggled as if she was swimming on the bed. However those legs were caught by Kizuna.

“AAAaUAAN!”

Her ass was massaged thoroughly and then opened. Inside, there was an organ that was faithfully prepared in spite of being unnecessary. Kizuna traced it with his finger while attentively observing what kind of reaction she would make.

“Kuhiu! That kind of……kuh, placeeeeu!”

Hokuto was writhing around with her whole body becoming sweaty. Surely she had no sanity anymore. After losing her original processing power, her thought routine and her behavior algorithm and also autonomic nerves weren’t functioning properly.

“Soon……I’ll give you the finishing blow.”

Kizuna embraced Hokuto’s body, he brought his face close and stared at her.

Hokuto was in a state of sobbing convulsively mixed with gasping of pleasure and weeping. The area around her weeping eyes became red, her cheeks also blushed and were dyed scarlet.

That face wasn’t that of a machine god, it was the face of the girl that became the base of that consciousness.

“Being alone is lonely right, Hokuto?’

Hokuto nodded her head many times while crying.

“Bu, but……if, if I, feel lonely, or feel sad……everyone will become sad so, I am everyone’s representative……that’s why”

Kizuna’s finger opened Hokuto’s slit. And then he forced his way through inside.

“Nnah! Tha, that’s why, I have to be cheerful all the time.”

“There is no such thing.”

Kizuna’s face approached.

“Certainly, if Hokuto is sad then everyone will be sad too. But, they should be even sadder if Hokuto suffers for everyone’s sake. That’s why――”

Kizuna’s lips piled up on Hokuto’s lips.

“!?”

Kizuna’s tongue gently caressed Hokuto’s tongue. That was a pleasure that would melt someone.

It didn’t convey only a pursuit for pleasure, it transmitted a gentle sympathy.

‘――Hokuto. Let’s return to your original world. Everyone should know already just how much you are in suffering and feel sad. That’s why surely, this time they will think of a different way.’

Hokuto also moved her tongue and responded to Kizuna. Her small tongue entered into Kizuna’s mouth and she caressed dearly at Kizuna’s tongue with her soft tongue.

‘――Yes. I guess……perhaps that is so.’

Kizuna’s finger invaded into the depth of Hokuto. Hokuto tightened hard from the happiness of that. Kizuna advanced pushing into the tight inside. Hokuto felt like her eyes would roll to the back.

“NNNNNNUuNNN!”

Hokuto whose mouth was blocked raised a muffled coquettish voice. So to play off that voice even more, Kizuna’s finger began to move intensely. As though violating the wall inside without leaving even an inch behind, so that there wouldn’t be any place left untouched, he caressed up thoroughly.

Each time Hokuto’s mind network raised sparks. Electric current ran in her field of vision, it was becoming difficult to be aware of her sight. In exchange, there was intense pleasure she was inexperienced in welling up from the inside of her body. Her body and mind were washed away by that pleasure.

Kizuna’s finger entering her bumped at the deepest wall.

“FUGUuh!”

Hokuto’s eyes blacked out for an instant. Hokuto’s small body easily permitted the invasion until the deepest part. Lewd pleasure so great that might destroy everything. Kizuna tortured the deepest wall many times as if striking at that pleasure over and over. Each time he moved in and out, hot honey spurted out from that opening, Kizuna continued to dig into Hokuto that it sounded like there was a drumming sound.

“NN―! N―! Fuuh! Guuh! ♥”

The pleasure brought about by her two mouths was pushing up Hokuto until the utmost limit of her climax.

And then finally the moment Kizuna’s finger destructed Hokuto’s limit,

“♥♥♥♥♥――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――!!”

Hokuto’s scream was fed mouth to mouth into inside Kizuna’s stomach.

Her whole body warped tensely, Hokuto broke through the wall of climax. Hot nectar spurt out from Hokuto’s body, dripping down from Kizuna’s finger.

The network composing Hokuto was disintegrating. The ego of Hokuto as a machine god was crumbling. And then the liberated data was flowing out.

Hokuto’s body was transforming into brilliant light and her existence in this world was diluting. The surroundings were enveloped in light, as though flying out from inside the transport to another world.

“If there is your power as a machine god, then restoring your original world is possible. If you return to your original world, use that power to save your world.”

Hokuto who was changing into particles of light smiled happily.

“Yes……that’s right isn’t it.”

From Hokuto’s body, figures of people appeared as if flowing out. Surely those were the people who took care of Hokuto. The people whose appearance closely resembled the posters pasted in the city. But, this time their faces could be seen properly. Those figures flew up beyond the light and diffused into the air.

Figures of city, many islands, even the plane appeared from inside Hokuto’s hand and vanished.

“Thank you, Kizuna.”

And then Hokuto herself shined brightly and melted into a surface of light.

The light surrounding Kizuna suddenly vanished.

He was in the cargo room of the transport. Above the simple mattress spread on the floor.

“With this the disposal of Hokuto is complete.”

Nayuta was standing in front of Kizuna. Hokuto’s figure was gone already.

Kizuna stared at his arm. The sensation of Hokuto that he embraced until just now was remaining in his arm.

“Hokuto……she is not dead right?”

Nayuta nodded her head and answered.

“Yes. Surely she will create a new world and deploy the salvaged data there. This time it’s not a copy with shoddy quality like this world, but the original.”

“……Is that so.”

Kizuna leaked out a sigh of relief.

“Still, we also got a parting gift.”

Nayuta faced Kizuna and opened her hand. On her palm she was grasping a red crystal.

“This is the configuration information of the world.”

‘――That thing is!?’

It was really compact for something filled with the world. Furthermore it had the shape that looked really easy to break. Kizuna became scared to touch and his reaching out hand stopped.

“……But! With this our world can return to before!”

Kizuna’s voice was excited.

Nayuta put her gaze on that crystal and stared as if peering inside it.

“It seems that’s impossible.”

Nayuta who told him that indifferently made Kizuna get taken aback. Having the wind taken out of his sail while he was feeling happy made him feel tricked somehow.

“Why the hell not!? The story is not like――”

“This is the configuration information of Lemuria, just about half of it.”

“……What?”

‘――In the first place, half of our world, is being put inside that red crystal?’

“It seems, the configuration information of our worlds is being divided into four among the Deus ex Machina.”

Kizuna went dumbfounded reflexively, and then he pondered.

‘――So that means,’

“We have to defeat the whole Deus ex Machina……that’s what that means?”

“That’s what it comes to……though, looks like this is not the time to talk about such things.”

“What? What do you mean――”

Reiri’s voice resounded in the cargo room, erasing Kizuna’s question.

{This is Reiri! The termination of the world is beginning! Emergency, prepare to evacuate!}

“Wha……what the hell!?’

He clung at the window of the transport and looked outside. Thereupon, he could see the sky behind the transport cracked and falling into pieces. The speed of the cracks running through the blue sky was faster than the transport.

Kizuna asked Nayuta as if snapping at her.

“Oi! What’s going to happen if we get swallowed into that!?”

“Who knows? Perhaps we will be lost for eternity at the interstice of the worlds, or else the moment we are swallowed we will crumble down maybe.”

“Don’t act so carefree like that! Do something in this kind of time!”

Nayuta shrugged her shoulders and murmured in astonishment.

“My power as a machine god is mostly consumed by the three battleships and Eros’s Core. The current me is just a little girl you know.”

“Guh……!”

Turning his back at Nayuta, he kicked on the ground and ran to the cockpit.

“Nee-chan! Can we escape!?”

“I don’t know! In the worst case, it’s going to be a double suicide with you!”

Saying that she stared at Kizuna and smiled with face dripping in cold sweat.

“But, Kaa-san is together with us here!”

“We’ll escape no matter what! Hold on!”

With the greatest output of the jet engine, the transport came out of the clouds. Blue sky was spreading and a sea of cloud was extending vastly. Rifts were running over that blue sky. Black cracks reached towards the other side of the sea of clouds’ horizon.

‘――Is this the end?’

The moment he thought that, the cloud was bulging up.

“That’s!”

From inside the sea of clouds, the battleship Ataraxia was rising to the surface. A floating window started up in front of Reiri and Kei’s face appeared.

{Reiri! Land on the deck!}

Kizuna pinned down the hand of Reiri that was going to reduce the speed.

“No good. We will be swallowed if we reduce the speed! Just crash this transport like this to the deck!”

The transport didn’t reduce the speed and charged to Ataraxia. And then, on the verge of coming into contact, the transport grazed above the battleship Ataraxia.

It will be dangerous to use his Hybrid Count more than this. Ignoring the window that warned him of the safety device’s notification, Kizuna yelled.

“Eros!”

Kizuna flew out from the rear hatch of the transport wearing Eros. He carried Reiri with his left hand and Nayuta with his right hand, landing on the deck of Ataraxia.

“Eros has landed! Shikina-san, go!”

“Hida-kuuun! This wayyyy!!”

At the nearby hatch, Kurumizawa Momo of the research department was waving her hand. Without even any time to answer, he flew inside that hatch carrying the two.

The Excavator at the bow of Ataraxia second generation opened a hole out of this world and escaped, it was right after that.

Kizuna unequipped Eros and slumped down on the spot collapsing on the floor.

The remaining Hybrid Count was 0.02%.

He was at death’s door.

“Haha……it’s the new record so far until now huh. Well, we are saved someho-…..eh?”

Kizuna’s view shook violently. He couldn’t even sit and collapsed on the floor unable to support his upper body. And then his consciousness cut off at that moment.

Reiri’s facial expression changed and she yelled angrily at the research department.

“Call the rescue squad! Also tell the staff of Nayuta Lab to standby! Hurry!”

The trembling students of the research department made contact with their respective mobile phones and started to run. Reiri also called Kei through the ship internal communication terminal at the nearby wall and talked through it.

While giving a glance at that commotion, Nayuta squatted down at Kizuna’s side.

“Kizuna is also an idiot isn’t it.”

She peered at his face and confirmed that there was no reaction at all.

“I have shared my ability with you, that was me teaching you that I have served my purpose already you know? Yet despite so, why did you purposefully save me? Even though saving two people at the same time also increases the risks.”

A small hand reached out to Kizuna’s head, caressing his hair.

“You are really a stupid child.”

Nayuta made a smile. That smiling face was that of a true smile.

---

Part 3

A setting sun was sinking in the desert.

There was a queen in the chalk white palace. From the window that was left opened, a monument in the shape of quadrangular pyramid made from piled up stone was visible. The gigantic structure that might even reach the height of three hundred meters, a pyramid. Desert was spreading around it with a city that had various sizes of buildings lined up spreading before it.

The queen was elegantly lying down on the chair in a hall made from marble. Suddenly she raised her face as if noticing something.

“……My, so Hokuto vanished.”

She put her lips on a glass filled with fruit alcohol and smiled after taking a gulp.

“Even if she is called a machine god, but the way each of us came about was different. Even among us she was a really immature existence.”

She stood up and walked down the hall that was illuminated by the setting sun towards the center of the room. There a female was standing. What the girl was wearing was a fabric like a loincloth wrapped around her waist. In addition was a choker. And then a shackle on her leg, those were all. A chain was attached on the shackle with an iron ball at the end so that she couldn’t escape.

“You also think so right?”

The female with beautiful blonde hair that was asked that looked up at the queen with her breasts that was about to burst out shaking.

“Yes, my queen. Everything is exactly as my queen says.”

“That’s so, how cute you are. I wonder if your self-awareness as a slave has come out?”

The blonde female did a seiza before putting her head on the floor.

“Yes, I am a lowly slave. My most sincere gratitude for my queen to teach me my manners.”

“Well done. Then you don’t need any more training right.”

Thereupon the blonde female lifted her head and stared at the queen with pained eyes.

“Such thing! Please be affectionate……no, punish me! I’m still too undisciplined as the slave of my queen.”

“Fufufu, fine then. I will discipline you strictly today. Prepare yourself, Yurishia Farandole.”

Yurishia looked up at her master with a happy and aroused gaze.

“Thank you very much. My master……machine god Osiris-sama.”

---

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