Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden Vol 1 Chapter 5

{1}

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

The curse was changing  into chilly and uncomfortable sound waves, that will cause decay to one's eardrums just by listening to it.

Mateki, the mysterious powers unique to Yuugenshu. However-

"Too slow!"

*Kra*. The sound of the road cracking from her steps.

Prior to the release of the purple lights of mateki, Run dashed into the group of Yuugenshu. Possessing superhuman reaction, nerves and muscles, Run's start to her sprint was already at a speed barely detectable by human eyes.

At the same time, the lights of mateki spread into the shape of a fan, with the possible intention of protecting the Yuugenshu.

...... A defensive barrier?

Clenching her shinryoku-filled fist, which was made possible via the ritual marks, Run slammed it into the light barrier created by mateki - however, her fist was repelled away. That was the repulsive effect created when shinryoku and mateki were to clash into each other.

"Stop hindering me—!"

Run let out a roar while riding on her unstoppable momentum.

She forced her repelled fist back, and broke the purple barrier. The fist blew away the mist of the Yuugenshu as well, and hit straight into the core in the middle.

The Yuugenshu gave a painful cry before it was destroyed.

"Is there no way to solve the problem of shinryoku and mateki repelling each other?"

She shook her hand, in order to relieve her numb arm.

Shinryoku and mateki are two opposing forces, and they repulses each other. Even if she is to attack with her shinryoku-filled fist, its power will decrease considerably from the repulsive effect of the mateki barriers created by the Yuugenshu.

"But Run. Thanks to that, the Priestesses are safe."

"............ I know."

Run's face cringed a little when Meimel pointed that out.

The same applies to both humans and Yuugenshu. If Meimel is to come under the attacks of Yuugenshu, her shinryoku will repels the mateki as well, resulting in a decreased in the strength of the attack.

— Meimel actually has the spare time to tsukkomi me.

Suppressing a bitter smile, Run felt a sense of relief.

"Then again...... Their target is still Tenketsu Palace  huh?"

As Run had already destroyed over ten Yuugenshu, there were only a few remaining Yuugenshu left before them. However, the troublesome thing is that the Yuugenshu were not targeting the humans at their current area. They were always look for opportunities to avoid the battle, and head straight to Tenketsu Palace . Up till now, from what Run knows, there were already tens of Yuugenshu that had bypassed their defense line. She was in no mood to calculate the actual numbers.

— I can't let anymore through.

Run bit on her lips tightly, and took a leap. With the aid of the streetlights, she moved to an even higher position.

She destroyed two winged Yuugenshu with a single kick. She then allowed her body to fall, and swung her fist into the Yuugenshu which was directly below her. Within a short time span of only a few seconds, she had already destroyed three Yuugenshu.

"With that, I should be able to buy some more time—"

Just when she was about to wipe the sweat off her face, one of her subordinates suddenly gave a yell.

"Ah...... ah......? ...... Ah...... Ahhhhhhhhh......... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

It was neither a scream nor a cry before death, but a strange cry from insanity.

He swung his twin swords madly, without caring whether he could have slashed anyone in accident. One could see a faint deep purple mist enshrouding the back of his head.

"...... It's mind control!"

That is one of the abilities of mateki - the power to send the person that it has cursed into a state of panic. Even though it will not directly result in death, the effect is way worse than decay and poison in a hectic battlefield. That is especially so if the person cursed is a well trained soldier. Even if he was just slashing about wildly in confusion, he would still be posing a huge threat.

"I'll restrain him. Meimel, purify him while I do so!"

Even though that would result in some Yuugenshu breaking through the defensive line, such a curse would have to be removed as quickly as possible. Just as she was suppressing her anxiety, and was about to act against her subordinate—

"There is no time to be purifying right now."

A young man with tea-red colored hair appeared before her all of the sudden.

The surrounding members could not react to the sudden intruder. The young man easily dodged the slash from the swordsman of Tenketsu Palace , then slid past the swordsman's side to his back. He raised his hand—

—*Thud*

He gave a vicious chop at the back of the swordsman's neck. The swordsman collapsed on the spot, and fainted immediately.

"For mental control in battle, it is much more effective to just knock the cursed person out cold. Isn't it so?"

The young man gave a slight smile.

"Eh...... Ah...... Ahhh."

Regaining her senses, Run hurriedly nodded her head in agreement. Indeed, she could not be more familiar with the method used by the young man.

However, at the same time, she knew very well how difficult it is to knock out a swordsman of Tenketsu Palace  from his back. If it was not properly done, there is the chance of the executor getting injured by the swordsman instead.

As the commander, Run preferred the much safer option.

Then again, who is he?

He seemed to be extremely familiar with the attacking radius of the swordsman. After baiting the enemy's attack, he had skillfully avoided the slash with his clever movements. Aside from Sennenshi, how many people in Tenketsu Palace  can actually execute a move like that?

"Oi! You......"

Obviously, he was not an ordinary intruder. Who exactly is he?

"— Well then, I'll leave things here to you!"

"Ah, wait! Don't leave!"
 

"Sheltis is my childhood friend."

{2}

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

The body of the other Yuugenshu began to tremble, and it released a curse-like sound. That is the curse which the Yuugenshu possess, filled with the powers of Garden of Corrupted Song . The reason it is called 'mateki', is due to these sounds.

Decay, poison, coma and brainwashing. There are various ways it can cause harm to anything that exists on the floating continent. One will never know what's the specific effects without experiencing it himself.

The deep purple lights had engulfed Sheltis......

"Sheltis, escape quickly!"

"— No need for that."

He turned his body immediately, and swung his wrists alone with the momentum. He sliced horizontally at supersonic speed.

There was not a single sound of moving air. All that could be seen was a quiet slash of the sword in a blink of an eye. The mateki, which had a distorted sound and glow, was cleaved away by Sheltis' sword.

The mateki produced by the Yuugenshu had totally vanished.

Before the Yuugenshu could recover from that, Sheltis had already sprang above the Yuugenshu. He jumped off the horizontal walls of the passageway to step on the ceilings. Using it as a leverage, he dived at the enemy below him.

*—Kin*

A clean sound of dismemberment.

As the sound rang, the remaining Yuugenshu had already stopped moving. Its body gave a brief tremble, before bursting into tiny pieces with a dry sound.

"...... I have finally understood the reason for your confidence just now."

Ilis continued on softly with an extremely serious tone.

"Up till now, there has never been a case of a human carrying mateki in him, but 'negating Yuugenshu's mateki with your own mateki' huh...... I see. Perhaps I should say you are lucky? In the case of fighting against Yuugenshu, the current you do possess a power that severely topples the balance of the game. However—"

After a slight pause, Ilis said,

"Sheltis. Do not forget, that can put you in great danger as well."

Since he is carrying mateki in him, he has the ability to render the barriers of the Yuugenshu useless. But at the same time, it means that he is exposing himself under the attacks of the Yuugenshu without any form of protection. If the neck is attacked by the fangs of the Yuugenshu, a Priestess can use the shinryoku within her to form a barrier, thus lowing the damage done to nothing more than a scratch. However, since Sheltis lacks the shinryoku to protect himself, the result could very well be his artery getting severed from the attack.

— Any hit suffered will be a fatal one.

In the upcoming battles with the Yuugenshu, the harsh conditions will carry on forever.

"No problem. I'll just have to do the pre-emptive strike."

"What a simpleton...... is what I would love to say, but according to the data gathered, there is credibility to what you have said."

Since he can attack without having to worry about the barriers of the Yuugenshu, he is thus able to defeat them in the shortest amount of time. Even if he is to clear away the Yuugenshu that are to be found all over Tenketsu Palace , he will still be able to make it in time before the commanding Yuugenshu arrives.

"I'll remind you again. If you are to suffer from an attack from the Yuugenshu, you will not be able to avoid the fatal blow. If you are to continue fighting against the Yuugenshu before the arrival of the commanding Yuugenshu, the possibility of that happening will increase greatly...... Despite all that, are you still going to do it?"

"Of course. I am here just for that."

A short moment of silence. Machine crystal  then gave a flash, of what seems to be her agreeing to it.

"...... Understood. Well then, I'll do my best to assist you."

"Thank you. I have faith in your abilities."

"What a headache, to have an owner who abuses machines."

The memory machine gave a sigh, and its colors gradually became fiery red.

"The space required for the locating of Yuugenshu, confirmed and completed..... Beginning the synthesis of 'Second Hypothesis World', and the sub-interface shall be set as 'rainbow colors'. Along with 'Crystal Language', program release...... Reporting. Currently, I am able to capture the locations of all Yuugenshu that is within a radius of ten thousand meters away from me."

"That's more than enough."

"Analyzing the location of the commanding Yuugenshu...... position captured. It is currently at the Third Residential Sector, and flying towards our direction. It is gradually rising from the current low altitudes of a hundred meters. Taking into account its flying speed, the estimated time of its arrival at Tenketsu Palace , is only fourteen minutes."

Fourteen minutes. He would have to destroy all the Yuugenshu in the various levels, and reach the Grand Holy Hall within that period of time.

It was a race against time.

"Understood. Please lead the way."

"It is a great honor to be able to assist you. Sheltis, please be careful."

Holding on to the twin swords which he used in the past—

Sheltis sprinted towards the peak of the tower.

{3}

ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris

*Shaaaaaaa.......* A spiraling barrier of red light covered the floors of the Grand Holy Hall, wiping clean the emerging Yuugenshu and their barriers together. That was baptism spell from the arts of shinryoku, used to purify mateki.

"............ Thank you."

Syun-rei opened her eyes and smiled gently.

"...... It's fine now, Ymy. The door has been activated."

She pointed to the only route to the highest level - the Sacred Door of the Grand Holy Hall. It is extremely sturdy. The solemnly crafted door is shimmering under the glow of the blue rays of shinryoku.

— The door was covered with an anti-Yuugenshu barrier.

As the place was used as the training ground for Priestesses, due to the long term usage for a thousand years, it had naturally came to possess the shinryoku of the Priestesses as well. Among other things, the Sacred Door's powers of shinryoku is the greatest, making it a sanctuary-class barrier strong enough to withstand all mateki thrown at it.

Syun-rei had originally thought that the powers of the door would vanish along with the breach of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. However, it had been confirmed that the door had regained its powers, along with the repairing of Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"Next...... is the walls over here."

It is almost certain that the crucial door will no longer fall under any invasion. However, even though the floor is filled with shinryoku, there are still places that are weaker than the rest of the areas - in this case, it is the outer walls and the floors beneath them. The flying type Yuugenshu would be able to chew off the outer walls, while the floors beneath them can be penetrated like what had happened just now. All Yuugenshu that can reach there are variants that contains strong mateki in them. There was no room for carelessness.

"...... How very quiet."

The room was filled with an awkward silence. That was perhaps the usual atmosphere of the grand hall, but the usual silence which they should have used to, chilled their spines instead in their current situation.

"............ Leon."

Syun-rei muttered the name of the Sennenshi who was battling various floors beneath her. It was either due to her worrying about his safety, or her feeling uneasy from being separated - no, it was most probably due to both reasons.

"Don't worry, Syun-rei. I know very well about Leon's capabilities!"

Ymy gave a slight smile while patting on the shoulders of the girl, who had her head lowered.

She has already known Leon for over ten years. That silver haired young man has been competitive and strong ever since she knew him. She knew that better than anyone else in Tenketsu Palace .

Run and Meimel too. Everyone will be fine.

"Cheer up, okay? Since we are the last line of defense."

"............ Mmm, I'll do my best—"

Just as she was lifting her head up, Syun-rei stopped moving all of the sudden.

A drop of sweat streaked past Syun-rei's cheek, and dripped off her chin. Her black pupils turned light blue, a trait that signifies that she was currently using her powers of far-sight.

"............ It's a very strong mateki. It's flying...... and getting close."

***

Tenketsu Palace , two hundred and seventy-sixth story, the floor of religious training for the Priestesses.

"At the right of the next junction. There's one thirty meters away, heading towards us."

At the same time when machine crystal  had sounded her warnings, a gigantic Yuugenshu crawled into sight from the junction. Its huge body filled up the passageway, which could have easily accommodate multiple adults walking shoulder-to-shoulder at the same time.

— He could no longer evade sideways.

Two clawed front limbs suddenly appeared from within the mist that was covering its body.

Dodging the incoming limbs, Sheltis jumped into the air. He gave the chandelier in the ceiling a kick, resulting in countless glass shards raining on the head of the enemy. The Yuugenshu was distracted by the falling objects from above its head, and its movements slowed down just a little.

*—Kin!*

That brief window of opportunity had been locked on by the pair of violet colored swords.

After breaking through the erected mateki barrier, the twin swords crushed the Yuugenshu, along with its core, at the same time.

"...... With that, this floor should be done."

The Yuugenshu gradually disappeared with a sharp sound of shattering. Not pausing to witness the scene, Sheltis changed his direction immediately, and ran towards the emergency stairs located at about ten meters straight ahead of him.

"Sheltis, listen to me while you run."

"Hmm?"

"We are currently heading upwards at a really fast pace. You can say that it has surpassed my predicted speed. However, that is due to you straining yourself. I must warn you, that your breathing is slowly becoming irregular."

The machine crystal  informed him composedly.

"Your mission is not just to reach the Grand Holy Hall, but to defeat the strongest body, which is the commanding Yuugenshu. It is best if you start to conserve your physical strength from now on."

"...... And so?"

"Didn't you notice the injuries located on your right shoulder and your back?"

Under the reminder of Ilis, he touched his right shoulders with his left hand. A piercing pain could be felt from his shoulder to his back, and his palm was smeared with his own blood.

He was inflicted with the injuries while fighting against the hoard of Yuugenshu at the lower levels.

"It may be a small scratch in the past, but you no longer have any shinryoku to protect yourself, thus resulting in the injuries being much more serious than before. Your shoulder and back were struck by the claws of the Yuugenshu, and the wound is probably deep enough to reach your bones."

Not just that. Upon a closer look, countless lacerations on his cheeks, arms and thighs were already swollen red. Sheltis' body was filled with injuries all over.

"You should have antihemorrhagic agent with you, right? We are about to face the commanding Yuugenshu. I advise you to proceed with the minimal amount of first aid to disinfect your wounds and stop them from bleeding. It will all be for nothing if you are to collapse here."

"............"

Sheltis did not reply. He continued running up the evacuation stairs quietly.

"Sheltis!"

"Sorry. However, I wish to spend those time on something else instead."

Should he continue moving like that, there is a chance for his wounds to widen from his movements, resulting in more bleeding. Even if that does not happen, the constant bleeding will cause a significant impact to his mobility. Despite knowing that, Sheltis continued running up the stairs, while enduring the sharp pain coming from his back.

"But, if you continue to ignore your wounds......"

"If there is enough time, I wish to apologize to Ymy."

Just one sentence will be enough. He hoped he has the time to apologize.

For leaving her alone, for not fulfilling his promise, and causing her to be uneasy. To apologize for all that.

"...... Ymy is not angry at you, you know?"

He himself knew that very well.

She is not that type of girl. He knew that more than anything else.

"However, I still think it is important. Since I am starting all over again, I wish for it to be perfect."

"You are really stubborn."

There was a slight teasing tone in the voice of machine crystal .

"I understand your personality very well. You are the type who will not budge once you have made your decision."

"I am sorry. You are just being considerate, and yet."

"I am used to it already. In return, don't complain when your wounds open up—"

Machine crystal  went silent all of the sudden. The timing was way too strange, so Sheltis had thought that she was suffering from a malfunction. However, the crystal portion was still flashing normally.

"The position of the commanding Yuugenshu is confirmed to be in the skies, five hundred meters above Tenketsu Palace  — it's here."

Upon hearing that, Sheltis could feel the goosebumps on his back.

"Move quickly. Fortunately for us, there are no other readings of Yuugenshu at the higher floors. Let us head straight to the Grand Holy Hall located at two hundred and eighty-first story."

While listening to the cold echoes reverberating in the emergency passageway, Sheltis dashed upwards by leaping past roughly ten steps with each stride...... Breathing was really difficult - and it was a sort of heavy breathing not caused by fatigue.

It came from the pressure in anticipation of his fight against the commanding Yuugenshu. Should he lose, Tenketsu Palace  will fall.

"Are you alright?"

"— I can still hold on."

He answered with a slight smile. The door leading to the two hundred and eighty-first story was just before his eyes.

Despite shouldering on the huge pressure, Sheltis had already prepared himself mentally.

"I see......"

"Ilis, what's wrong?"

The tone of machine crystal  reminded him of a depressed Ymy.

"Sorry, Sheltis. There is still something that I cannot bring myself to tell you. Though I should have informed you about it earlier, but I still could not say it...... That is something which you do not know, as someone who has never stepped into the Grand Holy Hall before."

"What do you mean?"

"No, in any case, try activating the door in front of us first. What happens next will be up to fate."

As Ilis urged on, Sheltis gently pushed the door of the emergency passage.

The door opened easily. Having heard Ilis' hesitant speech, he had thought that the door would be locked up.

"Just enter via the Sacred Door of the Grand Holy Hall in front of you."

A huge door appeared in front of him - a door that no one could refrain from looking up at it in awe.

The metallic door was decorated with solemn yet clear carvings. The whole door was giving off a pale blue glow.

"A door protected by shinryoku?"

"...... The door is not locked. Try opening it."

*—Zzzzzz...... zz......*

"What the......!"

Suddenly, blueish white sparks similar to lightning was given off. He barely resisted the impact, which nearly blew him off. His hands were indeed repelled by the doors just now.

"............ Could it be, 'Elbert Resonance'......? But at a time like this......!"

Ignoring his burnt hands, Sheltis stared at the door before him.

Elbert Resonance.

The shinryoku of humans and mateki of Yuugenshu are two forces with totally opposite properties. When an especially strong shinryoku comes into contact with an equally strong mateki, a phenomenon will occur. The two forces will repel each other similar to the like poles of a magnet, and will even cause distortion to the laws of physics, resulting in the release of sparks.

"As I had thought...... the worst case scenario has happened."

"Ilis, what's the meaning of this?"

"The Sacred Doors of the Grand Holy Hall, holds power that is just a level lower than that of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Meaning to say, this tightly shut door, is actually a strong shinryoku barrier by itself."

"I can see that! What I want to know is—"

"The reason for the repulsion...... Sheltis, it's because the mateki within you is overly powerful."

Mateki that is powerful enough to match the shinryoku o

Chapter end