No Game No Life - Volume 9 Chapter 3.1

Five days passed, and the “Closed” placard that had hung for so long was finally removed, and in its

place, a new placard hung from the spire. It was also very grandiose, and this is what was written on it:

── “Live show venue” …

“Aaah… The ancestral throne of Elkia is… The traditional throne room iiis…!” Steph lamented. What

she was looking at was something totally different from the live show the other day ── it was a proper

stage.

Thanks to the Ex-Machina, countless pieces of machinery, illumination devices, etc. were installed. It

truly was the perfect venue.

However, since “it was at the perfect height,” the first thing they did was remove the throne and replace it

with the stage. Next, since they “wanted to increase the venue’s capacity”, they broke down the walls and

connected the expansions with corridors.

There were already no traces left of the traditional throne room’s original appearance. Steph couldn’t look

at it without shedding some tears. And to add insult to injury──

“… S e r i o u s l y ! Why are all these people

here!?”

The former throne room had been completely redesigned into a stage, and in front of it, several thousand

people were waiting for the show to start.

A voice answered Steph’s sorrowful question ── however, it came from behind her:

“Last time, when we did it from the balcony, there must have been many passersby too, but this time, it

will be indoors, inside the castle.”

Steph peeked from the side of the stage at the crowd, then turned around to look at the two people at the

bottom of a short flight of stairs backstage. They were a man sitting at a table and a girl sitting on his lap

── they were Sora and Shiro and they were just smiling without care.

“… We did make… the Ex-Machina go wild with… the publicity… but──”

“Even so, everyone who expressly came here ── is just an idiot trained to love

, right?”

“… I can’t help but be anxious at the future of this country…”

Steph looked at the number of fellow citizens who had completed that useless training with a faraway

look. She sighed, climbed down the short flight of stairs, and descended backstage.

── And in that backstage, with a desk between them, were the sources of Steph’s grief.

The ones who ordered this terrific stage, Sora and Shiro ── with Jibril in wait behind them, were facing

the one who was forced to make this terrific stage, Einzig ── with the other 12 Ex-Machina similarly in

wait behind him.And lastly, someone who was always an innocent victim, much like Steph, was also there──

“… Sora, Shiro. I shall ask thee as many times as necessary. Why art thou making Holou act like this

‘idol’ thing?” Holou asked with a sullen face. The goddess who would be running the show wore her

costume as she waited for her turn to come out.

“Hm～?… Do you really dislike it so much? I think it suits you pretty well, you know?”

“… We can feel… your idol aura… very clearly…”

“I don’t even have enough material to hypothesize whether I hate it or not! That’s why I’m asking why!”

And also as many times as necessary, Sora and Shiro would always answer with a non-answer. Holou

replied with a g

rrr,

but when Sora saw that ── he made a very unusual smile, and:

“It will be alright… Because H

olou, you will find that answer yourself.

I told you, right?” Sora told Holou

with a smile that showed absolutely no signs of any hidden motives behind it, and patted her head.

“We don’t know what will happen either, you know? ♪ Well then, the show is about to start, so go get

them!”

“… Do your best… Holou… we will be… cheering for you”

“── I don’t understand… I don’t understand anything at all… just what dost thou want Holou to do?…”

Holou was still complaining even now, but she still obediently went towards the stairs as Sora and Shiro

sent her off. With that, they turned to face Einzig’s group once more and──

“Well then, shall we begin our game too?” Sora said as if to confirm something, and glanced at the ‘main

issue’ on the desk ── or in other words, the ‘chess board’ on top of it.

The reason why they made this stage, the reason why Holou is going towards the stage, the reason why

everyone is here. They faced the game containing all those answers, and for now, Sora said a single

phrase:

“Well then, during the game ── The use of magic or ‘Lesens’ shall not be allowed unless the rules of the

game state otherwise.”

His words also told Jibril that he wanted her to watch the Ex-Machina very carefully. Next ──

“As for the other rules… Well, I don’t think we need to go as far as reconfirming all of them, right?” Sora

said, daringly. And of course, there were no dissenting voices.

After all, Jibril and the Ex-Machina had collaborated to create the game according to Sora and Shiro’s

specifications. Everyone in the room was already well versed in those rules ── basically, it was just

chess. That is to say, it was only basically

like chess.

Now, there’s but a single question that everyone must have right now, including even Jibril and Steph.

That is ── that no matter how one thought about it, Sora and Shiro are at an overwhelming disadvantage

in this game.

However, only Sora and Shiro didn’t seem to mind and took the Ex-Machina’s silence as acceptance.“Then, let’s begin with our respective bets… the things that we are prepared to pay──”

“… Please… raise your… hands… and say… the pledge…”

Sora and Shiro both raised their hands ── they wanted the Ex-Machina to confirm the bets and recite the

pledge.

“Assertion. In the case of defeat, we shall unlock our hardware lock. Discard our love. Seek to reproduce

on our own initiative, and avoid our extinction.”

“I’ll make sure to win and take both the extra prize and the special prize for myself. I’m looking forward

to it, my beloved Spieler.”

In order to comply, Emiline, Einzig, and all the remaining Ex-Machina raised their hands.

── When she heard the sound announcing the start of the show, Holou ran up the stairs.

It was only a moment, but the silence in between felt abnormally long ── until the music started playing

at a loud volume. The music started with a bang, and at the same time, a declaration and an indomitable

exclamation were exchanged:

“── Aschente ──!!”

■■■

The music was being reproduced through Shiro’s phone and amplified through the Ex-Machina’s

speakers. The intro started playing with an explosive sound, and what greeted Holou when she climbed

the stage was:

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo”

An audience cheering so loud that it drowned out even the explosive sounds of music.

────

And with that, Holou’s head was dyed in white for an instant.

For a human it was but an instant, but for an Old Deus, she had been petrified for something close to an

eternity.

A single phrase filled Holou’s frozen thought: ‘This doesn’t make sense’

── Last time, Holou just followed Sora and Shiro’s ambiguous instructions without understanding

anything herself.

However, this level of enthusiasm was different from last time. It made Holou feel like the audience was

here because they sought something. It was because of that hypothesis ── because she understood that

‘they are expecting something’ that her thoughts had stopped.

── What are they expecting, I wonder?

She was just a goddess who still hasn’t even been able to precisely define ‘expect’… Just what were they

expecting out of her?Even though her body is supposedly just an image, s

omething was making it tremble, and Holou didn’t

even know what that was. She wordlessly gasped.

── Uneasiness, fear, nervousness.

Emotions unbecoming of a god swirled inside her. She couldn’t even realize that the hand holding the

microphone was trembling.

She sought salvation ── and she didn’t even realize that ── but suddenly, her wet godly eyes saw

something.

In the darkness, among the people who were cheering, she recognized someone, a person who was very

familiar to her.

────M

edium…?

She was also looking at Holou with expectation. For her companion, her friend ── for Miko:

“… H-Holou is Holou! A-anyways… I’ll sing and dance now!”

Holou, as expected, still didn’t know what she should do. But. However. Even so! At the very least, she

doesn’t want to have anything to do with the previous Holou!

── The Holou plagued by doubts!! I definitely don’t want to see her again──!!

Thus, she made that single ‘hypothesis’.

And after naming herself so clumsily, Holou moved her mouth and her body just as she was taught.

■■■

With that, Holou began to sing and dance, albeit clumsily.

And in the depths of the stage, backstage, were Sora and Shiro, and together with Einzig, the three of

them were fiercely moving their hands.

Einzig was using the parallel thought of the Ex-Machina cluster with only two hands.

Facing him were Sora and Shiro. However, they seemed to be using parallel thought too, with the way the

two of them moved their four hands. They were all taking turns extremely fast, without a moment’s

hesitation.

It was basically

like normal chess. Chess with some ‘special rules’. For example, one such rule was ‘No

turns

’──

“… W-What’s happening?… J-Jibril, who’s winning!?”

“… My Masters are losing on pur… No. They are winning now ── no… they are leading them on…?”

The super high-speed chess made Steph and Jibril scream. They couldn’t keep up with the exchange of

moves on the board.On average, four moves were exchanged on the board each second37 ── and Sora and Shiro were making

theirs without overlapping at all. It seems like the fact that they were competing with the Ex-Machina

with that was already a miracle for Steph and Jibril but…

… Their surprise only troubled Sora and Shiro since that rule wasn’t particularly meaningful.

It simply

became like this when they introduced elements from a ‘rhythm game.’ Those elements made them

similar. For example, one of them──

“… I see, so the rule that says that ‘

The moves made out of rhythm are nullified

’ is just ‘shackles?’”

It was just as Einzig said, this rule really wasn’t particularly meaningful.

That’s right, it was a rhythm game.

── Holou was singing on top of the stage, and in time with her music, waves of light passed through the

chess board.

The rule is that they have to move the pieces in time with that wave, and if they miss the move is negated

── the piece goes back to its original position.

“That’s to be expected, right? If you guys were to start moving at the speed of sound or the speed of light,

we won’t be able to do much.”

“… However… if it’s a rhythm game… it’s a given that… we can PFC38 it… too…”

However, this rule was only meant to restrict the speeds of Blank, and the Ex-Machina in particular.

Holou’s liveshow consisted of ── ‘Thirteen s

ongs’.

And since it was synchronized with the music, the chess also had ── ‘Thirteen matches’.

No turns. No stalemates or ties either. The ones with no legal moves would lose if one happened. Thus,

Holou’s songs and Sora’s group’s games would be linked and finish at the same time. That’s right ──

everything up until this point were rules made just for that.

The important rules weren’t those.

The important rule was ── that’s right, it was related to that thing

.

The thing that Steph and Jibril were looking at uneasily ── a ‘gauge’ floating in midair. It had a comical

design, and it was accompanied by a chibi Emiline.

Its name was also very on the nose ── it was called the ‘Excitement Gauge’.

The Ex-Machina’s Sehers and Prüfers were turning the audience’s agitation, delight, and satisfaction into

a number. Saying it bluntly, it displayed the level of excitement at the show

── and right now it was

slowly decreasing. The production level was nothing special, and Holou’s singing and dancing wasn’t

very good… of course the excitement was lacking.

37 This is ambiguous on purpose. It can both mean that they were exchanging four chess moves per second on

average, or that four hands were across the board each second on average.

38 Perfect full combo. In other words, hitting all the notes perfectly

 

Well then, let’s review ── Sora and Shiro’s victory conditions are three in total.

First: they have to win 7 or more chess matches. Finish with more wins than losses.

Second: Sora has to prove that he is ‘the wrong person,’ and.

Third: The live show has to be a success. In other words, the ‘excitement gauge’ can’t reach 0.

Conversely, if the Ex-Machina are able to prevent even one of those conditions from being fulfilled at any

point in time, they win.

── Even in the best case scenario, Sora and Shiro still need to win in a game of ‘finding the best possible

chess moves’ against the Ex-Machina.

In less than a moment, the Ex-Machina learn and adapt over and over. They are hypercomputers who

become stronger and stronger without limit ── and Blank has to win seven times against them. The

moment they adapted, Sora and Shiro would already be at an overwhelming disadvantage ── No.

Winning would be exceedingly close to impossible.

What’s more, at this rate, the ‘Excitement Gauge’ would reach 0. However, there was a rule that allowed

them to increase or decrease it from afar. It was the final and most important rule…

“… Hm. I really don’t understand… just what was the intention behind this?…”

── Suddenly, a square shined with a bright light.

Einzig looked at that

with slight doubt peeking through his face ── that

was

the last and most important

rule. Something that is generated by hitting the randomly occurring shining squares during the match ──

a ‘production hit’.

── However, in a game of super high-speed chess with no turns, that was the same as declaring that ‘I’ll

move here.’ It was like saying ‘please, go ahead and take our pieces’ ── it was suicidal. What’s more, the

squares shined at random, so it was very likely that they’d be forced to make a fatally bad move. Plus, the

Ex-Machina ── had absolutely no reason

to make those moves.

After all, if the ‘Excitement Gauge’

became empty, only Sora and Shiro would lose. It really wasn’t the Ex-Machina’s business.

The Ex-Machina can simply ignore the show, make the best possible moves, and win at chess. Therefore,

everyone, including even Jibril and Steph, must be thinking this:

No matter how one thought about it, Sora and Shiro are at an overwhelming disadvantage in this game.

That’s right, even Einzig thought so:

“Surely, you aren’t p

lanning to make us hit these things. Right, my beloved Spieler?”

Einzig doubted that they could have such a futile plan. However, Sora and Shiro simply made mocking

smiles.

──── You’re spot on. That’s exactly it.