OWARI NO CHRONICLE - Volume 14, 27: Holy Festival of Resistance

Volume 14, Chapter 27: Holy Festival of Resistance

 

Sing that holy song and every world will hear it

That child I am worried about sings it constantly

I will take their hand to dance

Even though I am no longer an angel

The intense battle resumed across the city.

Sayama and the others immediately reorganized below the newly created black halo.

The halo was not yet complete and the flow of concepts was still pulling in ten directions.

So Sayama exchanged a glance with Shinjou when she walked over.

“We need to hit the Leviathan with Georgius again from the surface.”

“You can’t!” shouted #8 as she pointed up toward heaven. “The halo’s defense will weaken it too much to reach from here!”

But countless voices could be heard over their communicators.

They conveyed the state of the various battlefields.

And they all questioned whether their power could reach.

“How can we possibly win!?”

On top of that, the Leviathan began firing.

The power it had been using on the concept creation and activation was now being used for cannon fire.

Each shot blew away a space with a diameter of nearly five hundred meters.

The roar and blowing wind instantly filled the concept space with storms.

The great wind transformed the snow into a blizzard.

Amid the reverberating roar and wind, only the Leviathan held a stable position and continued firing.

There was a safe zone. To not damage the concepts, the cannons never fired directly below.

The sounds of retreat arrived over the communicators, but the enemy automatons got in the way.

The dolls did not care if they were destroyed.

The people panicked as the blasts rained down through the blizzard like punishment from heaven.

And a desperate fray developed on each battlefield.

The voices coming over the communicators were no longer those of warriors.

They were voices of people seeking help as they tried to escape the overwhelming power of heaven or the shouts of anger toward heaven.

Was destruction their only option?

Was there nothing to rely on?

Was there nothing to organize around?

But a sudden sound of tuning came over the communicators.

It came from the one managing all of the communications. Specifically, it came from Ooki as she operated the concept space communication device.

In front of Shinjuku Station, she spoke even as explosive blasts washed over her and dirt rained down on her.

“Um, everyone?”

She led them all with a smile.

“It’s time to sing.”

With that, she began playing an external transmission. It was a TV broadcast from the outside world.

It was a live worldwide broadcast of a concert being held in the center of Shinjuku and it had just reached the time to request an encore.

A certain sound played. A single singing voice filled that world of battle and heaven-born disaster.

The song was a hymn: Silent Night.

A woman stood on the main stage in front of the snowy Shinjuku Station.

She had once introduced herself to the world as an idol and she had become a singer of songs she wrote and composed herself.

Her songs had been popular enough that the people of those days could still sing along, but since she had retired soon after marrying, few people knew her anymore even if they remembered the songs.

That was the kind of woman she was.

Snow had begun to fall from Shinjuku’s sky once the time for an encore had arrived.

The young people in front of the main stage had been confused when she had stepped out in a white dress.

Some had asked who she was, some had called her old, and others had thought she stepped onto the stage by mistake.

But she had silently bowed.

Without speaking a word, she had released her voice before the microphone.

And that was all it took for her to bring silence to the world.

Silent night, Holy night

All’s asleep, one sole light,

Just the faithful and holy pair,

Lovely boy-child with curly hair,

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

“Silent night, Holy night.”

Amidst the intense fighting, Kazami heard a voice in the wind that was not even blowing.

“Mom!?”

“God’s Son laughs, o how bright.”

The international artists who had come to Shinjuku sang with her in the snow.

It was a song foretelling the birth of the holy one.

“Love from your holy lips shines clear.”

A singing voice rang through the battlefield.

Someone shouted out as if in response or as if clinging to it.

They wanted to forget their screams, forget the anger of a salvation betrayed, and forget their exhaustion.

So they sang.

The song seemed to spread through them all until everyone had joined in.

“As the dawn of salvation draws near.”

The song reached the world. It seemed to ignore the concept wall and all other barriers.

“Jesus, Lord, with your birth.”

In the silence of Shinjuku, someone raised their voice to follow along.

The voices sounded embarrassed at first, but they grew louder once the lyrics were displayed on the electronic signs around the area.

They grew louder and louder.

“Jesus, Lord, with your birth.”

It was just before noon in America, but that song was sung in the Christmas-decorated plaza of a city.

Both the young and the suitcase-carrying adults sang along below the winter sky.

Some did not sing aloud, but they all at least sang kindly along in their heart as they walked through the streets of that holy festival.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

At the main external UCAT camp in Yokosuka, supplies and reinforcements were sent into the concept space while relatives of those inside waited on standby in the wharf warehouse.

Those family members sat on long benches inside and their eyes and ears were focused on the TV sitting next to the whiteboard on which Izumo Retsu was copying down information.

Sitting in the back row, Arnavaz stared into the distance with her unseeing eyes and sang along with the song she heard from the TV.

“Brought the world peace tonight.”

In a Middle Eastern bar, a young man polished an assault rifle during the early morning.

He looked over at the radio when he heard a singing voice.

“—————”

But he quickly looked back down.

He continued maintaining his weapon, but he did not turn off the radio.

“From the heavens’ golden height.”

In Akigawa, Ryouko watched the TV alone in the Tamiya house’s main hall. Her shoulders kept tempo with the song as she munched on a rice cracker.

“It’s Christmas, isn’t it?” she muttered before standing up because she thought she heard something from the entranceway.

She turned up the TV’s volume so she could hear the song and opened the front door.

“—————”

The snow had piled up there.

That area of white had grown enough to bury the raised stepping stones in the yard.

She suddenly thought she saw someone at the main gate.

She called a girl’s name and narrowed her eyes.

“…?”

There was no one there. Only the falling snow.

But Ryouko noticed fresh dog footprints running from the main gate to the entrance.

For some reason, there were no footprints leaving the entrance.

She then spotted four canned drinks in a plastic bag by the entrance.

She picked up the cold drinks and looked up into the sky.

The snow was falling.

Her lips moved to match the song audible from behind.

“Shows the grace of His holy might.”

It reached China, India, Russia, Germany, Africa, France, and England.

It reached Siegfried and Hiba Ryuutetsu’s ears in Okutama.

The song was sent out both by television and radio.

Those who did not know its meaning listened curiously and those who did listened to the meaning of the lyrics.

“Jesus, as man on this earth.”

At a house in Tanashi, Natsu had just finished calling her parents to thank them for the present. She sat at the table after slapping the cheeks that had reddened from both nerves and joy.

After noticing how worked up she was, she turned on the TV to have something to do.

When she heard the song playing there, she also heard Harumi moving in the back room.

Worried she had woken the child, she went to check and found Harumi’s open eyes looking outside.

It had started snowing at some point.

“Ah,” said Natsu as she gently picked up Harumi and moved to the window.

The snow was accumulating outside, where she could hear the song.

Natsu showed Harumi the snow while her lips followed along with the TV’s song.

She sang aloud.

“Jesus, as man on this earth.”

Inside the concept space, the raging wind and cannon fire was joined by music to match the song.

The students’ brass acoustic weapons half forcibly and half hopefully formed ranks and began to play.

The holy one’s music was reaching the concept space.

The accompaniment reached everyone’s ears and that sound pressure joined the voices.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

The entire world sang the same song. Some knew their neighbors were singing too and some did not, but the song filled the world regardless.

Some did not sing loudly and some kept it in a corner of their mind, but the song was sung and everyone came to know that it prophesied the birth of the holy one.

And they also came to know that day was today.

“Where today all the might.”

At an orphanage church atop a hill in Sakai, the children sang along with the TV.

The director woman prepared to cut the Christmas cake she had prepared for everyone, but she noticed a sudden visitor outside.

It was the master of the small church at the bottom of the hill. That old woman had told Shinjou Yukio’s child about this place.

The director woman quickly opened the large window and spoke to her.

“Former director.”

“Merry Christmas. I heard Yukio’s child visited again the other day. And with someone named Sayama no less.”

She smiled bitterly.

“I thought it might be a coincidence, but to think she really was Yukio’s child. …Next time she visits, maybe I should tell her some old stories.”

“What’s your excuse for hiding who you were? Was it god’s trial for her?”

“No.” The old woman smiled bitterly as she listened to the song. “I just thought that’s what Yukio or Old Sayama would have done.”

“Of His fatherly love us graced.”

The Leviathan remembered.

It did not understand or know this song.

But it remembered it. Fragments of the song remained in its memories.

When had it heard this song?

“And then Jesus, as brother embraced.”

Amid the wind and song, Sayama sang along to control himself.

“—————”

He nodded.

When he realized he and Shinjou were storing the song within themselves, he asked #8 a question.

“#8-kun. Please, tell me how to win.”

The automaton hung her head a little, but…

“There is only one way.”

She pointed up at the Leviathan in the windy sky.

“The halo protecting the Leviathan is not made up of very many wings. It is inadequate, so…”

A voice responded. It was a mechanical voice.

“So we only need to disturb their position? We only need to break through the halo and ascend into the sky?”

It was Alex.

He was defending against the wind at the edge of the automatons’ defense field.

“I am the only one who can break through this turbulence. …I will go.”

“All the peoples on earth.”

Tatsumi gave a reflexive shout as she leaned against Alex.

“You can’t!!” n(/0𝒱𝞮𝓵𝐁In

She ignored the eyes that turned her way and she faced Alex.

“How many mechanical dragons do you think are up there!? If you force yourself that hard while you’re already falling apart, you’ll die! Don’t you understand that!?”

“But Tatsumi, the American UCAT mechanical dragons and Thunder Fellow cannot get here through this wind and cannon fire. Thunder Fellow in particular is busy protecting the others.”

“That doesn’t mean-…”

“This is something only I can do,” said Alex. “If I do not do it, my soul will rot.”

“Then let it rot! It’s better than dying! I…I…”

Tatsumi trailed off and she looked down at her right hand.

“I thought you were supposed to stop my tears.”

“Don’t worry.”

Alex dropped a piece of himself.

It was a single bolt.

“This has not been infected by the negative concepts. It is a living part of me.”

He then gently floated into the air.

“Alex!”

“Don’t worry, Tatsumi. I am always with you. …And I will show you proof.”

“Proof?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I will show you something that will convince you I am always there.”

Those were his final words to Tatsumi.

The mechanical dragon whipped up the wind, stood up in the air, and nodded toward Sayama.

“Toh!!”

His speed erupted in an instant.

That dragon blade defied the wind to fly straight up toward the heavens.

“All the peoples on earth.”

Alex flew higher and higher.

Despite the wind and air pressure, his accelerators did the talking and forced him ever higher.

Attacks arrived from directly above.

They were mechanical dragons. He was targeted by defense dragons that were not part of the halo.

It was difficult to even see them with their great relative speed, but Alex’s mind was light.

His destruction was nigh. He knew his body would fall apart and he would be nothing but a mind.

And that sharpened his heart.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

As he listened to the song and honed his heart, he could see everything.

His armor broke and flew through the air, but he did not care since it was not a fatal blow.

Without panicking, he used his thrust to rocket into the sky.

The halo grew larger in his view.

His heart grew clear.

And he heard the song.

“Long we hoped that He might.”

Oh, what a lovely song.

He had heard it once long ago. It had been in a church on a hill rather than inside Noah.

Had Tatsumi been with him then?

He did not remember.

His mind was already in heaven.

The enemy was there.

One of the black mechanical dragons was commanding those forming the halo.

If he destroyed it, they would lose unified control and a hole would open in the halo.

It was a Seraph model.

It had been born of the same prototype as him and it had been created by Noah.

It was the perfect opponent.

So he flew on.

The black Seraph responded by leaving the other dragons.

It understood, so Alex pursued the black speed.

It was fast.

The enemy’s top speed was equal to or greater than Alex’s.

Even as he was nearly tossed about by the sharp turns, Alex continued pursuit.

“!?”

An attack reached him. They were homing bullets.

Sixty-four of them arrived at once from a bucket on the back of his foe.

…This enemy…

Alex realized it had been designed to fight while being pursued, but he continued straight on.

The barrage widened and he cut through before it could tighten back around him.

A few continued pursuit, so he closed his wings and…

“…!”

He fired as if to launch himself forward.

The black escaped the bright lightning attack by launching itself upwards.

Alex continued pursuit.

The inertial Gs strained his body, knocked a few components loose, and brought his body closer to the end.

But he heard the song.

“As our Lord, free us of wrath.”

It was a lovely song.

And his soul felt his heart of justice.

He was confident that everyone looking up into the sky had stopped crying and lamenting and were instead standing up.

His heart grew clear.

He dodged.

He pursued.

He was only eight meters from the enemy.

He moved.

“!”

He fired bullets, but the enemy circled behind him like a swinging pendulum.

He turned around with a roll and tried to get in another shot, but the enemy fired a barrage of missiles while moving forward.

Before the barrage had even spread out, Alex barrel rolled and passed right through them.

He seemed to side flip through gap in the barrage.

He accelerated afterwards and stayed on the enemy’s tail, but the Seraph was already flying up even higher.

Alex kept after it while the creaking of metal filled him.

They exchanged fire as if passing the attacks back and forth.

Bullets fluttered through the sky and the trails of evasive maneuvers were drawn with white smoke.

Their speed never dropped.

He heard the song.

“Since times of our fathers He hath.”

More components fell away.

But his heart was light.

The two machines flew above the Leviathan.

They would swoop left or right at the last second to avoid the Leviathan’s armor and then return to attack each other.

They dodged, charged, swung themselves around, and continued on.

Their bullets fired through the snowy sky and into the Leviathan’s armor rushing by below.

The sounds were no longer audible and Alex’s creaking body informed him of his speed.

His body was falling.

But his soul had not rotted. He could also hear the song.

“Promised to spare all mankind.”

The Leviathan’s mechanical dragon launch zone waited up ahead.

It was a large, wide tunnel.

He and the Seraph flew inside.

He targeted the Seraph from behind as it kept low.

His body was approaching its limit.

He knew his end would soon arrive.

So why was his heart so clear?

He did not know.

…But…

Would Tatsumi understand?

With that thought, he fired.

A moment later, he received a sudden impact instead of a hit.

It came from the side.

A single mechanical dragon had fired while hidden in a corner of the launch zone.

“Promised to spare all mankind.”

The bullet tore into him.

“—————!?”

He knew he was done for.

This hit was fatal.

It had hit his main skeletal frame. His crumbling body had desperately clung to that frame.

It was half broken now.

His body bent, his speed dropped, and the Seraph’s accelerator light grew more distant.

“…!”

He saw a barrage fired from the back of the Seraph.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

The Leviathan understood the footage sent from the Seraph.

This was the end of the enemy.

The persistent enemy army’s resistance would end now.

So it needed to return the Seraph to its original position and have it control the halo.

With the halo’s protection, the Leviathan could change the world.

But then the Leviathan noticed static coming from the Seraph.

“…?”

It saw the images from the Seraph’s vision.

The enemy was still alive and pursuing the Seraph.

Why? wondered the Leviathan. Why wasn’t the enemy destroyed?

The answer arrived via the Seraph’s transmission.

“Justice never dies!”

“Shepherds first see the sight.”

Alex had made a split second decision.

He had spotted something above the approaching missiles.

Something was skewered into the ceiling.

“The normal cruising frame of my archenemy Thunder Fellow!”

Thunder Fellow had ejected that frame as a diversion during its battle with Alex.

The steel main frame was there, so Alex had not hesitated.

He had fired on the ceiling, broken it, and let Thunder Fellow’s frame drop into the air.

“Combine!!”

He cast aside his own frame as his body began to fall apart.

He used the motors of his legs to forcibly grasp Thunder Fellow’s frame.

It was slender and a bit long, but it was sturdy.

…This should work for a short time!

With that thought, Alex accelerated.

He passed above the missiles by flying just below the ceiling and he pursued the Seraph.

“Transformation!!”

The frame fixed into place around him.

“Alex! Final Episode Mode!!”

He accelerated.

He followed the Seraph as they approached the end of the launch zone tunnel.

He knew where it would go: straight up.

That was the simplest of feints.

Do you really think justice will fall for something like that?

Oh, what a wonderful sky. Such a nice wind, but it is lacking one thing.

He continued on in search of that thing.

He pursued as the Seraph used its great thrust to rise into the heavens.

“—————!!”

He swung his body around to avoid the multi-warhead rounds fired his way.

He soared through the wind to dodge every attack sent his way.

“Ohhh!”

He pursued. The enemy attacked, but he did not care.

“Ohhhhhh!!”

He dodged by stretching upward, swinging his body, and hopping up into the sky.

“Oh.”

His cry continued without end as he moved toward the Seraph.

Sensing danger, the Seraph tried to swing itself out of his sights.

He did not let it escape. A tremor filled the fleeing enemy’s movements.

It was afraid.

You fool, thought Alex. Fearing justice is proof you are evil.

His heart grew clear.

That was all there was now.

His soul would not rot now. Nor would his body fall part. He was sure of it now.

…For I am overflowing with justice!!

“Told by angelic Alleluja.”

The Seraph entered the center of his sights, so he sent forth an attack.

His attack was acceleration. It was something only the owner of great thrust could accomplish.

“Alex Driver!!”

Using the mechanical dragon’s front ram, Alex pierced into the Seraph from behind.

It was a suicide attack.

He destroyed his own body in the process, so it was truly a last resort.

But the Seraph did indeed bend, writhe as it attempted and failed to escape, and split in two.

“————!!”

It let out a scream-like explosion.

“Sounding everywhere, both near and far.”

Alex was now only a mind as he arrived in the airspace of heaven.

His body was positioned vertically. The momentum of his acceleration had died out and he slowly came to a stop in midair.

He was directly below the snowing clouds.

His entire body peeled apart.

But this was not due to the attacks he had received. His body had simply reached its end.

…Tatsumi.

He could hear the song.

“ ‘Christ the Savior is here.’ ”

It was a lovely song and he was sure he would be able to hear it in the future too.

She would remember once she saw the proof.

And he would surely sing this song with her.

“ ‘Christ the Savior is here.’ ”

He would sing with what he left behind in this world.

“They never would have won without me.”

Alex could no longer see anything, so he simply spoke.

“Justice…shall prevail!!”

An explosion filled the sky.

The mechanical dragon’s explosion was widened by an explosion of water vapor and it produced a certain phenomenon.

It parted the snow clouds filling the sky.

In that snowy, song-filled sky, the clouds spread apart and revealed the proof of that mechanical dragon’s existence.

The round moon was revealed.

That moon was rising into the center of the great heavens above.

The song had ended in Shinjuku.

The song had ended throughout the world.

Some places applauded and others met it with silence.

And the people in Shinjuku thought they saw some kind of light in the sky.

The sky was covered by snow clouds, but for some reason, they thought they saw the moon there.

Below the Leviathan, a rip was detected in the defense halo.

“An excellent show of justice!” shouted Sayama with his eyebrows raised.

The others nodded and he held Shinjou close.

“Shinjou-kun, prepare Georgius for-…”

“Sayama-sama! Wait!”

As soon as #8 interrupted, a swelling of air filled the sky.

In the heavens above, something was breaking through the wind that had grown white with snow.

Sayama recognized it.

…The Leviathan!?

The great mechanical dragon had its mouth – and thus main cannon – turned their way.

“Do not tell me…!”

When he saw light deep in the Leviathan’s mouth, he held Shinjou protectively in his arms.

“Is it willing to damage the concepts now!?”

It had decided it could remake them if need be.

The fang-filled maw opened wide as if to devour them.

“…!!”

The Leviathan fired its main cannon toward Sayama and the others.

As soon as the white blast of light was fired, a single figure took action.

It was Tatsumi.

She looked up at the light in the dragon’s mouth.

…Ah.

She suddenly realized that she might be able to negate that attack.

But she tried to reject the idea: it was reckless and there was no way she could do it.

After all, her body was avoiding combat now.

She could not hold a single knife and she would even injure herself on its blade.

She did not know if she could pull off that defensive technique.

But Typhon sat behind her and she held a single bolt in her hand.

…Alex.

When she looked up at the Leviathan’s face in the sky, she saw the proof he had left behind.

But his song had come to a stop.

Silent Night had only six verses. Once they were complete, the song came to an end.

But…

“————?”

Tatsumi heard the song. It should have come to an end, but she heard it once more.

Just as she began wondering what that meant, Ooki spoke quietly from the seat at the communications equipment.

“Everyone…is singing.”

She could hear the song.

“They’re all singing even without anyone guiding them!!”

She saw it from the snowy Shinjuku stage.

She was preparing to leave the stage, but they all raised their voices as if to hold her there.

“————!!”

This was a festival night. And to prove it, they all sang that hymn.

Some stayed and some left, but even those that left carried the song with them down the roads or into the train station.

There was no stopping the song now.

And from the hidden edge of the stage, her husband gave her the go-ahead.

So she inhaled and spread her arms without a microphone this time.

She sang.

Her voice rang out as just one of many.

An eight-colored CG Christmas tree was displayed on the giant station monitor behind her.

And the song did not end.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

A moment later, Tatsumi began to run.

She stuck her hands in her pockets and put on the remote control rings.

“Typhon!!”

She raced forward.

On the way, she had Typhon pick her up and she climbed to the white god of war’s shoulder.

Her legs were trembling. Her entire body was trembling. Her hands and fingers were too.

But…

“All’s asleep, one sole light.”

Her heart was not.

“Automatons!”

As soon as she raised her voice, the Leviathan’s main cannon strike arrived.

She raised her left arm.

She swung Typhon’s left fist toward the white light arriving at a slightly diagonal angle.

And the automatons replied to her will.

The gravity lens vanished from the sky and instead formed a gravitational control shield in front of Typhon’s fist.

As soon as the blast hit, Tatsumi knew her heart was warning her body.

She understood that the powerful current of the main cannon was trying to push her back. So…

“————!”

She activated her technique while squeezing Alex’s bolt in her right hand.

“————!!”

“Just the faithful and holy pair.”

On the northern battlefield, Kazami saw something within the raging wind.

Something happened to the Leviathan’s main cannon blast.

“It bent!?”

She had thought they were done for, but it bent to a shallower diagonal angle and swept across the earth.

The white light poured west southwest from Shinjuku.

The earth exploded and the wind blew like mad, but both the main cannon and the power bending it continued without ceasing.

Then Kazami saw the Leviathan’s back tremble as the main cannon grew even thicker.

This was the final attack.

“Lovely boy-child with curly hair.”

A great power was headed her way.

Tatsumi could tell from the feel of the air.

She also knew she could not defend against it.

…What do I do!?

As she hesitated and thought, she turned her head slightly skyward and saw his proof.

The moon was there.

It felt like he was watching her.

So she made up her mind.

She would stop it. She would negate this main cannon blast no matter what.

“Alex…!”

With that cry, she placed the bolt in her mouth.

She held it between her back teeth on the right, gathered her strength, and bit through it.

Normally, her teeth would have broken first, but Tatsumi had perfected her technique to the point that she could pulverize the bolt and swallow it.

“Sleep in heavenly peace.”

She swallowed him and leaped upwards.

She jumped toward the Leviathan’s greatest cannon blast.

“Alex!”

She stood on Typhon’s left arm and slammed her own right hand against the main cannon of light.

“Sleep in heavenly peace.”

The light was instantly redirected into the western sky.

The blast of light roasted the air and tore into the wind until the Leviathan’s breath came to an end.

“!!”

Once it did, the light burst.

Tatsumi had endured it.

Everyone saw that half of Typhon’s body had mostly melted and its left arm was gone. Similarly, Tatsumi had lost her right arm from the shoulder down.

She looked to the others after stepping down on the ground, gasping for breath.

She held her shoulder as blood spilled from it.

“Kh!?”

She looked up to see the Leviathan turning to face them once more.

Her knees bent and her mouth twisted.

“It’s firing a second shot!?”

But they all saw something as the Leviathan covering the heavens prepared to fire its second main cannon blast.

“…!!”

For some reason, it raised its head, as if in displeasure.

“Why?”

As they all stared up in confusion, they realized the Leviathan had stopped firing its secondary cannons at some point.

December 25, 2005

Noah stood inside the Leviathan’s base engine room.

Her broken body could barely walk, so it was faster to fly with her broken wings.

“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

December 25, 2005

Just after Noah’s main body had become the Leviathan, she had extracted several of her memories. They were imperfect, but they were original to her and she could not let anyone else have them.

But the amount of memories had been so great that she had entered a short sleep state to optimize them.

By the time she had recovered, the positive concepts were already on the verge of being released.

December 25, 2005

“Silent night, Holy night.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

“Before” December 25, 1995

“Don’t worry.”

Her creator then asked a question.

“Do you remember the song I taught you?”

Noah answered that she did remember. Yes, it remained in her memory.

December 25, 2005

“God’s Son laughs, o how bright.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

December 25, 2005

Noah knew her main body was losing control and that it was destroying the human world.

December 25, 2005

And Noah began to resist the Leviathan.

She did so by manually returning the Leviathan to its Noah form.

She had a single worry.

The Leviathan was working at full power.

After repeatedly creating the negative and positive concepts, it had completely overloaded. That self-destruction had originally been meant to release the concepts, but its output as the Leviathan was too great and it would begin to self-destruct and explode even if it was stopped.

She could not allow that. It would mean the annihilation of the people on the battlefield.

But by returning to its Noah form, the time until the explosion could be extended even if the overload itself was still unavoidable.

December 25, 2005

“Love from your holy lips shines clear.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

December 25, 2005

Noah began her work.

She was able to begin at once, but a single problem presented itself.

The black automatons, gods of war, and mechanical dragons that had left her control were headed her way down the wide main corridor.

Most likely, they intended to destroy her.

December 25, 2005

Noah found someone opposing the black army that appeared.

It was Seraph No. 0 and Lords No. 0 that had been directly created from the prototypes.

They had fallen before, but Noah did not know why they had shown up now as her allies.

She simply continued her work.

December 25, 2005

“As the dawn of salvation draws near.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

December 25, 2005

Her right arm was destroyed.

December 25, 2005

Her left leg was destroyed. Her left thigh was destroyed immediately afterwards.

December 25, 2005

“Jesus, Lord, with your birth.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

December 25, 2005

She completed her work.

To restrain the Leviathan’s own will, an external attack would need to provide a decisive blow, but if that was done, the Leviathan would return to being Noah.

December 25, 2005

Noah saw a white mechanical dragon and god of war protecting her amidst the wreckage of the black army.

However, the white machines were broken and would no longer move.

December 25, 2005

“Jesus, Lord, with your birth.”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

“Before” December 25, 1995

“Don’t worry.”

Her creator then asked a question.

“Do you remember the song I taught you?”

Noah answered that she did remember. Yes, it remained in her memory.

“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

She was told to ring her bell.

“Before” December 25, 1993

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

“Before” December 25, 1993

This was something only she could do.

December 25, 2005

Noah spoke to the god of war and mechanical dragon that had protected her.

“Thank you.”

That was a nostalgic phrase.

She had some faint memories of being told those words many times long ago.

Who had been the first one?

Had it been her master’s…?

No, she had something more important to think about.

When had she first used those words?

“Before” December 25, 1986

Her creator had spoken upon first seeing her.

“Wow, she looks just like me. How cute.”

Noah had given her programmed response.

“Thank you very much. Over.”

“Before” December 25, 1993

Noah was given many different things on the day the children had decided was her birthday.

“Thank you very much. Over.”

Once she responded like that, the group including her creator’s child gave her something.

The group was made up of Sadagiri, Mikoku, Shino, Alex, and Tatsumi.

They gave her a song.

Her creator played the organ and the children sang.

Noah stored the song in her memories.

It was a new memory.

It was an original memory that was hers alone.

Once the children finished singing, she spoke again.

“Thank you.”

December 25, 2005

Why had she not said “over” back then?

And where was that song in her memories?

December 25, 2005

“Silent night, Holy night

“Brought the world peace tonight,

“From the heavens’ golden height

“Shows the grace of His holy might

“Jesus, as man on this earth

“Jesus, as man on this earth”

Noah listened to the song playing over the transmission.

December 25, 2005

Noah began to walk in search of what only she could do.

She began to walk toward the bell.

December 25, 2005

A moment later, Noah understood something.

The Leviathan had been pierced by a power from the earth.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

In the blowing wind and below the great raging mechanical dragon, Sayama held Shinjou close.

The two of them held hands with the opposing left and right Georgiuses.

Unexpectedly, Georgius’s will gave a shout.

It was the same voice as when Sayama had first put Georgius on.

“I remain with the surnames of Sayama and Shinjou!!”

Shinjou nodded at the voice and looked to him.

“That’s my dad’s voice, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and squeezed her hand to make sure her father’s will would reach her.

His intention must have gotten through because she squeezed back.

“Where today all the might.”

A moment later, they moved close and pulled their arms back as if dancing.

That was when a shadow of the past appeared behind them.

…Is this…?

Sayama saw the inside of a church lit by small candles.

Despite the darkness, a man and woman faced each other with troubled smiles.

Music was playing from a radio-cassette player on top of the organ.

“Of His fatherly love us graced.”

“Sorry that this is the only song I ever play.”

“I already knew you were a thorough person.”

The words of the man in glasses caused the woman to smile bitterly.

“And I already knew lab coats are the only clothes you own.”

The two of them seemed to place Sayama and Shinjou between themselves and they held each other’s hands.

They awkwardly pulled each other close and began to dance.

They danced.

“And then Jesus, as brother embraced.”

Then, in addition to the past, everyone gathered around Sayama and Shinjou.

It was Team Leviathan.

Kazami and Izumo, Hiba and Mikage in Susamikado, and Heo and Harakawa in Thunder Fellow.

They all surrounded them, raised their eyebrows in smiles, and sent shimmering heat back from their accelerators.

“Let’s settle this.”

“Yeah, but I’ll be taking the best part for myself.”

“Ryuuji-kun, what’s the matter?’

“Well… This doesn’t really feel like our kind of thing.”

“Anyway, I’m glad everyone’s okay.”

“Not a single one of you is ‘okay’ on the mental front, but at least your bodies are sturdy.”

“That’s for sure,” they all replied with bitter smiles.

Sayama then spoke while looking at the man and woman dancing around him.

“Happiness can be found at any time.”

He spoke to the others while pulling Shinjou in close as the most important person to him.

“Let us go, Shinjou-kun, to our happiness.”

Shinjou grew red.

“Sure, sure,” said the others as they shrugged.

“Oh?” he said as he turned back their way. “Were you all still here?”

“You’d better remember that later.” Kazami spread her wings. “And we still have to discuss some things for the student council, so make sure you come right back, okay? And there’s a lot we all want to say, right? Like what we gained here and what we lost here.”

“Do any of us tell those things to anyone but our beloved?”

“Shut up,” said Kazami as she took flight.

Izumo climbed onto Susamikado’s shoulder and Thunder Fellow blasted into the sky.

“All the peoples on earth.”

Team Leviathan flew through the hole Alex had torn and Tatsumi had protected.

They were now armed with mere Cowling weapons that had no Concept Cores.

But they were Team Leviathan.

That fact had not changed.

Thunder Fellow flew into the black army, twisted its body to dodge the intercepting warheads, and tore apart the enemy. Its path took it to the hole Alex had opened.

Its rising attacks smashed the enemy and red flowers bloomed from the black seeds in the sky.

Those flowers in the windy and snowy sky decorated Tokyo’s night.

“Kazami!!”

“I know!!”

Kazami spun around, fired, and flew through the opening Thunder Fellow had made.

There was now a great tree of bursting flowers decorating the sky.

The halo crumbled vertically and became a spire-shaped ornament of flames.

It was a giant tree of blazing battle.

And finally…

“Kaku! Hiba and Mikage too!!”

“Nn.”

“Just leave it to me.”

Susamikado flew down the center with a white contrail behind it.

As if providing more decoration, Izumo and Susamikado’s blades sliced through the remaining surge of black.

The flowers scattering through the sky, trailed smoke, and almost looked like fireworks.

In the end, the world’s largest Christmas tree surrounded the Leviathan with the moon adorning the top.

And the ones creating the central trunk stood directly below the Leviathan.

It was Sayama and Shinjou.

“All the peoples on earth.”

Their teammates broke through the wind and tore into the falling snow up above.

Sayama and Shinjou looked up at the heavenly decorations.

“Silent night, Holy night.”

Amid the hymn, the two of them slowly looked each other in the eye, synchronized their breathing, and swung.

“Shinjou-kun.”

“…Right.”

“Long we hoped that He might.”

Sayama and Shinjou swayed their bodies as if to match the past displayed around them.

Shinjou moved away once, spun along with the woman, and returned.

“————”

They both held their Georgius hand to the side and wrapped the opposite hand around the other’s waist.

They looked in the direction their hand pointed.

“Hey, am I dancing right?”

“Do not worry. No one is watching.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Matching the voices from the past, they moved back toward each other and used that momentum to thrust their arms skyward.

“As our Lord, free us of wrath.”

With his hand in Shinjou’s, Sayama raised his arm toward heaven.

“…!!”

A moment later, a white and black light pierced through Leviathan on its way toward heaven.

A trunk of light ran through the center of the sky’s decorations.

It broke through. It tore through the Leviathan’s body.

The regeneration concept attempted to keep the hole from spreading, but Georgius’s concept destruction power further widened the hole.

“————!!”

But the Leviathan roared and resisted.

“Since times of our fathers He hath.”

It whipped up the wind, forcibly moved its body, and tried to change the position of the piercing power.

“It can still move!?”

Sayama trembled from Georgius’s power and shouted into the wind.

Suddenly, a third hand joined theirs to restrain the tremor.

It belonged to a girl in a black armored uniform.

It was Mikoku’s.

Shinjou saw a blue philosopher’s stone in Mikoku’s hand.

“This contains my regeneration concept! It is the same one the Leviathan has. So…if you include this in Georgius’s power, it should be able to repel the Leviathan’s power and destroy it!”

“A-are you sure!?” asked Shinjou.

Sayama shouted into the wind to continue for Shinjou.

“Doesn’t that contain everything you were left with!?”

Mikoku’s expression twisted in the wind, but…

“That is fine. I too am something they left and I am still here. So…”

She hung her head, but Shinjou still heard what she said.

“Please let me help you end this!”

Shinjou’s answer was to agree, but first she exchanged a glance with Sayama.

…Let’s do it!

“Promised to spare all mankind.”

Shinjou and Sayama held Mikoku’s philosopher’s stone in their hands.

Mikoku looked up in surprise and the two of them smiled at her.

“Testament!!”

Sayama laughed.

“Let us give the proclamation to every concept!”

At the same time, an especially powerful light and darkness pierced the Leviathan and they squeezed their hands tight.

“Let me say it now! As opposites…”

Shinjou raised her voice with Sayama.

“We proclaim that the wills of Sayama and Shinjou shall always be together!”

As she repeated after him, Shinjou tilted her head at the fact that he said “wills” instead of “surnames”, but she trusted him and finished the statement.

…He probably has an idea about that.

She knew he would tell her about it eventually, so she simply held his words in her heart for the time being.

The words “Mikoto” and “Sadagiri” shook the concepts that were becoming a pure spray.

—The wills of Sayama and Shinjou shall always be together.

It became a concept text and raced throughout the concept space.

A moment later, an especially great light of opposites tore into the dragon.

At the same time, cannon blasts and sword strikes from Team Leviathan shook the Leviathan in the heavens.

“Promised to spare all mankind.”

The great dragon was finally defeated.

And the light of concepts scattered through the sky.